- Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri 19/09/2019
Red-footed Falcon - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 19th I guided Hillary and Ian around the Akrotiri sites. Our day started at Phassouri where Grey Heron and Glossy Ibis were flying over and the trees were full of European Bee-eaters at their roost. A European Roller seemingly wanted some attention by landing in the tree next to the car on arrival.
We headed to the main hide where 4 Common Snipe flushed on our arrival and Spur-winged Lapwing were walking with us down the path to the hide. Marsh Harrier were hunting frequently and small groups of mallard and garganey were taking up every now and then. From the hide we saw Red-backed Shrike and Whinchat close and fleeting glimpses of Water Rail and Common Kingfisher. Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler showed well at times here. Every time a Marsh Harrier flew over it put up a Whiskered Tern and a group of Greenshank. As we exited the site a female Red-footed Falcon flew in close towards us providing great views and a Golden plover type flew over the hide ... which seemed quite early and though I was suspicious that it may be a Pacific, the record photos showed that it was in fact a European.
As we ventured to the Gravel Pits there was many European Turtle-Dove flying over, with some coming down for water.
The gravel pits was again very low on life aside quite a few Marsh Harrier on the ground and a distant Hoopoe and so we continued to the Salt Lake.
The usuals were at the Salt Lake though new additions were Pallid Swift overhead and a small group of Baltic Gull. A Spoonbill was seen very briefly flying into the runoff channel and not re-emerging. Only a few Honey Buzzard flew over here so we tried to find an area with better raptor activity.
We headed to Bishop's Pool and found a nice shady place to view the sky. As we entered the gates a Sparrowhawk flew out of a nearby tree, sadly not a levant but still a welcome sight. There wasn't too much activity in the sky aside Marsh Harrier, a small group of Black Kite and seemingly a fair group of Red-footed Falcon up high. We checked on the water and new additions included Northern Shoveler. On the opposite site we flushed a Little Bittern and had quite a sizable kettle of Honey Buzzard with a Montagu's Harrier among them.
We then ventured to Ladies Mile for the waders which didn't seem to be present, only getting Kentish Plover and Little Stint plus Lesser Grey Shrike in the area and then headed to the Tower Hide which was very poor aside a brief viewing of a Common Kingfisher.
As we were heading to Kensington Cliffs I spotted a Chameleon in the road and so we stopped to help it across and got some photos of it.
Eleonora's Falcons were showing at Kensington, with some close on the cliff face but again no Griffon Vultures seemed to be present though the Green Turtle was still happily in the bay. We ended the day with 67 species.
We headed to the main hide where 4 Common Snipe flushed on our arrival and Spur-winged Lapwing were walking with us down the path to the hide. Marsh Harrier were hunting frequently and small groups of mallard and garganey were taking up every now and then. From the hide we saw Red-backed Shrike and Whinchat close and fleeting glimpses of Water Rail and Common Kingfisher. Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler showed well at times here. Every time a Marsh Harrier flew over it put up a Whiskered Tern and a group of Greenshank. As we exited the site a female Red-footed Falcon flew in close towards us providing great views and a Golden plover type flew over the hide ... which seemed quite early and though I was suspicious that it may be a Pacific, the record photos showed that it was in fact a European.
As we ventured to the Gravel Pits there was many European Turtle-Dove flying over, with some coming down for water.
The gravel pits was again very low on life aside quite a few Marsh Harrier on the ground and a distant Hoopoe and so we continued to the Salt Lake.
The usuals were at the Salt Lake though new additions were Pallid Swift overhead and a small group of Baltic Gull. A Spoonbill was seen very briefly flying into the runoff channel and not re-emerging. Only a few Honey Buzzard flew over here so we tried to find an area with better raptor activity.
We headed to Bishop's Pool and found a nice shady place to view the sky. As we entered the gates a Sparrowhawk flew out of a nearby tree, sadly not a levant but still a welcome sight. There wasn't too much activity in the sky aside Marsh Harrier, a small group of Black Kite and seemingly a fair group of Red-footed Falcon up high. We checked on the water and new additions included Northern Shoveler. On the opposite site we flushed a Little Bittern and had quite a sizable kettle of Honey Buzzard with a Montagu's Harrier among them.
We then ventured to Ladies Mile for the waders which didn't seem to be present, only getting Kentish Plover and Little Stint plus Lesser Grey Shrike in the area and then headed to the Tower Hide which was very poor aside a brief viewing of a Common Kingfisher.
As we were heading to Kensington Cliffs I spotted a Chameleon in the road and so we stopped to help it across and got some photos of it.
Eleonora's Falcons were showing at Kensington, with some close on the cliff face but again no Griffon Vultures seemed to be present though the Green Turtle was still happily in the bay. We ended the day with 67 species.
| Species List: Chukar Partridge Black Francolin Mallard Northern Shoveler Garganey Little Grebe Greater Flamingo Glossy Ibis Eurasian Spoonbill Little Bittern Cattle Egret Grey Heron Little Egret European Shag Common Kestrel Red-footed Falcon Eleonora's Falcon European Honey-buzzard Black Kite Western Marsh Harrier Montagu's Harrier Eurasian Sparrowhawk Water Rail Common Moorhen Common Coot Spur-winged Lapwing European Golden Plover Common Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Common Snipe Common Greenshank Little Stint | Yellow-legged Gull Baltic Gull Slender-billed Gull Whiskered Tern Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Alpine Swift Pallid Swift European Roller Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Eurasian Hoopoe Red-backed Shrike Lesser Grey Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Common House-martin Zitting Cisticola Sedge Warbler Eurasian Reed-warbler Willow Warbler Sardinian Warbler Spectacled Warbler Whinchat Northern Wheatear House Sparrow Yellow Wagtail (*Flava) 67 |
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