ATHENS NEWS FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 2011 33ATHENS NEWS FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER 2011 16Birdwatch

By Steve Mills

LMOST all the birds that visit us for the summerhave now left, exchanging our coolingtemperatures and approaching winter for anAfrican summer. These migrants neverexperience a winter. Instead their year consistsof two summers, one here and one far to thesouth. Next April, as the African summer drawsto a close, they will return to us here for a summerin Europe. They don’t, of course, seek outanother summer for the kinds of reasons we do(perhaps a little sightseeing and the chance of atan) but because their food supply - insects -largely disappears when winter comes. So, off toAfrica they go.

But what happens whenthey get there? How can thatcontinent suddenly give boardand lodging to millions of newarrivals, when they have plentyof birds there already? Andwe’re talking about perhaps 4billion birds that turn up thereat this time of year. Natureoften works in weird andwonderful ways, but it certainlydoesn’t leave vast areas readyand waiting just to accommodate these incomers.So what happens?

Rain beltPicture the scene. It’s October - spring in

much of Africa - and the resident African birdsare busy breeding. They’ve built nests and aresitting on eggs or feeding youngsters. Theirbreeding is timed to benefit from maximumfood supplies, and this often meanscoordinating their efforts with the rainyseason. The arrival of the rain promotes lushplant growth and swarms of nutritiousinsects, so it makes sense to have the babiesat this time.

Africa is a huge continent and the rainsdon’t arrive everywhere at once. InSeptember a broad belt of wet weather,

lasting a month or two, moves slowly southwardsbringing new growth and feeding opportunitiesin its wake. This is how Africa can suddenlysupport such an influx of birds from Europe andAsia. Suddenly in a given area there is a glut offood perfectly timed for the resident breeders butnow also available for the migrants. In addition,the resident breeders can’t move far to takeadvantage of temporary food abundance causedperhaps by patchy rain because they are tied toan area around their nest. There’s no suchrestriction for the visitors, though. They are freeto follow the rains and take advantage of anybonanzas that occur.

No bordersThe arrival of the slow-moving rainy season

is the key to how Africa can suddenly absorb allthe new arrivals. As the wave of wet weathermoves slowly along, huge numbers of insectshatch to feed on the new plant growth and, in

turn, the migrants feed on them.This, together with the ability ofthe migrants to follow the rains,allows both the residents andthe migrants to find enough toeat.

This brings us to anotherquestion. We think of the birdsthat visit us for the summer -hoopoes, bee-eaters, warblers,nightingales and others - asEuropean birds that spend ourwinter in Africa. But are they

really African birds that just come to Greece andthe rest of Europe to breed? After all, most ofthem spend more time each year in Africa thanthey do with us.

For birds, of course, it doesn’t matter. They’renot concerned with the details of nationality, justwith following a strategy that allows them to stayalive. Migration has evolved because it allowsmore birds in a given species to survive. But theprice is still high. It is estimated that, every year,only around half of the migrants leaving ourshores in the autumn make it back the followingspring. And the news isn’t good for the future.With Africa changing rapidly as a result of morepeople, more intensive agriculture and morepesticides, perhaps now is as good as it gets formigrant birds.

A seasonal burst of new vegetation and insectpopulation in Africa prompts millions of migrantbirds to temporarily abandon their present abode

A

Feeding the tired,huddled masses

It is estimated that, every year, only around

half of the migrants leaving our shores in the autumn

make it back the following spring

A spectacularhoopoe with

thoughts of Africa

Ste

ve M

ills

By Thrasy Petropoulosnewseditor@athensnews.eu

TEVE MILLS, the Athens News’ very own Birdwatch columnistand - for as many months of the year as he can manage -resident of the island of Thasos, has been named VeoliaEnvironment International Wildlife Photographer of the Yearin the birds category.

The winning photograph in what is the most prestigiouscompetition of its kind is of a rare merlin falcon killing a snipein snow-covered North Yorkshire. Picked out among 42,000entries from 95 countries, “The Assassin” (as the image hasbeen named) will now be displayed along with the other 10category winners in Britain’s Natural History Museum.

“It’s ironic because we drive across to Greece regularly,

stopping off at wildlife places, and I spend an awful lot of timetaking photographs in Greece,” Mills said from England, wherehe travelled to receive his award. “This was yards from my housein Whitby, North Yorkshire.”

The photograph was taken lastwinter, just after there had beenheavy snowfall.

“My garden was dipping withbirds trying to find food,” he recalls.“So I set out in the car, found alittle patch of unfrozen ground andwaited. It took only half an hour.The snipe arrived. It’s a secretivebird - I’ve only seen about four inthe last ten years. Normally, itwould have been looking roundevery second or two but it was sodesperate that it didn’t see thefalcon coming in from the left.”

The merlin pinioned the snipe,stared briefly at the photographer and then killed its prey witha series of rapid blows to the head. “It suggests intrigue,planning, attack and murder,” Mills comments.

He knew immediately that he had captured something

special. “It ticked all the right boxes,” he says. “There wasnothing obscuring either bird, it was pin-sharp and there wasan uncluttered background.”

“Predator and prey and perfectly balanced” was judgeSophie Stafford’s estimation. It was,she added, an “exceptional momentand unusual species - the perfectcombination”.

Conservation workA birdwatching enthusiast since

he was 10, Mills addedphotography to his passion lessthan a decade ago as digitaltechnology made it easier foramateur photographers to operate.

“When digital came in, it becameso much cheaper to work,” he says.“In the old days you had to be carefulwhen you pressed the shutter. It was

harder to experiment and you had no immediate feedback.”As the standard of his work improved, so he felt encouraged

to enter the odd competition, winning the amateur section of the2007 International Wildbird Photography competition with a shot

of a hen harrier photographed in Porto Lagos, northern Greece.With his wife, he has set up a conservation organisation

(www.birdwing.eu) for northern Greece and writtenbirdwatching guides to encourage ecotourism within thecountry. A children’s bird book of his has also beentranslated into Greek.

“We bought a house on Thasos in 2004 - atumbledown - and, with my wife, we renovated it overthe next two or three years,” he says. A formeruniversity lecturer in maths education, he now writeseducation books with his wife full time, for muchof the year from their island home.

Greece, he says, is the ideal place forbirdwatching - and is massively underappreciated.

“It’s fabulous, particularly northern Greece,because there are more habitats there that areintact,” he says. “Unfortunately, an awful lot ofhabitats are being - or have already been -downgraded through illegal building anddrainage. It’s sad because it’s a wonderland andthere’s a whole world of ecotourism that’s beingmissed because this country is failing to exploitit. Not only should wildlife be protected for itself,but there’s also money to be made.”

One-time university lecturer, lifelong birdwatchingenthusiast - and now International Wildlife Photographerof the Year in his category, Athens News columnist Steve Mills recalls the moment he captured a winning shotthat combined ‘intrigue, planning, attack and murder’

S

‘An exceptional moment and unusual species - the perfect combination’

Unfortunately, an awful lot of habitats in Greece are being downgraded

through illegal building and drainage. It’s sad because it’s a wonderland

and there’s a whole world of ecotourism that’s being missed because this country is failing to exploit it. Not only should

wildlife be protected for itself but there’s also money to be made

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