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September 20th, 2019

20/9/2019

 

  • Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri 19/09/2019

Picture
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. 
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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    Mostly all photos are taken with a
    - Canon 7D mkii (older photos with mk1)
    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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