Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Half-day Tour - Paphos 23/04/2019
Red Footed Falcon (f) - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 23rd I guided Pat and Les around the Paphos sites for a half-day tour.
We started out at the Paphos Sewage Plant where we managed great views of Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows and Sand Martins perched and feeding over the alfalfa fields accompanied by Common Swifts. A Masked Shrike showed well as did some Common Whitethroat, a Northern Wheatear and our target here; The Spur-winged lapwings were meters from the car and a favourite species for the day. We had small groups of Purple Heron migrating overhead at a few times and also a surprise Great Spotted Cuckoo, presumably one about to leave the island as this is not their habitat.
We started out at the Paphos Sewage Plant where we managed great views of Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows and Sand Martins perched and feeding over the alfalfa fields accompanied by Common Swifts. A Masked Shrike showed well as did some Common Whitethroat, a Northern Wheatear and our target here; The Spur-winged lapwings were meters from the car and a favourite species for the day. We had small groups of Purple Heron migrating overhead at a few times and also a surprise Great Spotted Cuckoo, presumably one about to leave the island as this is not their habitat.
Purple Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
As we were heading to Agia Varvara I noticed a Red-footed Falcon hovering over a field in Acheleia, so we parked to watch the female for a lengthy time at close range and even put up a Stone Curlew. Next stop was Agia Varvara where we was greeted at the entrance by a Woodchat Shrike in the same bush I had seen one on my previous few tours. Leading to the pools we had a Chukar on the pathway and a Purple Heron. On the pools we had a few Great Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler plus a Squacco Heron showing nicely. At least 7 Wood Sandpiper were in the pools, and countless whinchats in the area. Sadly all the crakes seemed to have left the area, and the Little Bittern didn't show itself. As we were leaving the site a Golden Oriole darted out of a tree and flew into an orchard.
Purple Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We then ventured to Asprokremnos Car park in hope of some flycatchers where we only managed to see a single male Collared Flycatcher and not much else so we moved on quickly just sweeping past the village of Mandria for some Laughing dove on the way to Timi.
At Timi we had great views of Common and Wood Sandpiper, various Yellow-wagtails, Little and Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Spotted, Pied and a single Semi-collared Flycatcher and also we had a Heuglin's Gull fly along the coast and a smart male Common Redstart meters from the car. We finished the half-day managing 60 species.
At Timi we had great views of Common and Wood Sandpiper, various Yellow-wagtails, Little and Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Spotted, Pied and a single Semi-collared Flycatcher and also we had a Heuglin's Gull fly along the coast and a smart male Common Redstart meters from the car. We finished the half-day managing 60 species.
 Blue-headed Wagtail - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved |  Spotted Flycatcher - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved |
Common Sandpiper - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
| Species List: Chukar Partridge (h)Black Francolin Glossy Ibis Squacco Heron Cattle Egret Grey Heron Purple Heron Little Egret Common Kestrel Red-footed Falcon Common Moorhen Eurasian Stone Curlew Spur-winged Lapwing Wood Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Heuglin's (Siberian) Gull Yellow-legged Gull Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove Great Spotted Cuckoo Common Swift Woodchat Shrike Masked Shrike Eurasian Golden Oriole Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow | Great Tit Crested Lark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Common House-martin Zitting Cisticola (h)Cetti's Warbler (h)Savi's Warbler (h)Sedge Warbler Eurasian Reed-warbler Great Reed-warbler Blackcap Common Whitethroat Sardinian Warbler (h)Common Nightingale Common Redstart Whinchat Northern Wheatear Spotted Flycatcher European Pied Flycatcher Collared Flycatcher Semi-collared Flycatcher House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail (Flava, Thunbergii) Black-headed Wagtail Tree Pipit European Greenfinch European Goldfinch 60 |
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