Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri, Paphos, Famagusta + North, Troodos 4 Day Tour 29+30/09 + 01+3/10/2019
The first day we set out to Akrotiri, at Phassouri Marsh where we got great views of Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Little Egret, Common Kingfisher and also brief views of Common Snipe and Black Francolin. Many ducks were flying in and out and I managed to spot an odd one in the crowd which turned out to be a female wood duck! Obviously an escapee.
The salt lake held great numbers of Greater Flamingo and the Eleonora's Falcons were hunting here again. Slender-billed Gulls were showing again too.
Ladies Mile held small numbers of waders, Little Stint and Ringed Plover.
Bishop's Pool was unfortunately locked being a Sunday and so we ventured to the tower hide which was fairly quiet aside some groups of Honey Buzzard flying over and a lone Steppe Buzzard.
We managed 61 species for the day.
Our next stop was Mandria where we saw some Stone Curlew and a Black Francolin. We also got great views of Laughing Dove.
Next we went up to Arodes where we saw Long-legged Buzzard. We searched this site for Levantine Leopard though was unsuccessful in finding this rare butterfly. Our last stop was to see Egyptian Fruit bats at a secret cave.
We got 50 species for the day.
We managed 76 species for the day.
Prodromos was quite dissapointing for both birds and Butterflies, though we did get a Hobby here.
We then headed to Livadi tou passia where we ate our lunch. Sadly there was a group of motorcross people here and very little wildlife.
At the next picnic site we had a small group of Crossbill in a tree but flushed due to a car going past fast, we also had a single one sitting high in a tree. Willow Warbler were showing and we had fleeting glimpses of Wren and a Sylvia warbler type that went down as unknown but likely a lesser whitethroat. A tree pipit showed quite well in a tree for a decent period.
We visited the Botanical Garden where we had great views and photo ops with many Hummingbird Hawkmoths.
Our day total was a low count of 30 species. Bringing our 4 day tour to 112 Species.
Species List: Chukar Partridge (a.c.cypriotes) Black Francolin Mallard Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Common Shelduck Common Teal Garganey *Wood Duck Little Grebe Great Crested Grebe Greater Flamingo White Stork Eurasian Spoonbill Glossy Ibis Cattle Egret Grey Heron Great Egret Little Egret Squacco Heron Great Cormorant European Shag (p.a.desmarestii) Lesser Kestrel Common Kestrel Red-footed Falcon Eleonora's Falcon Eurasian Hobby Peregrine Falcon (f.p.brookei) Osprey European Honey-buzzard Black Kite Griffon Vulture Western Marsh Harrier Pallid Harrier Eurasian Sparrowhawk Northern Goshawk Long-legged Buzzard Steppe Buzzard Bonelli's Eagle Water Rail Common Coot Common Moorhen Black-winged Stilt Eurasian Stone Curlew Common Crane Northern Lapwing Spur-winged Lapwing Common Ringed Plover Eurasian Golden Plover Greater Sand Plover Whimbrel Common Snipe Common Redshank Common Greenshank Marsh Sandpiper | Wood Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone Little Stint Temminck's Stint Curlew Sandpiper Collared Pratincole Yellow-legged Gull Slender-billed Gull Whiskered Tern White-winged Tern Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove Common Swift Alpine Swift European Roller Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Red-backed Shrike Eurasian Jay (g.g.glaszneri) Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit (p.m.aphrodite) Coal Tit (p.a.cypriotes) Greater Short-toed Lark Crested Lark (g.c.cypriaca) Sand Martin Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Zitting Cisticola Cetti's Warbler (h)Eurasian Reed-warbler Willow Warbler Blackcap Sardinian Warbler Whinchat Spotted Flycatcher Northern Wheatear Cyprus Wheatear Eurasian Blackbird House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Eurasian Wren (t.t.cypriotes) White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail (*Flava) Black-headed Wagtail Grey Wagtail Dorothy's Short-toed Treecreeper (c.b.dorothea) Tree Pipit Red-throated Pipit Common Chaffinch European Greenfinch (c.c.muehlei) European Goldfinch Red Crossbill (c.c.guillemardi) Corn Bunting 112 |
Blue-tail Damselfly Common Darter Red-veined Darter Red-veined Dropwing Broad Scarlet Slender Skimmer (copula) Southern Skimmer Lesser Emperor (copula) Blue Emperor Vagrant Emperor Wandering Glider Migrant Hawker Common Blue Long-tailed Blue Small Grass Blue Grass Jewel African Grass Blue Small Desert Blue Brown Argus Lesser Fiery Copper Large White Small White Clouded Yellow Wall Brown Cyprus Meadow Brown Oriental Meadow Brown Wall Brown Speckled Wood Painted Lady Swallowtail Cleopatra Cardinal Cyprus Grayling Eastern Rock Grayling Pygmy Skipper | Crimson-speckled Flunky/moth Catocala coniuncta Hummingbird Hawk Moth Drimia aphylla Pygmy Carlina Sternbergia lutea European Plumbago Colchicum Troodi Tiger beetle - Calomera littoralis winkleri Large Marsh Horsefly Deerfly - Chrysops relictus Oriental Hornet Cannibalism Antlion sp. Large Black Whip Snake Sling-tailed Agama Lizard Snake-eyed Lizard Troodos Lizard Schreiber's Fringe-fingered Lizard Green Turtle |