Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri 17/09/2019
Eleonora's Falcon - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 17th I guided Shay and Natalie around Akrotiri.
We started out at Phassouri where there wasn't overly too much on show aside the European Bee-eaters and a distant pair of Golden Oriole sitting at the top of a eucalyptus tree. Lesser Whitethroat were heard here but not seen. We did manage brief views of a Common Kingfisher and a few Red-backed Shrike.
We started out at Phassouri where there wasn't overly too much on show aside the European Bee-eaters and a distant pair of Golden Oriole sitting at the top of a eucalyptus tree. Lesser Whitethroat were heard here but not seen. We did manage brief views of a Common Kingfisher and a few Red-backed Shrike.
Golden Oriole - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We ventured through the Gravel Pits seeing a few Whinchat as we passed through, but seemed quite devoid of life aside that so we quickly moved on to the salt lake seeing a few Black Francolin and a Redstart en-route.
The salt lake held the large number of Greater Flamingo as well as a few yellow-legged and slender-billed gull. Groups of Great, Little and Cattle Egret were still present. There didn't seem to be too much activity so we decided to re-locate again. We ventured to Bishop's Pool where a decent kettle of Honey Buzzard were at the entrance along with an Osprey. Heading in to Bishop's pool we had Garganey and Mallard on the water as well as many Little Grebe. Willow Warbler showed well and there was a stream of raptors flying over. We even had a group of 6 Black Kite together. Honey Buzzard numbers were around 80. As we were leaving a Cyprus Hare darted across the road.
The salt lake held the large number of Greater Flamingo as well as a few yellow-legged and slender-billed gull. Groups of Great, Little and Cattle Egret were still present. There didn't seem to be too much activity so we decided to re-locate again. We ventured to Bishop's Pool where a decent kettle of Honey Buzzard were at the entrance along with an Osprey. Heading in to Bishop's pool we had Garganey and Mallard on the water as well as many Little Grebe. Willow Warbler showed well and there was a stream of raptors flying over. We even had a group of 6 Black Kite together. Honey Buzzard numbers were around 80. As we were leaving a Cyprus Hare darted across the road.
Black Kite - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We did a quick check at Ladies Mile and got very close to some Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Stint and a few Turnstones. A European Roller showed nice and close on a low wire nearby and Spectacled Warbler were heard.
European Roller - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Dunlin - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Ruddy Turnstone - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Curlew Sandpiper - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our next site was Kensington Cliffs where we saw many Eleonora's Falcon with one perched quite close, unfortunately the Griffon Vultures were not around but a large male Green Turtle was showing well in the bay.
Eleonora's Falcon - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Our last stop was back in Paphos at the Sewage Plant where we saw some more whinchat, a pair of Ruff, Spur-winged Lapwing and also another Osprey, but this one flew in quite close to us bringing about a nice final sighting of the tour.
Osprey - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We managed 61 species for the day.
| Species List: Black Francolin Mallard Garganey Little Grebe Greater Flamingo Glossy Ibis Cattle Egret Grey Heron Great Egret Little Egret European Shag Common Kestrel Eleonora's Falcon Osprey European Honey-buzzard Black Kite Western Marsh Harrier Montagu's Harrier Long-legged Buzzard Common Moorhen Common Coot Spur-winged Lapwing Common Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Ruddy Turnstone Little Stint Dunlin Curlew Sandpiper Ruff Yellow-legged Gull | Slender-billed Gull Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove European Roller Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Red-backed Shrike Lesser Grey Shrike Eurasian Golden Oriole Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Zitting Cisticola (h)Cetti's Warbler Willow Warbler (h)Lesser Whitethroat Sardinian Warbler (h)Spectacled Warbler Common Redstart Whinchat Northern Wheatear House Sparrow Yellow Wagtail (*Flava) Black-headed Wagtail Tree Pipit 61 |
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