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April 01st, 2018

1/4/2018

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD 31/03/2018 Famagusta + Larnaca

Picture
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! 
Picture
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.
Picture
Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Picture
Squacco Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Picture
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!
Picture
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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    - no teleconverter.

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    (older: Canon sx50 HS)


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