A European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) flies near an Antikythera Bird Observatory station, on the small island of Antikythera, on September 17, 2024. Surrounded by cliffs, the tiny island of about twenty inhabitants, located in the middle of the Aegean Sea at the tip of the Balkan Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean, is a privileged corridor for migratory birds. In the fall, turtledoves, warblers, wrynecks, green, yellow and orange bee-eaters, as well as buzzards, falcons and other birds of prey migrate from Northern Europe to Africa. In the spring, they make the journey in the opposite direction. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)