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April 30th, 2017

30/4/2017

 

Cyprus Bird watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD Tour, Paphos & Akrotiri 24+25/04/17

Baillon's Crake Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Baillon's Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 24th and 25th of April I guided Ian Norris around the Paphos and Akrotiri sites on a strictly photography tour, so species count was never going to be high as we'd be spending lots of time with each species. I was using a borrowed car as mine was in for repairs. Being in a new car (hybrid) I found it was actually harder to approach birds, maybe due to it being white. Started the day at the Paphos Sewage Plant for good photo ops with Black Francolin and Spur-winged Lapwing. The Black francolin was very close but always staying partly concealed on the edge of a wheat field, and the Spur-winged Lapwing performed well as usual. A perched Red-rumped Swallow was an added bonus. We passed through Agia Varvara for Chukar and European Turtle Dove. The Chukar was quite close on a rock but sadly towards the sun and the Turtle Dove did not stick around for long. Aside from some close photo ops with Spotted Flycatchers Mandria was quite poor so we quickly headed on to Asprokremnos Dam, this provided good photo opportunities with Tree Pipit and Wryneck though due to a few mistakes we both walked away without photos of these species. Then to Anarita Park which provided great photo opportunities of Little Owl, Red-footed Falcon and Lesser Kestrel hunting and Cyprus warbler. Nata ford provided good photo opportunities only with Wood Sandpiper. We then headed into the Paphos Foothills where we observed Peregrine Falcon at their nesting site and up to Minthis for very close photo ops with Cretzschmar's Bunting on territory. We continued to Kathikas in hope of some early Black-headed Buntings but failed to find any, though we did come across a stunning Golden Oriole.

Spotted Flycatcher Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Spotted Flycatcher - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
The second day consisted of a visit to Akrotiri, though Ian wasn't interested in photographing waders as only Marsh Sandpiper would be a new species ... which we did manage to see but sadly too distant for photographs. We started the day at Zakaki where we had immense views and photo opportunities with Baillon's Crake out in the open ... something that very rarely happens! We even managed to see it catch and eat a small fish though with quite a few obstructions. A Female Little Crake was out for a while as was a Water Rail and a few Little Bittern with quite a few Little Bittern flying too and many sounding their mating call. Squacco Herons were putting on a show too perching on the reeds. We had a brief look at Lady's Mile and the Salt Lake which had a group of Gull-billed Terns, Little Terns and a single White-winged Tern. Just before Akrotiri Village we came upon Turtle Dove coming down for water, various waders and also a Great Snipe quite close probing the ground. We then headed to the Gravel Pits which was unusually empty and so wasted no time in continuing to Kensington cliffs. Here we had good photo opportunities with Cyprus wheatear and warbler, passing Eleonora's Falcon and Griffon Vulture. Two Eleonora's Falcons were caught in each others talons in freefall at one point. The remainder of the day was spent in Paphos trying to improve photo opportunities with some earlier species. Also a trip to Mandria to get good shots of Red-throated Pipit, in which we did within 5 meters distance. At Anarita Park we witnessed to Magpies near a Cyprus Warbler at its nest, the male Cyprus Warbler emerged from a broom shrub after we had flushed the Magpies, the Cyprus Warbler had a chick in it bill and no doubt was transporting it to another nest ... a very odd observation that I have never come across before.
The species list is what I observed around us for those days.
Mallard
Ferruginous duck
Chukar
Black francolin
Greater flamingo
European shag
Grey heron
Purple heron
Little egret
Squacco heron
Cattle egret
Little bittern
Glossy ibis
Eurasian Griffon Vulture
Western Marsh harrier
Lesser kestrel
Common kestrel
Red-footed falcon
Eleonora's falcon
Peregrine falcon
Water rail
Little crake
Baillon's crake
Common moorhen
Eurasian coot
Eurasian Stone curlew (h)
Spur-winged lapwing
Little ringed plover
Kentish plover
Black-winged stilt
Great snipe
Marsh sandpiper
Common greenshank
Wood sandpiper
Common sandpiper
Little stint
Curlew sandpiper
Ruff
Yellow-legged gull
Black-headed gull
Gull-billed tern
Little tern
White-winged tern
Rock dove
Common Wood pigeon
European turtle dove
Eurasian Collared dove
Little owl
Alpine swift
Common swift
Pallid swift
Eurasian Hoopoe
Common kingfisher (h)
European bee-eater (h)
Eurasian wryneck
Greater short-toed lark
Crested lark
Sand martin
Barn swallow
Red-rumped swallow
House martin
White wagtail
Yellow wagtail
Tawny pipit
Tree pipit
Red-throated pipit
Zitting cisticola
Cetti's warbler
Savi's warbler (h)
Sedge warbler
Eurasian reed warbler 
Great reed warbler
Eastern olivaceous warbler (h)
Eurasian blackcap
Whitethroat
Sardinian warbler
Cyprus warbler
Spectacled warbler
Spotted flycatcher
Common redstart
Whinchat
Cyprus wheatear
Eastern Black-eared wheatear
Great tit
Eurasian golden oriole
Magpie
Eurasian jackdaw
Hooded crow
Cretzschmar's bunting
Corn bunting
European greenfinch
European goldfinch
Common linnet
House sparrow
Spanish sparrow

95
Picture
Baillon's Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Baillon's Crake feeding Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Baillon's Crake with fish - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Curlew Sandpiper Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Curlew Sandpiper - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Eurasian Golden Oriole Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Eurasian Golden oriole - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Grey heron Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Grey Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
White-winged Gull-billed Tern Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Gull-billed & White-winged Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Little Crake Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Little Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
White-winged Tern Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
White-winged Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Squacco heron Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Squacco Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Glossy Ibis Cyprus Birding Birdwatching tours ecotours birdlife wildlife
Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved

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)


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