Five Barn Swallows, two House Martin and a Common Swift today at Athalassa Park reminded me that spring is on the way. On and around the water were two Great Egret, six Grey Heron, two Black-crowned Night Heron, two Cattle Egret, c40 Great Cormorant, a male Common Pochard, 18+ Ferruginous Duck, 3 Tufted Duck, three Grey Wagtail, a Common Snipe and lots of Little Grebe, Eurasian Coot, Common Moorhen, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Teal and Mallard.
Little Grebe Athalassa Park 27th January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Eurasian Coot Athalassa Park 27th January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Visited several of my favourite locations today around the east of the island. Several Greater Sand Plover on a couple of rocky coasts and the three White-headed Duck are still at Oroklini Marsh. More interesting sightings included:
Agia Trias (Paralimni)
Greater Sand Plover 2
Grey Plover 4
Cape Greco
Blue Rock Thrush 2m
Cyprus Warbler 3m singing plus others heard
Song Thrush 8
Audouin’s Gull 1
Spanish Sparrow c200
Kermia Beach
Greater Sand Plover 2
Grey Plover 1
Macronissos Beach
Common Sandpiper 1
Chukar 16 together in one field
Agia Thekla
Common Sandpiper 2
Great Cormorant 2
Potamos Liopetri
Common Kingfisher 1
Little Egret 1
Common Sandpiper 1
Audouin’s Gull 1
Dhekelia
European Shag 8
Oroklini Beach
Sandwich Tern 2
European Shag 3
Oroklini Marsh
White-headed Duck 3
Black-winged Stilt 4
Black-tailed Godwit 1
Common Pochard 1m
Northern Pintail 2
Blue Rock Thrush Cape Greco 22nd January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
A brief but interesting birding drive around both these two locations this morning. At Agios Sozomenos I found eight Northern Lapwings in one field, although they were then spooked by a beautiful male Hen Harrier quartering the area. A Bluethroat was singing again in the deserted village and today the Finsch’s Wheatear total was two males and a dark-throated female. Just one Long-legged Buzzard flew over. Corn Buntings, Spectacled Warblers and Zitting Cisticola were all singing. A Little Owl was calling but I didn’t see one on this visit.
In the Panagia Stazousa valley there were at least four singing Cyprus Warbler and several others were heard moving in the bushes. Small flocks of European Serin and Corn Bunting were around. I saw three Long-legged Buzzard here. One high over the village of Pyrga and a pair near the southern end of the valley.
Bluethroat, Agios Sozomenos 21st January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Greater Flamingo Larnaca Salt Lake 16th January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Spent quite a long time today counting Greater Flamingos. 12,000 plus in the Larnaca area. Hundreds of Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Teal and Common Shelduck; twenty five Black-necked Grebe, three Gadwall, a Ferruginous Duck, eight Eurasian Wigeon and seven Greater White-fronted Geese at Larnaca Sewage Works. A small flock of less than thirty Eurasian Golden Plover at Spiros Pool with two Sandwich Tern offshore. Among the many Common Black-headed Gull it was good to find a Little Gull on Meneou Pool.
A lot of disturbance around the Salt Lake including some idiots walking in the water to get nearer to the Greater Flamingos there. Away from them in a quieter area there was a Temminck’s Stint, a few Little Ringed and Common Ringed Plover, seven Common Snipe and larger numbers of Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Little Stint and Common Redshank.
The White-headed Duck were still at Oroklini when I popped in there before heading home.
Too nice a day to sit at laptop so went out for a few hours around Agios Sozomenos. Best birds were a pair of Long-legged Buzzard flying together and being mobbed by the many Western Jackdaw of the area. One of the Long-legged had nesting material in its talons. A Bluethroat was a surprise spot, sitting on a bush singing briefly. Found a female and two male Finsch’s Wheatear. The female was at least a kilometre away from where I had seen one at the end of last year so there must be two of them in the area this winter. Spectacled Warbler and Corn Bunting were singing and I also found a female Cyprus Warbler and heard a Little Owl calling.
Jack Snipe, Germasogeia Dam 9th January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Was pleased to find that a couple of Jack Snipe were still at Germasogeia Dam today together with at least one Common Snipe, a Bluethroat, several Water Pipit and two Grey Wagtail. There were also flocks of European Goldfinch, European Serin, and Spanish Sparrow as well as several European Robin, lots of Common Stonechat and a European Blackbird. On the water there were some Great Cormorant, Eurasian Teal, Little Grebe, Eurasian Coot, Common Moorhen and a Grey Heron.
White Wagtail Germasogeia Dam January 9th 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Jack Snipe Germasogeia Dam 9th January 2016 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
For the first time in many years I was unable to get out birding during the first days of the year so my 2016 Cyprus year list started a week into the new year. I went around several sites on the east of the island and finished at Oroklini. No sign of the White-headed Ducks this evening but watching around 1000 White Wagtails come into roost as it got dark made up for it.
Cape Greco
Blue Rock Thrush 1m
Cyprus Warbler 1h
Long-legged Buzzard 1
Macronissos Beach
Eurasian Skylark 120+
Potamos Liopetriou
Common Kingfisher 1
Oroklini Beach
Armenian Gull 5
Oroklini Marsh
White Wagtail c1000 coming into roost in reeds at sunset
Black-winged Stilt 5
Northern Lapwing 6+
Cattle Egret c120
Northern Pintail 10
Common Starling 11
If you were birding in Cyprus during 2015 don’t forget to send all your 2015 sightings in to the Recorder if you haven’t already done so. They can be sent either via the Global portal of the BTO BirdTrack database http://blx1.bto.org/birdtrack2/main/data-home.jsp or on the excel form which you can either download from the BirdLife Cyprus website http://www.birdlifecyprus.org/en/html-50-Recording_your_sightings.html or the Recorder can send to you. Email lists are acceptable if you are not comfortable with either of those two methods.
So that the 2015 database can be completed it would be appreciated if they are received by February 10th 2016. If you are unable to meet that deadline but still have 2015 records to submit please let the Recorder know.
Make your birdwatching count and ensure that your sightings are included in the 2015 country database. Please note that the only way for your records to be included in the database is to ensure that the Recorder receives them. Unfortunately she is unable to include those only noted on various social media sites, ‘round-robin’ emails, “BirdLine” etc.
Jane Stylianou cypriaca@birdlifecyprus.org.cy
BirdLife Cyprus Bird Recorder
P O Box 24382, 1703 Nicosia, Cyprus
A quick ‘spur of the moment’ visit to the Cape Greco area this morning produced four Grey Plover and three Common Kingfisher at Agia Trias; two over flying Great Black-headed Gull at Cape Greco where there was also a Blue Rock Thrush, six Woodlark and a female Cyprus Warbler; and thirteen Eurasian Stone Curlew roosting on the beach at Kermia Beach.
The three fem/juv White-headed Duck were still at Oroklini at dusk this evening. I also noticed a couple of Northern Pintail, over forty Northern Lapwing, at least fifty Spur-winged Lapwing, four Common Ringed Plover, an Armenian Gull as well as the usual Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Coot, Little Grebe, Common Moorhen and more than 200 Cattle Egret coming into roost. On the nearby beach gull numbers were lower than I would expect in December. Three Armenian Gull were in the water with around 150 Common Black-headed Gull.
Did the waterbird count around Larnaca Salt Lake today. Some interesting birds around despite the general lack of water. The Sewage Works pools had c750 Northern Shoveler, c490 Eurasian Teal, c130 Mallard, a Gadwall, 219 Greater Flamingo, a Ruff, two Ruddy Shelduck, a Common Shelduck, six Greater White-fronted Geese, a Tufted Duck, 11 Ferruginous Duck, 13 Black-necked Grebe, a Mediterranean and Armenian Gull and 11 Northern Lapwing. In the fields there were many Eurasian Skylark, some Red-throated Pipit, plenty of Spanish Sparrow and flocks of European Goldfinch, European Greenfinch and Common Linnet. On the Airport Pools South there was a flock of 330 Eurasian Golden Plover.
There is not a lot of water on the main Salt Lake and a lot of the birds mentioned below were seen in the north east corner where it is quite boggy: 9 Greater Flamingo , 2 Heuglin’s Gull , 1 Mediterranean Gull , 2 Armenian Gull , 1 Yellow-legged Gull, 39 Common Shelduck , c170 Kentish Plover, 4 Common Ringed Plover, 11 Corn Bunting, a Common Reed Bunting, 5 Common Snipe, 2 Water Pipit, 2 Spur-winged Lapwing, Water Rail (h), Eurasian Teal c175 and two Marsh Sandpiper.
Common Redshank, Meneou Pool, 15th December 2015 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Female Sardinian Warbler keeping an eye on what’s above her, Larnaca Sewage Works 15th December (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Cyprus Birding Tours 