Cyprus Bird watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD Tour, Paphos & Akrotiri 24+25/04/17
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 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.
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 |  Baillon's Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Baillon's Crake with fish - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Curlew Sandpiper - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Eurasian Golden oriole - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Grey Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Gull-billed & White-winged Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  Little Crake - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved  White-winged Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved |
Squacco Heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Glossy Ibis - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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