CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS
  • Home
  • About
  • Book A Tour
  • The Birds of Cyprus ↧
    • Endemics
    • Regional Specialities
    • Checklist
  • Gallery
  • Tour Reports ↧
  • Dragonfly Tours
  • Home
  • About
  • Book A Tour
  • The Birds of Cyprus ↧
    • Endemics
    • Regional Specialities
    • Checklist
  • Gallery
  • Tour Reports ↧
  • Dragonfly Tours

April 14th, 2019

14/4/2019

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - 2-day Tour - Paphos + Akrotiri 12+13/04/2019

Picture
Cyprus Scops Owl - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 12th and 13th I guided Mike Redfern around the Paphos and Akrotiri sites on a 2 day tour.
Mike mentioned his target species were Bonelli's Eagle, Baillon's Crake and Cyprus Scops Owl. So we started in the foothills at a Bonelli's Eagle site. There were many Serin singing along the track, presumably nesting in the area this year. We had two Bonelli's Eagles close fly from the trees into the valley providing good low flight views. An Eastern Bonelli's Warbler showed in a shrub not far from where we were standing and on the way out we had a Wryneck sitting in a bare tree. 
We managed to spot a few Cretzschmar's Bunting in song as we drove through Minthis and an Isabelline Wheatear. We dropped down checking a day roost for Cyprus Scops Owls on the way, seeing two scops sitting very close together with unobstructed views. The Peregrines were feeding on the cliff face and only flew briefly.
We saw a few newly arrived Turtle Doves on the wires down here and also an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler singing away. Many Cyprus Wheatears were showing on the way to Anarita Park, and a few Ortolan Bunting too feeding in the verge. Just before we got to Anarita Park I noticed a large raptor sitting on some rocks, a Long Legged Buzzard showing nicely but not with the suns direction in our favour and then great close views of it in flight.
Nearly every bird we saw at Anarita Park was an Ortolan Bunting, absolutely everywhere. We did see a few Little Owls and Great Spotted Cuckoos too, though the gsc's weren't being very vocal and so we assumed the eggs had already been deposited in the magpie nests. There was a few Hoopoe's knocking about and also we had Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Cyprus Warbler. 
Picture
Ortolan Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our next site was Agia Varvara with Baillon's Crake in mind. Sure enough the Baillon's Crake was in the same place in the same pool and provided very close veiws and photo opportunities. We also saw many Little Crakes here, both male and female but couuldn't locate the Spotted Crake or Little Bittern that I had seen there previous days. A Masked Shrike and Great Reed Warbler showed well here and some Wood Sandpiper and Whinchat.
Picture
Baillon's Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our next stop was Timi beach to check out the newly formed temporary wetlands. We had many Glossy Ibis feeding at the entrance and Black-winged Stilt, a pair of Temminck's Stints landed on the edge of the pool, a good species to get in Paphos.
A Grey Heron as well as a Squacco Heron and many Little Egret with a few Cattle Egrets in with them were at the front of the wetland. Seemed that most of the waders had cleared out. We stopped here for our lunch.
Our next site was Asprokremnos dam car park for flycatchers. We ended up seeing a single male Collared Flycatcher and a Wood Warbler ... so fairly quiet here. We located a Purple Heron and some Yellow-legged Gulls on the dam.
Lastly we checked Mandria and had a male and female Eastern Black-eared Wheatear sitting next to each other. We also located a Laughing Dove and some Greater Short-toed Larks. As we were exiting the site a Black Francolin was on the edge of the road walking towards the car, providing great views but eventually scared by an oncoming truck. A good end to the day, good species count (73) and all target species and full breeding endemics met.
Picture
Romanian Yellow Wagtail (m.f.dombrowskii) - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
The next day we started out at Phassouri seeing Cattle Egret, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis and Little Egret en route to the rabbit shed pools, and a Ferruginous Duck in flight. On the pools we had the usual Spotted Redshank and Marsh Sandpipers. Many Snipe were showing again but we couldn't make out any Great Snipes. Ruff, Common and Wood Sandpiper were plenty as were Little Ringed Plover. A Red-throated Pipit flew in and landed infront of us and also a Great Warbler was singing which showed for a while. A pair of male Garganey were also here feeding on the water. 
We drove up the gravel pits track and found a Great Spotted Cuckoo showing nearby in a tree and Black Francolin showing briefly. By the church we had a female Blue Rock Thrush, Common Cuckoo and a Woodchat Shrike plus a group of Turtle Doves flying in.
We then cut through to Ladies Mile (seeing Greater Flamingo and Slender-billed Gull on the salt lake as we drove past and a very late Starling) which had some Greater Flamingo on the pools and Little Egret. A few gulls were near the port, young Armenian Gulls, Yellow-legged and Caspian. Plus a single Black-headed Gull and a Whimbrel that flew in and landed close to the car. 
By the port we had Squacco Heron and a Green Sandpiper.
At Zakaki we was treated to a male Little Bittern showing very close to us, which even hunted/fed infront of us meters away. A Common Kingfisher perched close to us too.
Picture
Little Bittern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
As we ventured to the run off we had a very large group of Gull-billed Tern on the ground, Little Stint and many Kentish Plover.
Picture
Gull-billed Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Near the run-off there was many Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and a large group of Greenshank and Glossy Ibis. A recently arrived Eleonora's Falcon hunted in the distance. We had a single Spectacled Warbler here too as we returned to the car.
We then ate our Lunch at Bishop's Pool which was also fairly quiet, just a small party of Black-crowned Night Heron in the very corner on a bar tree overhanging the water.
Our next site was Kensington Cliffs where many Alpine Swifts were darting around very close at times. Unfortunately no Griffon Vultures showed again but we did see a Peregrine Falcon and many Cyprus Wheatear.
Picture
Alpine Swift - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Mike wanted to see Stone Curlew and unfortunately one of their main nesting sites was gated off, so I took him to a certain part of the Sewage Plant where I have seen them often previous years. We managed to spot two and we also had some very close encounters with Spur-winged Lapwing to the wrap the day off reaching a large count of 94 species bringing our total to 123 species.
Picture
Spur-winged Lapwing - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Species List:

Chukar Partridge    
Black Francolin    
Mallard    
Garganey   
Common Teal
Ferruginous Duck    
Little Grebe
Greater Flamingo
Glossy Ibis
Little Bittern
Black-crowned Night-heron
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Little Egret
European Shag  
Common Kestrel   
Eleonora's Falcon  
Peregrine Falcon
Western Marsh Harrier  
Long-legged Buzzard 
Little Crake
Baillon's Crake    
Common Moorhen  
Common Coot
Eurasian Stone Curlew 
Black-winged Stilt 
Spur-winged Lapwing
Little Ringed Plover 
Kentish Plover    
Common Snipe 
Whimbrel  
Spotted Redshank 
Marsh Sandpiper 
Common Greenshank 
Green Sandpiper 
Wood Sandpiper 
Common Sandpiper 
Little Stint 
Temminck's Stint
Ruff 
Armenian Gull 
Yellow-legged Gull 
Caspian Gull 
Black-headed Gull 
Slender-billed Gull 
Gull-billed Tern 
Rock Dove 
Common Wood-pigeon   
European Turtle-dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Laughing Dove
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo
Cyprus Scops Owl
​
Little Owl
Alpine Swift   
Common Swift
Common Kingfisher
Eurasian Hoopoe 
Eurasian Wryneck
Woodchat Shrike 
Masked Shrike
Eurasian Magpie    
Eurasian Jackdaw   
Hooded Crow
Great Tit
Greater Short-toed Lark
Crested Lark  
(h)Eurasian Skylark
Barn Swallow 
Red-rumped Swallow   
Common House-martin    
Zitting Cisticola  
Cetti's Warbler
Sedge Warbler
(h)Eurasian Reed-warbler
Great Reed-warbler
(h)Eastern Olivaceous Warbler 
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler
Wood Warbler
Blackcap 
Common Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat 
Sardinian Warbler
Cyprus Warbler 
Spectacled Warbler  
Common Starling 
Common Nightingale
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear
Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
Cyprus Wheatear
Isabelline Wheatear
Blue Rock-thrush 
Collared Flycatcher
House Sparrow 
Spanish Sparrow    
White Wagtail  
Yellow Wagtail (Flava, Dombrowskii)
Black-headed Wagtail 
Tree Pipit 
Red-throated Pipit
(h)Common Chaffinch 
European Serin 
European Greenfinch    
European Goldfinch
Common Linnet
Corn Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Cretzschmar's Bunting 

123
Butterflies:
Large White
Small White
Eastern Dappled White
Common Blue
Paphos Blue
(Syrian) Swallowtail
Painted lady

Moths:
Striped Hawk Moth

Orchids:
Neotinia Maculata
Ophrys Cinerophilia
Orchis Fragrans
Ophrys Apifera

Reptiles:
Mediteranean Gecko
Kotschyi's Gecko
Sling-tailed Agama
Snake Eyed Lizard
Schreiber's Fringe-fingered Lizard

Comments are closed.
    Mostly all photos are taken with a
    - Canon 7D mkii (older photos with mk1)
    and a
    - Canon 400mm Ef-s USM l f5.6 Lens. 
    - no teleconverter.

    Macro: 
    Tamron sp 90mm f017
    (older: Canon sx50 HS)


    *** The blog layouts are not available to those viewing on a mobile device.

    Bird is the Word



    Archives

    June 2022
    October 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015


    RSS Feed


    Site Promotion
    • thegamblingbird

    • CABS

    • Life For Birds fb

    • Animal Party Cyprus fb

    • Birdguides.com

    • Stop the Cull

    • Fat Birder

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.