CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS
  • Home
  • About
  • Book A Tour
  • The Birds of Cyprus ↧
    • Endemics
    • Regional Specialities
    • Checklist
  • Gallery
  • Tour Reports ↧
  • Dragonfly Tours
  • Home
  • About
  • Book A Tour
  • The Birds of Cyprus ↧
    • Endemics
    • Regional Specialities
    • Checklist
  • Gallery
  • Tour Reports ↧
  • Dragonfly Tours

May 04th, 2018

4/5/2018

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD Tour - Paphos & Akrotiri 01 & 03/05/2018

Picture
Spur-winged Lapwing & Chick - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 1st I had the pleasure of guiding David and Maicon around Paphos. We started at the Sewage works where many Cattle Egret were feeding in the fields and many broods of Barn Swallow were lining the wires, with a Sand martin among them.
The Spur-winged lapwings weren't outside the fence at this early time so we checked the pools to which we found Glossy Ibis, Squacco Heron and quite a few Spur-winged lapwing. Towards the solid waste area we got better views of Spur-winged Lapwing and was amazed to find they had a chick already. On the way out we spotted a Stone Curlew in flight but failed to find the point in which it landed.
Then on to Mandria where we had good views of Laughing Dove, Hoopoe, Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrike. There wasn't much movement out at sea as now the migration has slowed right down and so we didn't stick around. We headed to Agia Varvara which held little and then onto Anarita Park where we was treated to many great views of Red-footed Falcon, Lesser Kestrel, Cyprus Warbler, European Roller, Montagu's Harrier and Red-rumped Swallow.
We moved on through to Episkopi in hope of getting Great Spotted Cuckoo which is a nightmare bird to find this year unfortunately, undoubtedly there being some problems in their wintering grounds considering the sharp decline in populations visiting Cyprus over the past 3 years. Sadly we couldn't locate any Great Spotted Cuckoos, though we did see Eastern olivaceous warbler, Cyprus Wheatear and some more Rollers. Moving up to higher ground we got great scoped views of Peregrine Falcon chicks and briefly heard the calls of a Cyprus Scops Owl echoing against the cliff face.
Picture
Montagu's Harriers m&f - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Moving up to Minthis hills a Long-legged Buzzard was gaining height. At the entrance to Minthis we came across a Cretzschmar's Bunting singing away at the top of a small Hawthorne tree, there was many Corn Buntings along this strip which has been subject to much construction over the past year. 
We drove to Kathikas from here and managed to get incredible views of Black-headed Bunting, with all of them singing and even had close views of 2 males fighting on at least 3 occasions. There was a harrier in the distance but too far to identify. 
Picture
Black-headed Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Picture
Black-headed Bunting - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
From kathikas we headed up to Pano Arodes where we saw quite a few Golden oriole in flight. I was hoping to get Great Spotted Cuckoo here ... but the best we managed was a Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush and Spotted Flycatcher both managing to get within meters.
As we headed out and journeyed to Evretou Dam we came upon a Long-legged Buzzard perched in a tree very close providing incredible views and an inevitable take-off.
We stopped to eat our lunch at Evretou near the waters edge where Yellow Wagtails approached us and we enjoyed many flocks of Bee-eater flying over. Highlights here was a few Night Heron, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron and a Black-tailed Godwit which was well spotted by David partly concealed in the grass. We also watched a Long-legged Buzzard soaring over the hills and watched the extremely large nesting group of Spanish Sparrow in a large tree. A great day with some very colourful birds totaling 68 species.
Picture
Common Rockthrush - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
The second day we ventured to Akrotiri. We started at the Salt Lake which had been very productive lately. In no time at all we came across many Temminck's and Little Stint, Wood and Marsh Sandpiper. There was a large Flock of Greater Flamingo overhead at various stages and also we had flocks of Glossy Ibis and Collared Pratincole that flew very close to us at times and landed nearby. 
Picture
Collared Pratincole - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We had Eleonora's Falcon flyby's on entrance and on exit of the salt lake. White-winged and Little Terns were both present in decent numbers flying and landing very close 
to us at times. The majority of waders were Ruff and Little Stint, though we did pick out a Dunlin and also quite a few Curlew Sandpipers. Seeing a few Black-headed Gull here was a bit of a surprise considering how late into spring we are.
Some Baltic gull showed well in flight and on the ground. There was a decent group of Greater Flamingo at the waters edge that were in display which was great to see especially so close as well. A few Northern Shoveler were among them.
Picture
White-winged Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
After we was satisfed with our sightings here we moved on to Lady's Mile seeing a Tawny pipit on the way. I made a mistake here in not exploring the southern eastern point here which I am told Greater Sandplover and Broad-billed Sandpiper were seen there in the afternoon.
The water levels at Lady's Mile had reduced dramitically since last being there and seemed ripe for waders now. Though there actually wasn't many around. We did get some more ruff, marsh sandpiper and a greenshank. Also a Black-tailed Godwit among Ruff. Little Tern were in abundance here fishing.
Picture
Tawny Pipit - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We then moved on to Bishops Pool. Many ferruginous duck were showing and we also had a few late Common Teal and some Garganey. A Little Bittern called from the reeds though we was unable to locate it. A Chiffchaff moved from tree to tree, an unexpected sighting for this time of year (identified on call).
After checking some of Akrotiri Gravel Pits (of which the highlight was seeing two Little Terns plunging into the water around 4 meters from the car and then feeding each other in display) and Phassouri Marsh we stopped for our lunch.
After lunch we headed to Kensington cliffs where we got incredible views of many Eleonora's Falcons playing, hunting and also mobbing the Griffon Vultures that were active on arrival. We also saw lots of Alpine Swift with some flying quite low.
It was quite windy by this point so getting the Griffon Vultures closer to us in flight was not going to happen, though they still provided a good show and ended the tour on a high note. We managed 78 species for the day and brought the total number of species to 100. 
Picture
Red-backed Shrike - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Species:
Chukar Partridge 
(h) Black Francolin   
Mallard    
Northern Shoveller
Garganey   
Common Teal    
Ferruginous Duck
Little Grebe
Greater Flamingo
Glossy Ibis
Black-crowned Night-heron
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Little Egret
(h) Little Bittern
European Shag
Lesser Kestrel 
Common Kestrel   
Red-footed Falcon 
Eleonora's Falcon 
Peregrine Falcon
Western Marsh Harrier 
Montagu's Harrier
Long-legged Buzzard
Eurasian Stone Curlew
Common Moorhen 
Common Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Spur-winged Lapwing  
Common Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover  
Black-tailed Godwit 
Marsh Sandpiper
Common Greenshank 
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper  
Little Stint  
Temminck's Stint
Dunlin  
Curlew Sandpiper 
Ruff  
Yellow-legged Gull 
Baltic Gull
Black-headed Gull
Little Tern 
White-winged Tern
Rock Dove
Common Wood-pigeon ​
 European Turtle-dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Laughing Dove
(h) Cyprus Scops Owl
Little Owl 
Alpine Swift 
Common Swift
European Roller
European Bee-eater
Red-backed Shrike
Lesser Grey 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
Cetti's Warbler
Sedge Warbler
(h) Eurasian Reed-warbler
(h) Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
Blackcap
Common Chiffchaff
Sardinian Warbler
Cyprus Warbler
Spectacled Warbler
(h) Common Nightingale
Common Redstart
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear
Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
Cyprus Wheatear
Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush
Spotted Flycatcher
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow 
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail (flava, feldegg)
Tawny Pipit
European Greenfinch
European Goldfinch
Common Linnet
Corn Bunting
Cretzschmar's Bunting
Black-headed Bunting

100

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)


    *** The blog layouts are not available to those viewing on a mobile device.

    Bird is the Word



    Archives

    June 2022
    October 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015


    RSS Feed


    Site Promotion
    • thegamblingbird

    • CABS

    • Life For Birds fb

    • Animal Party Cyprus fb

    • Birdguides.com

    • Stop the Cull

    • Fat Birder

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.