Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD Tour - Paphos + Akrotiri 14/09/201
On the 14th I guided Vernon and Lynn around Akrotiri and Paphos. We started at Akrotiri, on the way from Paphos we had a European Honey Buzzard fly very low over the car on the motorway, a good start!
Our first site was the Salt lake, as we approached the site through the salt flat shrubs a male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear showed incredibly well, a scarce autumn migrant. 2 Temminck's Stint showed very well close to the car accompanied by a small party of Little Stint, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover and Yellow Wagtail. A Citrine Wagtail called at one point but we was unable to locate it. There was many Marsh Harriers roosting on the Salt Lake and a single Montagu's Harrier.
There was a storm approaching from the north west and narrowly missed us, providing some dramatic scenery. Due to this many of European Honey Buzzards that must have roosted in the foothills were flying in low. We had some huge flocks pass over creating quite a spectacle (roughly just over 150 birds with 3 black kites among them them.)
The gravel pits held little and so we moved on to Bishop's pool which was also short on numbers, though a small party of Black-crowned Night Heron in the reeds provided good views. We wasted little time and checked out Kensington cliffs for close views of Eleonora's Falcons, of which didn't disappoint.
We then made our way back to Paphos, starting at the Sewage Works for Spur-winged Lapwing of which showed nicely. A recently arrived Tawny Pipit showed at the side of the road enabling good views. We then checked a nearby site for Eurasian Stone Curlew, one was showing quite close in the shade of an olive tree.
We then finished up at Mandria with a few Isabelline and Northern Wheatear and a European Shag on the rocks bringing our day total to 62 Species.
Our first site was the Salt lake, as we approached the site through the salt flat shrubs a male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear showed incredibly well, a scarce autumn migrant. 2 Temminck's Stint showed very well close to the car accompanied by a small party of Little Stint, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover and Yellow Wagtail. A Citrine Wagtail called at one point but we was unable to locate it. There was many Marsh Harriers roosting on the Salt Lake and a single Montagu's Harrier.
There was a storm approaching from the north west and narrowly missed us, providing some dramatic scenery. Due to this many of European Honey Buzzards that must have roosted in the foothills were flying in low. We had some huge flocks pass over creating quite a spectacle (roughly just over 150 birds with 3 black kites among them them.)
The gravel pits held little and so we moved on to Bishop's pool which was also short on numbers, though a small party of Black-crowned Night Heron in the reeds provided good views. We wasted little time and checked out Kensington cliffs for close views of Eleonora's Falcons, of which didn't disappoint.
We then made our way back to Paphos, starting at the Sewage Works for Spur-winged Lapwing of which showed nicely. A recently arrived Tawny Pipit showed at the side of the road enabling good views. We then checked a nearby site for Eurasian Stone Curlew, one was showing quite close in the shade of an olive tree.
We then finished up at Mandria with a few Isabelline and Northern Wheatear and a European Shag on the rocks bringing our day total to 62 Species.
| Species List: Mallard Garganey Common Teal Little Grebe Black-crowned Night-heron Cattle Egret Grey Heron Little Egret European Shag Common Kestrel Eleonora's Falcon Peregrine Falcon European Honey-buzzard Black Kite Western Marsh Harrier Montagu's Harrier Water Rail (h) Common Moorhen Common Coot Eurasian Stone Curlew Spur-winged Lapwing Common Ringed Plover Little Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Common Greenshank Wood Sandpiper Little Stint Temminck's Stint Dunlin Ruff | Yellow-legged Gull Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Laughing Dove European Bee-eater Red-backed Shrike Lesser Grey Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Greater Short-toed Lark Crested Lark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Common House-martin Zitting Cisticola Willow Warbler Sardinian Warbler Spectacled Warbler Whinchat Northern Wheatear Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Isabelline Wheatear House Sparrow Citrine Wagtail (h) Yellow Wagtail Tawny Pipit European Goldfinch 62 |
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