Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Half day Tour - Paphos 08/03/2019
Corn Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 8th I guided Lesley and Bill around the Paphos sites for a half day tour.
We started at the Paphos Headland for Greater Sand Plover, seeing a very smart adult male Wheatear in the car park en-route. We arrived at the corner point, and spotted a Little Ringed Plover near the sea. The Greater Sand Plover were on the south side of the point and all in a line. Their plumage had advanced quite a bit since last seeing them, they were looking very smart. One of them seemed quite small in comparison to the others and also had a bit of an odd white eye ring, maybe a different race. A Golden Plover was staying close to them with some black on the breast starting to show. They got rattled and flew further back along the coast and joined a single Turnstone. As we walked back we was treated to great close views of Red-throated Pipit, some with great plumage, and also a Corn Bunting landed next to us and foraged through the vegetation some meters away. I heard a Great Spotted Cuckoo call from the archaeological grounds, and soon enough I managed to locate it and get it on the scope. Then a Red-rumped Swallow flew low over us providing great views, result!
We started at the Paphos Headland for Greater Sand Plover, seeing a very smart adult male Wheatear in the car park en-route. We arrived at the corner point, and spotted a Little Ringed Plover near the sea. The Greater Sand Plover were on the south side of the point and all in a line. Their plumage had advanced quite a bit since last seeing them, they were looking very smart. One of them seemed quite small in comparison to the others and also had a bit of an odd white eye ring, maybe a different race. A Golden Plover was staying close to them with some black on the breast starting to show. They got rattled and flew further back along the coast and joined a single Turnstone. As we walked back we was treated to great close views of Red-throated Pipit, some with great plumage, and also a Corn Bunting landed next to us and foraged through the vegetation some meters away. I heard a Great Spotted Cuckoo call from the archaeological grounds, and soon enough I managed to locate it and get it on the scope. Then a Red-rumped Swallow flew low over us providing great views, result!
Greater Sand Plover - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Red-throated Pipit - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our next site was the sewage plant for Spur-winged Lapwings. We must have seen about 20 of them, with two that briefly copulated infront of the car. A Hoopoe showed well under some olive trees in a tiny patch of sunlight shining through, just meters from the car. A huge flock of Serin was moving around the alfalfa fields, flocks of well over 100 each. As we approached the plant, there was a few birds around a puddle, a Song Thrush and a Bluethroat! As we approached the puddle the Bluethroat darted off not to be seen again, though we heard its calls. A water pipit landed infront of the puddle with a red-throated pipit briefly.
Our last site was anarita park for Finsch's Wheatear, which we got great views of and also the Little Owl posed nicely on the rocks and we had another fly by infront of us. We got some great views of Cyprus Warbler, both male and female, though we couldn't locate the chukar that were calling. We did get a great view of a Sling-tailed agama sunning itself on a rock.
A very productive half day tour totaling 51 Species.
Our last site was anarita park for Finsch's Wheatear, which we got great views of and also the Little Owl posed nicely on the rocks and we had another fly by infront of us. We got some great views of Cyprus Warbler, both male and female, though we couldn't locate the chukar that were calling. We did get a great view of a Sling-tailed agama sunning itself on a rock.
A very productive half day tour totaling 51 Species.
Sling-tailed Agama - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
| Species List: (h) Chukar Partridge Cattle Egret Great Cormorant Common Kestrel Spur-winged Lapwing Eurasian Golden Plover Little Ringed Plover Greater Sand Plover Yellow-legged Gull Common Wood-pigeon Eurasian Collared-dove Great Spotted Cuckoo Little Owl Common Swift Eurasian Hoopoe Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Wood Lark Eurasian Skylark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Common House-martin | Zitting Cisticola Cetti's Warbler Common Chiffchaff Blackcap Sardinian Warbler Cyprus Warbler Song Thrush European Robin Bluethroat Western Black Redstart Common Stonechat Northern Wheatear Finsch's Wheatear Isabelline Wheatear House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow White Wagtail Meadow Pipit Red-throated Pipit Water Pipit Common Chaffinch European Serin European Greenfinch European Goldfinch Corn Bunting 51 |
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