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September 20th, 2019

20/9/2019

 

Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri 16/09/2019

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European Honey Buzzard juv - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 16th I guided my friend Allen around Akrotiri. Allen has taken multiple tours with over the past few years and chose Autumn to get some raptors and hopefully some more lifers. 
As we set out early many Stone Curlew were calling from a field nearby the hotel. We started out at Phassouri where many Bee-eaters and a Great Reed Warbler showed nicely. A few Grey Heron and Glossy Ibis flew over as well as a medium flock of Black-crowned Night Heron that passed us twice. Marsh Harrier were hunting nearby and a small party of Spur-winged Lapwing were not too far off. Sardinian Warbler, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and a Red-backed Shrike were showing in the bushes and trees. Water Rail and Little Bittern called from the reeds but were unfortunately not seen. A Whiskered tern fed over the pool for quite a few minutes and we also had small groups of White-winged Tern and Turtle Dove flying over a few times as well as European Roller that was flying around and perching a few times. 
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Great Reed Warbler - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Whiskered Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Whiskered Tern - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Black-crowned Night heron - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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European Bee-eater - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our next stop was the Salt Lake where nearly 8000 Greater Flamingos were showing close with Yellow-legged and Slender-billed Gull among them and a small party of Glossy Ibis. Great, Little and Cattle Egret were also on the lake including a large party of Grey Heron as well as Mallard, Garganey and Coot. A Greater-short-toed Lark was scurrying around some meters from us from our view point. Eleonora's Falcon and Marsh Harrier were hunting in the area not too far away.
We then moved on to the Gravel Pits where a Masked Shrike showed briefly as well as many Whinchat. There was many European Honey Buzzards flying over and we even managed to get quite a few on the ground close. We ended up with nearly 200 for the day. We was told that we just missed a Bar-tailed Godwit on one of the pools here. We heard a curlew call in the distance but was unable to see it. 
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European Honey Buzzard Pale Juv - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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European Honey Buzzard - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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European Honey Buzzard - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We then headed back on ourselves to Ladies Mile to get some waders after hearing of a Broad-billed Sandpiper being sighted, we saw Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Stint, Kentish Plover, Common and Little Ringed Plover quite close but the bb sand must have moved on. A pair of Tree Pipit flew over here and identified on call. 
We then finished up the day at the Phassouri Bee-hives where we had a few Black Kite and Montagu's Harrier (Black Kite being a target for the day), some more Honey Buzzard, most of the hirundines and best of all a pair of Lesser Kestrel and a Short-toed Eagle. 
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Short-toed Snake Eagle - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Montagu's Harrier juv - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
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Lesser Kestrel - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We finished up with 79 species for the day. 
Species List:

Chukar Partridge    
Black Francolin    
Mallard    
Garganey   
Greater Flamingo
Glossy Ibis
(h)Little Bittern
Black-crowned Night-heron
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Great Egret
Little Egret
Lesser Kestrel 
Common Kestrel   
Eleonora's Falcon  
Eurasian Hobby
European Honey-buzzard
Black Kite   
Short-toed Snake-eagle
Western Marsh Harrier  
Montagu's Harrier  
Steppe Buzzard
(h)Water Rail
Common Moorhen  
Common Coot
(h)Eurasian Stone Curlew 
Spur-winged Lapwing
Common Ringed Plover 
Little Ringed Plover 
Kentish Plover    
(h)Eurasian Curlew
(h)Common Greenshank 
Ruddy Turnstone 
Little Stint 
Dunlin 
Curlew Sandpiper 
Yellow-legged Gull 
Slender-billed Gull 
Sandwich Tern
Whiskered Tern
White-winged Tern
Common Wood-pigeon   
European Turtle-dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Alpine Swift   
Common Swift
Pallid Swift   
European Roller   
Common Kingfisher

European Bee-eater   
Eurasian Hoopoe 
Red-backed Shrike 
Lesser Grey Shrike
Masked Shrike 
Eurasian Magpie    
Eurasian Jackdaw   
Hooded Crow
Great Tit
Greater Short-toed Lark
Crested Lark  
Sand Martin
Barn Swallow 
Red-rumped Swallow   
Common House-martin    
Zitting Cisticola  
Cetti's Warbler
Eurasian Reed-warbler
Great Reed-warbler
Lesser Whitethroat 
Sardinian Warbler
Spectacled Warbler  
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear 
House Sparrow 
Yellow Wagtail (*Flava)   
Tree Pipit 
Common Chaffinch 
European Greenfinch    
European Goldfinch
79

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    Mostly all photos are taken with a
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    - Canon 400mm Ef-s USM l f5.6 Lens. 
    - no teleconverter.

    Macro: 
    Tamron sp 90mm f017
    (older: Canon sx50 HS)


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