Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Tour - Paphos 18/04/2019
Montagu's Harrier - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 18th I guided Christer and Bengt for a full day tour around the Paphos sites.
We started out at Agia Varvara. En-route we had a Great Spotted Cuckoo fly low tawards the car on the B road which was a good start. At Agia varvara we was greeted by a Woodchat Shrike posing close to the car for a lengthy period, and also a Black Francolin sitting low in a tree. On the pools we had great views of many Little Crakes but not much else was around aside whinchat. As we left the site we had nice close lengthy views of a Spotted Flycatcher.
We moved up into Anarita Park which was also fairly quiet aside many whinchat. We had some great views of a Marsh Harrier and a Male Montagu's Harrier. A small part of Red-rumped Swallows flew around us very low down with one entering its nesting tunnel with food. None of the Cyprus Warblers were willing to show although we did get a brief view of a female Eastern Subalpine warbler as a consolation.
Moving further inland we saw quite a few Cyprus Wheatear heading in to Episkopi and also quite a few Turtle Doves. We even had some great views of an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler sitting on the power lines singing away and many chukar on the ground.
After viewing the Peregrine Falcons on their territory we moved up to the Cyprus Scops Owl roost and got fantastic views and photos of a pair.
We then moved through Minthis seeing many Corn Buntings and a few Cretzschmar's Buntings on territory. Moving on through Armou we had great views of a pair of Hoopoes close to the car but sadly no Long-legged Buzzards.
The Paphos Sewage Works produced little aside the Spur-winged Lapwings and many tree pipits and Spanish Sparrows so we moved on quickly to Timi where Wood Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtails, Collared and Pied Flycatcher and Cattle + Little Egret were showing. We had our Lunch here.
We then tried our luck at Anarita Masts for Cyprus Warbler but again they were reluctant to show, though we did see an Eastern Black-eared Wheatear here as well as an Ortolan Bunting and Spectacled Warbler. Mandria was unusually quiet though we managed to pick out a pair of Northern Wheatear, a Hoopoe, Laughing Dove and a Great Spotted Cuckoo and got lucky with a field of Stone Curlew.
Our last stop was Asprokremnos Dam car park seeing a 1st plumage Bonelli's Eagle en-route, though being short on time by this point we didn't have a very productive time here. We finished off with 66 species.
We started out at Agia Varvara. En-route we had a Great Spotted Cuckoo fly low tawards the car on the B road which was a good start. At Agia varvara we was greeted by a Woodchat Shrike posing close to the car for a lengthy period, and also a Black Francolin sitting low in a tree. On the pools we had great views of many Little Crakes but not much else was around aside whinchat. As we left the site we had nice close lengthy views of a Spotted Flycatcher.
We moved up into Anarita Park which was also fairly quiet aside many whinchat. We had some great views of a Marsh Harrier and a Male Montagu's Harrier. A small part of Red-rumped Swallows flew around us very low down with one entering its nesting tunnel with food. None of the Cyprus Warblers were willing to show although we did get a brief view of a female Eastern Subalpine warbler as a consolation.
Moving further inland we saw quite a few Cyprus Wheatear heading in to Episkopi and also quite a few Turtle Doves. We even had some great views of an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler sitting on the power lines singing away and many chukar on the ground.
After viewing the Peregrine Falcons on their territory we moved up to the Cyprus Scops Owl roost and got fantastic views and photos of a pair.
We then moved through Minthis seeing many Corn Buntings and a few Cretzschmar's Buntings on territory. Moving on through Armou we had great views of a pair of Hoopoes close to the car but sadly no Long-legged Buzzards.
The Paphos Sewage Works produced little aside the Spur-winged Lapwings and many tree pipits and Spanish Sparrows so we moved on quickly to Timi where Wood Sandpiper, Yellow Wagtails, Collared and Pied Flycatcher and Cattle + Little Egret were showing. We had our Lunch here.
We then tried our luck at Anarita Masts for Cyprus Warbler but again they were reluctant to show, though we did see an Eastern Black-eared Wheatear here as well as an Ortolan Bunting and Spectacled Warbler. Mandria was unusually quiet though we managed to pick out a pair of Northern Wheatear, a Hoopoe, Laughing Dove and a Great Spotted Cuckoo and got lucky with a field of Stone Curlew.
Our last stop was Asprokremnos Dam car park seeing a 1st plumage Bonelli's Eagle en-route, though being short on time by this point we didn't have a very productive time here. We finished off with 66 species.
| Species List: Chukar Partridge Black Francolin Little Grebe Cattle Egret Little Egret Common Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Western Marsh Harrier Montagu's Harrier Bonelli's Eagle Little Crake Common Moorhen Eurasian Stone Curlew Spur-winged Lapwing Wood Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Yellow-legged Gull Baltic Gull Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove Great Spotted Cuckoo Cyprus Scops Owl Alpine Swift Common Swift Pallid Swift Eurasian Hoopoe Woodchat Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow | Great Tit Crested Lark Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Common House-martin Zitting Cisticola Cetti's Warbler Sedge Warbler Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Blackcap Common Whitethroat Sardinian Warbler Eastern Subalpine Warbler Spectacled Warbler Whinchat Northern Wheatear Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Cyprus Wheatear Spotted Flycatcher European Pied Flycatcher Collared Flycatcher House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail (Flava, thunbergii) Black-headed Wagtail Tree Pipit (h)Red-throated Pipit European Greenfinch European Goldfinch Common Linnet Corn Bunting Ortolan Bunting Cretzschmar's Bunting 66 |
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