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April 22nd, 2018

22/4/2018

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - 3 day tour (Paphos/Night Tour, Akrotiri + Akamas)

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Namaqua Dove - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 17th I had the pleasure of Guiding Marco and Theresa on a 3 day tour with a heavy photographic focus. We started the day at the Paphos Sewage plant as it was a cloudy morning and the sun was not high enough yet for our main site. At the sewage plant we had a flock of Purple heron flying low and eventually landing in some nearby trees, a Glossy Ibis stood in a field with quite a few Squacco Heron, Little and Cattle Egret. There was only 2 Spur-winged Lapwing
outside the fence and few Red-throated Pipit.
As the light got better we moved around to Agia Varvara where we failed to see any crake species. Then we moved on to our main site, Anarita Park. Here we was treated to many Lesser Kestrel that didn't seem to be very active. 
Here we had photo opportunities with male and female Cyprus Warbler and also Cyprus Wheatear. There was decent photo opportunities with Ortolan Bunting also, another target species. We managed to spot a Greenfinch feeding its mate and then copulating briefly. We even saw a Large Whip Snake sun-bathing on the track.
Next stop was Mandria where we managed good photo opportunities with Greater Short-toed Lark and also had good views of Black Francolin, another target species. We was very lucky to see the (Cyprus Rarity 6th) Namaqua Dove that had previously been found in the area. We flushed it some 30 meters from the car. 
We then moved on to Timi Beach where we had great views and photo opportunities with an adult male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, and were also treated to a Yellow-legged Gull feeding another and then mating on a rock offshore. I saw a quail land in the vegetation and then flushed it whilst searching. Here we also came across a Mammoth Wasp and a Sand Wasp species carrying a dead Grasshopper. An usual occurrence here was 4 Swallowtail Butterflies all chasing each other and eventually landing all together. I guess competition for mating.
We managed 56 species for the day.
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Cyprus Warbler - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Yellow-legged Gull copulating - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Swallowtail Butterfly
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Sand Wasp (Tachysphex sp.)
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Large Whip Snake
The second day was at Akrotiri and Episkopi. We started out at Phassouri for Black Francolin, we found one pretty quickly but it was tricky to photograph, a wary bird on this favoured perch. We did find another later for some photography.
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Black Francolin - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Purple Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
As usual the entrance to the site held many Serin singing and a few Chaffinch.
Heading to the marsh there was a Wryneck perched in the reeds and two Purple Heron on the ground. From the hide there was many Cattle Egret and Little Egret nearby, as were Northern Shoveler, Mallard, Garganey, Ferruginous Duck and Glossy Ibis.
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Cattle Egret - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Ferruginous Duck, Shoveler + Mallard - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
At the back 3 Great Reed Warblers showed well and in the small reeds much closer, Sedge and Eurasian reed Warbler flitted around.
The gravel pits held a few Woodchat Shrike, Pallid Harrier and a Eurasian Hobby on the ground at the pebbled beach. In a dry grassy area there were many Owlfly's on the wing. Unusually the church area was completely devoid of life.
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Eurasian Hobby - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We continued to Lady's Mile where there was many Ruff, Little Egret and a small party of Marsh Sandpiper and two Greenshank. There wasn't many Gulls around.
We then headed to the Salt Lake. On the way we came across a pair of Collared Pratincole on the ground and a huge group of Glossy Ibis both on the ground and in the air, of which many joined the passing flock. On the salt lake there was many Little Stint with a Temmincks stint very distant. There was a large stretch of Northern pintail on the ground as well as quite a few Greater Flamingo and Grey Heron. A Grey plover was an odd sighting here. Many Swift passed overhead with some Pallid among them.
A few little tern were fishing here and a White-winged Tern was resting on the ground.
On the other side there was a small group of Gull-billed Tern sitting next to some Yellow-legged and Armenian Gull. Slightly to the right was a small group of Kentish Plover and ... a male Caspian Plover, a Cyprus rarity. Two days and two rarities. 
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Caspian Plover - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Caspian Plover - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We then checked Episkopi on the way back for Griffon Vulture and saw one but it wasn't very close. An Eleonora's Falcon sat on the Cliffs in the distance and Alpine Swift buzzed past us many times. We managed a whopping 86 Species.

2 Hours of the tour were reserved for a quick night tour for Cyprus Scops Owl. We managed to find one but not at my trusted site which is now in need of evaluation. We found 4 Little Owls, an Egyptian Fruit Bat, a few Pipistrelle, a Nightjar churring and also a few encounters with Long-eared hedgehog.
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Long-eared Hedgehog - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
The third day was to concentrate more on photography with the Endemics (and only 6 hours to do so) and also target Cretzschmar's Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Masked Shrike and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler. It was an afternoon tour which was sadly overcast. We did however manage some superb photo opportunities despite the weather of all the mentioned species. I decided the Akamas on the north coast was the place to go.
Other highlights were a pair of Cuckoos, Whinchat, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, 20+ Golden Oriole and almost nabbing a good photo of one, Serin, Great Tit fledglings everywhere, Little Owl, Hoopoe and many many Roller including one in display flight. A female Pallid Harrier did a close flyby and we saw two Eurasian Hobby's.  A low count of 45 species for the day and bringing our total to 110 species.
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Cretzschmar's Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cretzschmar's Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cyprus Warbler - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cyprus Warbler - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Pallid Harrier - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cyprus Wheatear - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cyprus Wheatear - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Cyprus Wheatear - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Common Cuckoo - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Little Owl - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Total:
Chukar Partridge
Black Francolin
Common Quail  
Mallard   
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Garganey     
Ferruginous Duck
Little Grebe
Greater Flamingo
Glossy Ibis
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Little Egret 
European Shag
Lesser Kestrel
Common Kestrel
Eleonora's Falcon 
Eurasian Hobby   
Griffon Vulture
Western Marsh Harrier  
Pallid Harrier
Steppe Buzzard
Long-legged Buzzard
Bonelli's Eagle
Common Moorhen 
Common Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Spur-winged Lapwing 
Grey Plover   
Common Ringed Plover 
Little Ringed Plover 
Kentish Plover 
Caspian Plover 
Marsh Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Little Stint  
Temminck's Stint
Dunlin  
Ruff
Armenian Gull  
Yellow-legged Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Little Tern  
White-winged Tern
Rock Dove
Common Wood-pigeon   
European Turtle-dove 
Eurasian Collared-dove 
Laughing Dove
Namaqua Dove
Common Cuckoo
Cyprus Scops Owl
Little Owl 

(h) Eurasian Nightjar
Alpine Swift  
Common Swift
Pallid Swift
European Roller
Eurasian Hoopoe
Eurasian Wryneck
Woodchat Shrike
Masked Shrike
Eurasian Golden Oriole   
Eurasian Magpie   
Eurasian Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Great Tit
Greater Short-toed Lark
Crested Lark
Sand Martin
Barn Swallow  
Red-rumped Swallow  
Common House-martin
Zitting Cisticola
Cetti's Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Eurasian Reed-warbler
Great Reed-warbler
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Blackcap
Lesser Whitethroat
Sardinian Warbler
Cyprus Warbler
Common Nightingale
Common Redstart
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear
Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
Cyprus Wheatear  
Isabelline Wheatear
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail (flava, feldegg) 
Meadow Pipit
Tawny Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
Common Chaffinch
European Serin
European Greenfinch
European Goldfinch
Common Linnet
Corn Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Cretzschmar's Bunting

110

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    Mostly all photos are taken with a
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    - Canon 400mm Ef-s USM l f5.6 Lens. 
    - no teleconverter.

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


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