Cyprus Bird Watching Tours - BIRD is the WORD - Akrotiri 23/09/2019
Little Swift - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
On the 23rd I guided Ian around the Akrotiri Sites.
We started off at Phassouri where we had brief views of Water Rail and good views of Gossy Ibis, Little Egret and Spur-winged Lapwing as well as Black-headed Wagtail. A Honey Buzzard took up on our arrival and a pair of Whiskered and White-winged Tern where flying in the area as well as some snipe and 2 Ruff. We also had good views of a male and female Black Francolin on the marsh. Round the back heading to the gravel pits we had great views of Red-footed Falcon in the trees and on the ground.
The gravel pits was still very much quiet as was last time, we did manage to spot 3 Tawny Pipit on the ground and a Turnstone still feeding around the oasis.
We then ventured to the Salt Lake. Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingo and some Spoonbill were on the salt lake as well as long lines of Grey Heron and Sleder-billed Gull. Some of the Slender-billed Gull took up and flew quite close to us. Pallid Swift and various hirundines were flying over and we managed to get on a rare Little Swift here. We only saw around 8 Honey Buzzard here high up and decided it was not the point that the raptors would come down for a drink and so we continued to Bishop's Pool. On the way we saw Crested Lark and Red-backed Shrike plus many Bee-eaters and a small party of Chukar, we didn't check the pools at Ladies Miile as we was tipped off that nothing much was on the water.
As we approached Bishop's Pool a Honey Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Steppe Buzzard were not too high in a small kettle.
We started off at Phassouri where we had brief views of Water Rail and good views of Gossy Ibis, Little Egret and Spur-winged Lapwing as well as Black-headed Wagtail. A Honey Buzzard took up on our arrival and a pair of Whiskered and White-winged Tern where flying in the area as well as some snipe and 2 Ruff. We also had good views of a male and female Black Francolin on the marsh. Round the back heading to the gravel pits we had great views of Red-footed Falcon in the trees and on the ground.
The gravel pits was still very much quiet as was last time, we did manage to spot 3 Tawny Pipit on the ground and a Turnstone still feeding around the oasis.
We then ventured to the Salt Lake. Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingo and some Spoonbill were on the salt lake as well as long lines of Grey Heron and Sleder-billed Gull. Some of the Slender-billed Gull took up and flew quite close to us. Pallid Swift and various hirundines were flying over and we managed to get on a rare Little Swift here. We only saw around 8 Honey Buzzard here high up and decided it was not the point that the raptors would come down for a drink and so we continued to Bishop's Pool. On the way we saw Crested Lark and Red-backed Shrike plus many Bee-eaters and a small party of Chukar, we didn't check the pools at Ladies Miile as we was tipped off that nothing much was on the water.
As we approached Bishop's Pool a Honey Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Steppe Buzzard were not too high in a small kettle.
Steppe Buzzard - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Sadly we didn't see any more large raptors at Bishop's Pool though we did get good views of a Blunt-nosed Viper crossing the road close, a Black Francolin meters from the car laying down and also the usuals on the lake.
Black Francolin - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Next we ventured to the tower hide, having a look on the gravel pits again on the way. Not much was happening at the tower hide and so we headed to kensington cliffs where finally a few Griffon Vultures were on show. We had Eleonora's close on the cliff and many in flight and admired some of our endemic pygmy carlina thistles here and the adult Green turtle still in the bay.
Green Turtle - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Pygmy Carlina - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
We stopped here for our food and then headed back to Phassouri to the Bee-hives area in hope of some raptors. Here we got many Red-footed Falcon, a disappointing number of Honey Buzzard for this time of year, a Hobby and also a Black Kite. We finished the day with 68 species.
Red-footed Falcon - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
Black Kite - Cyprus Bird Watching Tours Bird is the Word © Matt Smith All Rights Reserved
| Species List: Chukar Partridge Black Francolin Mallard Northern Shoveler Garganey Little Grebe Greater Flamingo Glossy Ibis Eurasian Spoonbill Cattle Egret Grey Heron Great Egret Little Egret European Shag Common Kestrel Red-footed Falcon Eleonora's Falcon Eurasian Hobby European Honey-buzzard Black Kite Griffon Vulture Western Marsh Harrier Eurasian Sparrowhawk Steppe Buzzard Water Rail Common Moorhen Common Coot Spur-winged Lapwing Common Snipe Eurasian Curlew Ruff Turnstone | Baltic Gull Slender-billed Gull Whiskered Tern White-winged Tern Rock Dove Common Wood-pigeon European Turtle-dove Eurasian Collared-dove Pallid Swift LITTLE SWIFT Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Eurasian Hoopoe Red-backed Shrike Eurasian Magpie Eurasian Jackdaw Hooded Crow Great Tit Crested Lark Sand Martin Barn Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Zitting Cisticola Eurasian Reed-warbler Lesser Whitethroat Sardinian Warbler Northern Wheatear Spotted Flycatcher House Sparrow Yellow Wagtail (*Flava) Black-headed Wagtail Tawny Pipit Tree Pipit European Greenfinch European Goldfinch 68 |
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