Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - Full day tour - Akrotiri with Tomas et al 19/10/21
On the 19th I guided Tomas around the Akrotiri sites at the tail end of Autumn migration, I had previously done a tour for Tomas and group many years ago in the east of the island. We started at Akrotiri marsh where we was greeted by two female Black Francolins showing well at the entrance cut field. Shortly after we spotted a small white raptor sitting high in a tree. It turned out to be a Black-winged Kite which has been reported in the area for quite some time now. To our surprise though a second was seen in a tree a bit further away, both adults. We had amazing views and both flew quite close to us at one point. A Cyprus Rarity with possibilities of them nesting on the island this year in the north and definitely a future prospect for Cyprus.
We then continued on to the Tower hide where we got some great views of many Common Kingfisher and a Male Black Francolin in the distance with a few calling in the area. A Little Bittern called out, but unfortunately we did not see it. A few raptors were in the area, mainly Marsh Harriers and Sparrowhawk and we got a distant view of a male Levant Sparrowhawk which was the first adult that I had ever seen in Cyprus, not a common sighting, all my past sightings (6-7) have been juveniles. A White-winged Tern was in the area darting around, and a small flock of Redshank passed a few times. A Great White Egret was spotted flying in the distance.
We stopped at a few spots along the marsh to see if we could spot a Sociable Lapwing that had been reported the day before, but we could only find Northern and Spur-winged Lapwing. At the last point we came across many Glossy Ibis, Whiskered Tern, a Squacco Heron, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank sounded flying over. A Hen Harrier was hunting in the area almost catching one of the Whiskered Tern, prior to that it was being mobbed by possibly another Black-winged Kite. A few Sparrowhawk were also hunting in the area, flying low and putting everything up occasionally.
Next we ventured through the gravel pits seeing little aside Marsh Harrier, Common Stonechat and Whinchat. We then decided to stop at a cafe for coffee.
After we finished our coffee's we head off for bishops pool, seeing a few more Sparrowhawk on the way. On the water at Bishop's Pool we had a single Ferruginous Duck, Shoveler, Teal and many Little Grebe. Hunting above the water we had a juvenile Peregrine Falcon, a few Eurasian Hobby's, many Eleonora's Falcon including a juvenile bird, and a few young red-footed falcon, a falcon-fest. Blackcap and Cetti's warblers were calling frequently in the shrub and we had a very close call with another Sparrowhawk.
Next we ventured to the Salt Lake, seeing very little aside Eleonora's Falcon, Greater Flamingo and a lone Eurasian Curlew.
We decided to visit Zakaki Marsh next and have our lunch in the hide there.
The ONly bird of note here was possibly another Black-winged Kite mobbing a Marsh Harrier.
Lastly we ventured to Kensington Cliffs where we got good views of 3 Griffon Vulture, many Eleonora's Falcons including juveniles and a lone Peregrine Falcon.
We decided to visit Zakaki Marsh next and have our lunch in the hide there.
The ONly bird of note here was possibly another Black-winged Kite mobbing a Marsh Harrier.
Lastly we ventured to Kensington Cliffs where we got good views of 3 Griffon Vulture, many Eleonora's Falcons including juveniles and a lone Peregrine Falcon.
We finished the day with 67 species, quality over quantity and a very enjoyable tour.
| Species List: Black Francolin (5) Mallard Northern Shoveler Common Teal Ferruginous Duck Little Grebe Greater Flamingo Glossy Ibis (h)Little Bittern Squacco Heron Cattle Egret Great Egret Little Egret Common Kestrel Red-footed Falcon Eleonora's Falcon Eurasian Hobby Peregrine Falcon Black-winged Kite (4) Griffon Vulture Western Marsh Harrier Hen Harrier Levant Sparrowhawk Eurasian Sparrowhawk (12) (h)Water Rail (h)Corncrake Common Moorhen Common Coot Northern Lapwing Spur-winged Lapwing Common Snipe | Black-tailed Godwit Eurasian Curlew Spotted Redshank Common Redshank Common Greenshank Wood Sandpiper Ruff Yellow-legged Gull Whiskered Tern White-winged Tern Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon Eurasian Collared-dove Common Kingfisher Red-backed Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Barn Swallow Zitting Cisticola (h)Cetti's Warbler (h)Eurasian Reed-warbler (h)Great Reed-warbler Willow Warbler Common Chiffchaff (h)Blackcap Song Thrush Whinchat Common Stonechat House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail (*Flava) Tree Pipit 67 |
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