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April 11th, 2019

11/4/2019

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Tour - Paphos + Akrotiri 10/04/201

On the 10th I guided Simon, Chris and Gill around the Paphos and Akrotiri sites. I had previously guided them on a tour some years ago in November.
We started out at Phassouri Marsh where Serins greeted us at the entrance which we later got better views of. The main hide wasn't rich with life, a Great Reed Warbler was singing in the reeds behind and a Squacco Heron and Little Egret plus a Glossy Ibis were feeding in the distance. The center reeds have grown considerably making views of the pool difficult. A few Garganey were moving about but very hard to get a view.
At the last water body there was a very large flock of Glossy Ibis with many Ruff and Wood Sandpiper feeding. Snipes were heard and seen frequently.
The Rabbit Shed pool was full of life. The best birds we had here were two Collared Pratincoles, a pair of Spur-winged Lapwing and a Pair of Marsh Sandpiper. A Spotted Redshank and Greenshank were present too along with many Little Ringed Plovers being very vocal and mobile. A Purple Heron flew in from the reedbed and landed, a welcome sight.
Picture
Collared Pratincole - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Along the gravel pits track we had close views of Black Francolin .. but brief views as it dropped down from a shrub a few seconds after I stopped the car. And across the path were many recently arrived Whinchats which posed nicely for us. We had very close views of a Great Spotted Cuckoo sitting in a Tamarisk Bush near a concealed pool.
We then headed to the first hide at Phassouri where Simon spotted a male Little Crake which we all got brief views of moving through the dense vegetation.
After a quick stop at the Environmental Center and viewing the Greater Flamingo on the Salt Lake doing their courtship dance we headed to ladies Mile which was very quiet concerning passerines and waders. We didn't spend long here and proceeded to Kensington Cliffs where the Griffon Vultures unfortunately didn't show.
We then returned to Paphos and only Simon stayed on for the other half of the tour. We headed to Agia Varvara and managed to locate all 3 crake species (Little, Spotted and Baillon's Crake). We then had a quick pass through Anarita Park which produced little aside a Blue Rock Thrush, Common and Great Spotted Cuckoo. We passed through Episkopi (seeing many Cyprus Wheatears en route) up to Minthis Hills to get Cretzschmar's Bunting, a target species. Sure enough we found one feeding meters from the car. On our way back down we stopped at a Cyprus Scops Owl roost and got great views of one. We then dropped down and watched the Peregrine Falcon pair feeding.
Picture
Cretzschmar's Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
​On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Timi where many Glossy Ibis and Little Egret were still present and feeding in the picnic sites and beyond. Many Wood Sandpipers were still around here and we also saw Eastern Bonelli's Warbler and Wood Warbler. I got a brief view of a Red-breasted Flycatcher which are very scarce in Cyprus and only the second one I had ever seen.
We managed 87 species for the day and Simon walked away with many lifers. 
Picture
Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
List of Species:

Chukar Partridge    
Black Francolin      
Mallard    
Garganey   
Little Grebe
Greater Flamingo
Glossy Ibis
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Purple Heron
Little Egret
Common Kestrel   
Peregrine Falcon
Long-legged Buzzard     
Little Crake
Baillon's Crake
Spotted Crake
Common Moorhen  
Common Coot
Black-winged Stilt 
Spur-winged Lapwing
Little Ringed Plover 
Common Snipe 
Spotted Redshank 
Marsh Sandpiper 
Common Greenshank 
Green Sandpiper 
Wood Sandpiper 
Common Sandpiper 
Ruff 
Collared Pratincole 
Yellow-legged Gull 
Caspian Gull 
Baltic Gull
Black-headed Gull 
Rock Dove 
Common Wood-pigeon   
Eurasian Collared-dove
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo
Cyprus Scops Owl
Alpine Swift   
Common Swift
Pallid Swift   
Eurasian Hoopoe 
Eurasian Magpie    
Eurasian Jackdaw   
Hooded Crow
Great Tit
Crested Lark  
Sand Martin
Barn Swallow 
Red-rumped Swallow   
Common House-martin    
Zitting Cisticola  
Cetti's Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Eurasian Reed-warbler
(h)Great Reed-warbler
(h)Eastern Olivaceous Warbler 
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler
Wood Warbler
Blackcap 
Common Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat 
Sardinian Warbler
(h)Common Nightingale
Common Redstart
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear 
Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
Cyprus Wheatear
Isabelline Wheatear
Blue Rock-thrush 
Red-breasted Flycatcher
House Sparrow 
Spanish Sparrow    
White Wagtail
Tree Pipit 
Red-throated Pipit
Common Chaffinch 
European Serin 
European Greenfinch    
European Goldfinch
Common Linnet
Corn Bunting
Cretzschmar's Bunting 

87

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