Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Tour - Paphos + Akrotiri 15/04/2019
Cyprus Scops Owl - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 15th I guided Rick and Dot around the Paphos and Akrotiri sites, the weather was overcast, windy at times and not good for photography.
We started by checking a few of the Paphos sites before heading to Akrotiri as there was a few scarce species that would be easier to get in the morning. So our first site was Agia Varvara where we managed to see many Little Crakes, both male and female and also briefly a Spotted Crake. The Baillon's Crake seemed to have left its favoured pool which was drying out and sadly we couldn't find it. Though we had smashing views of Little Bittern and Common Kingfisher. A Savi's Warbler was reeling and a Great Reed Warbler singing away but we didn't manage to see either. We got great views of a Great Spotted Cuckoo perched in a tree as we left.
Then we headed to Mandria in hope of seeing the Female Caspian Plover that had lingered for a few days. Unfortunately that was no-where to be seen, but there was a smart Collared Pratincole in the field instead.
We then headed to Akrotiri stopping at the Rabbit Shed pools first and seeing many Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret on the way. There didn't seem to be as many waders around as there previously was. We had common snipe, Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Wood and Common Sandpiper and some ruff here as well as quite a few Black-winged Stilts and a pair of Spur-winged Lapwing. There was also some Black-headed Wagtails that were very distant, plus Tree and Red-throated Pipit flying over us and a Peregrine Falcon. The pair of male Garganey were still present providing great views at times and we had close but brief views of Black Francolin here.
We continued to the Salt lake stopping at the Environmental Center. Here we saw the Greater Flamingo's doing their courtship dance, and also saw a pair mating. The Slender-billed Gulls were no-where to be seen on the salt lake and so we continued to Ladies Mile which was fairly quiet and after seeing some young Armenian, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls we moved on.
The Griffon Vultures didn't show again at Kensington Cliffs, though we had some great views of Alpine Swift.
Heading back into Paphos we stopped to have our Lunch at Timi Picnic site and then made our way up into the foothills to see the Cyprus Scops Owls at their roost and then the Peregrine Falcons on their territory. A quick browse around Anarita Park produced some Cyprus Warblers but not much else. Lastly Rick and Dot really wanted to see Stone Curlew so we stopped in at a specific part of the sewage works and managed to see two. As I dropped them back at their villa we had a small group of European Bee-eaters flying overhead to finish the day managing 72 Species.
We started by checking a few of the Paphos sites before heading to Akrotiri as there was a few scarce species that would be easier to get in the morning. So our first site was Agia Varvara where we managed to see many Little Crakes, both male and female and also briefly a Spotted Crake. The Baillon's Crake seemed to have left its favoured pool which was drying out and sadly we couldn't find it. Though we had smashing views of Little Bittern and Common Kingfisher. A Savi's Warbler was reeling and a Great Reed Warbler singing away but we didn't manage to see either. We got great views of a Great Spotted Cuckoo perched in a tree as we left.
Then we headed to Mandria in hope of seeing the Female Caspian Plover that had lingered for a few days. Unfortunately that was no-where to be seen, but there was a smart Collared Pratincole in the field instead.
We then headed to Akrotiri stopping at the Rabbit Shed pools first and seeing many Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret on the way. There didn't seem to be as many waders around as there previously was. We had common snipe, Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Wood and Common Sandpiper and some ruff here as well as quite a few Black-winged Stilts and a pair of Spur-winged Lapwing. There was also some Black-headed Wagtails that were very distant, plus Tree and Red-throated Pipit flying over us and a Peregrine Falcon. The pair of male Garganey were still present providing great views at times and we had close but brief views of Black Francolin here.
We continued to the Salt lake stopping at the Environmental Center. Here we saw the Greater Flamingo's doing their courtship dance, and also saw a pair mating. The Slender-billed Gulls were no-where to be seen on the salt lake and so we continued to Ladies Mile which was fairly quiet and after seeing some young Armenian, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls we moved on.
The Griffon Vultures didn't show again at Kensington Cliffs, though we had some great views of Alpine Swift.
Heading back into Paphos we stopped to have our Lunch at Timi Picnic site and then made our way up into the foothills to see the Cyprus Scops Owls at their roost and then the Peregrine Falcons on their territory. A quick browse around Anarita Park produced some Cyprus Warblers but not much else. Lastly Rick and Dot really wanted to see Stone Curlew so we stopped in at a specific part of the sewage works and managed to see two. As I dropped them back at their villa we had a small group of European Bee-eaters flying overhead to finish the day managing 72 Species.
| Species List: Chukar Partridge Black Francolin Garganey Greater Flamingo (2 copulating) Glossy Ibis Little Bittern Cattle Egret Grey Heron Little Egret European Shag Lesser Kestrel Common Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Little Crake Spotted Crake Common Moorhen Eurasian Stone Curlew Black-winged Stilt Spur-winged Lapwing Little Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Common Snipe Wood Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Little Stint Ruff Collared Pratincole Armenian Gull Yellow-legged Gull Caspian Gull Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove Great Spotted Cuckoo | Cyprus Scops Owl Alpine Swift Common Swift Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Woodchat Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Zitting Cisticola Cetti's Warbler (h)Savi's Warbler Eurasian Reed-warbler (h)Great Reed-warbler (h)Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Sardinian Warbler Cyprus Warbler (h)Common Nightingale Whinchat Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Cyprus Wheatear House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow White Wagtail Black-headed Wagtail Tree Pipit Red-throated Pipit Common Chaffinch European Serin European Greenfinch European Goldfinch Corn Bunting 72 |
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