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November 20th, 2019

20/11/2019

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - 3 day tour. Kukla, Larnaca, Akrotiri and Paphos. 14, 15, 19th November

Picture
Spur-winged Lapwing - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 14th I guided Allen around the eastern sites of Cyprus, a second time out for Allen this year. We started out at Oroklini Marsh where many waterfowl were present, including Common Shelduck, Northern Shoveler and Pintail. 
There was a few waders on the waters edge, including Redshank, Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper. From the first hide we had a brief glimpse of a Pied Kingfisher which shot over the far reeds but sadly didn't show again. There wasn't much else to see and so we then ventured to Kukla wetlands. Life wasn't very abundant here compared to previous visits though two Pelicans were a welcome sight and a decent sized flock of Common Cranes and small group of Greater Flamingo. A Merlin was in some shrub at the waters edge and provided great photo opportunities in flight.  
We then headed back to Oroklini to get some food and to check out the gulls on the coast, sadly only Black-headed Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls were present.
Next stop was the Kamares aqueduct which only had a few water pipits and a common kingfisher. The Menou area which held very little and so we called it a day.
We finished with 59 species.
Picture
Northern Lapwing - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 15th we headed to Akrotiri. The weather was terrible, with heavy rain, hail and and even a few waterspouts. We started at Phassouri Marsh at the tower hide. Penduline Tit and Common Kingfisher were seen as well as Common Snipe. Marsh Harrier were also patrolling the reeds.
We didn't venture to the next hide as the weather got worse and so we visited some of the sites in Paphos stopping at Episkopi on the way where we got fantastic views of Griffon Vultures not so high up. We searched Mandria and the sewage plant which both held many larks and pipits and the Spur-winged Lapwings were on show as well as a small group of Northern Lapwing.
We finished the day with 43 species.
Picture
Cyprus Scops Owl - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On our last day we headed to the Avagas Gorge for the Wallcreeper of which we found fairly quickly not far from the entrance. A Lifer for Allen. Robins, Black Redstart and the usual winter visitors were present.
We then headed to Mavrokolympus in hope of seeing Cyprus Warblers which sadly were not around. Greater Cormorant and Little Grebe were on the water but no waterfowl, we saw a fleeting glimpse of a Spanish Sparrow and also many Stonechat were present.
We then headed to Agia Varvara as I got a message of a Great Bittern near the pools. Sadly we didn't see it as we were looking in the wrong place and not much else was around of note. We then headed to Anarita park where the Finsch's Wheatear was showing well, but unfortunately no Little Owls were around again. A flock of Woodlark were flitting around at the entrance.
Lastly we headed to Episkopi where a Cyprus Scops Owl was in its roosting tree, another lifer for Allen, and a highly sought after species.

We finished the day with 41 species.
Species List:

Chukar Partridge    
Common Shelduck    
Mallard    
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Common Teal
Common Pochard   
Ferruginous Duck    
Little Grebe
Greater Flamingo
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Little Egret
Great Cormorant   
European Shag  
Common Kestrel   
Merlin  
Peregrine Falcon
Griffon Vulture
Western Marsh Harrier  
Hen Harrier
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Long-legged Buzzard     
Common Moorhen  
Common Coot
Common Crane
Black-winged Stilt 
Northern Lapwing
Spur-winged Lapwing
Common Snipe 
Common Redshank 
Common Greenshank 
Green Sandpiper ​
Wood Sandpiper 
Armenian Gull 
Yellow-legged Gull 
Black-headed Gull 
Rock Dove 
Common Wood-pigeon   
Eurasian Collared-dove
Laughing Dove
Cyprus Scops Owl
Common Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher 
Eurasian Magpie    
Eurasian Jackdaw   
Hooded Crow
Great Tit
Eurasian Penduline tit
Crested Lark  
Wood Lark
Eurasian Skylark
Zitting Cisticola  
Eurasian Reed-warbler
Blackcap 
Sardinian Warbler
Wallcreeper
Western Black Redstart
Common Stonechat
Finsch's Wheatear
House Sparrow 
Spanish Sparrow    
White Wagtail
Meadow Pipit 
Red-throated Pipit
Water Pipit
Common Chaffinch 
European Greenfinch    
European Goldfinch
Common Linnet

70 species 

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    Mostly all photos are taken with a
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    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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