Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD 31/03/2018 Famagusta + Larnaca
Spectacled Warbler - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 31st I had the pleasure of Guiding Tomas, Ingred and Lars around the Eastern sites. We started the day at Cape Greco where we were treated to good views of mostly everything and had good but brief views of a male Marsh Harrier hunting over a field. Spectacled and Cyprus Warbler were target species of which we had both up very close on many occasions and in song. We also found a female Eastern Suablpine Warbler, Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Ruppell's Warbler, Eastern Bonelli's Warbler and Sardinian Warbler with many Nightingale singing and jumping from the low shrub. The tour was to mainly concentrate on warblers so I was happy to get them out of the way early on. A Wryneck posed very nicely close to the car, kicking off a Cyprus Wheatear from its perch in the process. There were two pairs of Cyprus Wheatear displaying, buzzing around the female like an angry wasp/bee which was incredible to see, a rare thing to see in fact as even I had never witnessed it before.
An Audouin's Gull flew along the coast but was quite distant to ID by binoculars but luckily I managed a photo, followed by another gull that I couldn't identify and then some time later a Caspian Gull flew across, not a bad selection of gulls considering they were the only one's that we saw. There was many Northern Wheatears and just a single Isabelline around, and a few Tawny Pipits and a Yellow Wagtail. A Tree Pipit posed well incredibly close to us whilst we was on foot
and didn't seem disturbed at all by us in close proximity!
An Audouin's Gull flew along the coast but was quite distant to ID by binoculars but luckily I managed a photo, followed by another gull that I couldn't identify and then some time later a Caspian Gull flew across, not a bad selection of gulls considering they were the only one's that we saw. There was many Northern Wheatears and just a single Isabelline around, and a few Tawny Pipits and a Yellow Wagtail. A Tree Pipit posed well incredibly close to us whilst we was on foot
and didn't seem disturbed at all by us in close proximity!
Audouin's Gull - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We then moved on to Oroklini where the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was still present and showed very well for our duration there. Here we managed to spot a pair of Red-crested Pochard as well as various waterfowl including a lingering Pintail and Common Shelduck that should have moved on by now. Nearby we had a decent flock of Glossy Ibis on the ground feeding with two Squacco Herons nearby of which one walked up to us.
 Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved |  Squacco Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved |
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Then on to Menou which was still low on life, though we did manage to see the Black-necked Grebes in summer plumage that were not present on my last visit. Here we ate our lunch and then continued to Achna Dam which held quite a bit of life, namely wood and green sandpiper quite close together. But the star bird here was a Pied Kingfisher landing right next to the car but moving off quickly and not relocated! What a finish to a fantastic days guiding in the east of the island managing 79 species!
Black-necked Grebe - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
| Species: Common shelduck Common teal Mallard Northern pintail Garganey Northern shoveller Red-crested pochard Ferruginous duck Chukar Black francolin (h) Little grebe Black-necked grebe Greater flamingo European shag Grey heron Little egret Squacco heron Cattle egret Glossy ibis Western Marsh harrier Common kestrel Common moorhen Eurasian coot Spur-winged lapwing Kentish plover Black-winged stilt Common redshank Common greenshank Green sandpiper Wood sandpiper Ruff Caspian Gull Armenian gull Audouin's gull Slender-billed gull Common Wood pigeon Eurasian Collared dove Laughing dove Common swift | Eurasian Hoopoe Pied kingfisher Blue-cheeked bee-eater Eurasian wryneck Crested lark, Galerida cristata cypriaca Barn swallow Common house martin White wagtail Yellow wagtail, Motacilla flava feldegg Tawny pipit Tree pipit Meadow pipit Song thrush Zitting cisticola Cetti's warbler (h) Sedge warbler (h) Eurasian reed warbler (h) Eastern olivaceous warbler (h) Eastern Bonelli's warbler Eurasian blackcap Common whitethroat Lesser whitethroat Rüppell's warbler Eastern Subalpine warbler Sardinian warbler Cyprus warbler Spectacled warbler Common Nightingale Common stonechat Northern wheatear Cyprus wheatear Isabelline wheatear Great tit, Parus major aphrodite Magpie Eurasian jackdaw Hooded crow Ortolan bunting European greenfinch European goldfinch House sparrow 79 |
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