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
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.
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
Visited Agios Sozomenos for a quick birdwatch this morning and found two male and one female Finsch’s Wheatear, several Red-throated Pipit, a Long-legged Buzzard and a lovely male Hen Harrier. My time there ended abruptly on receipt of a message from local birder, Matt Smith, saying he had found three White-headed Duck on Oroklini Marsh. So a quick dash there and although they were sleeping and on the far side of the lake, I spent some time enjoying this rare visitor floating around. Also on the lake were Northern Lapwing, Spur-winged Lapwing, some Common Redshank, two Common Snipe, lots of Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler and Eurasian Coot, and three Northern Pintail. As I left I spotted a Moustached Warbler in the reeds. Some good birds for my first birding in Cyprus for a few weeks!
Record shot of three White-headed Duck, Oroklini Marsh 14th December 2015 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Four birds on territories in the area – three males and a female. Also several Red-throated Pipit, Eurasian Skylark, Spectacled Warbler, Western Black Redstart and a Long-legged Buzzard.
All the usual suspects at Troodos today – plenty of Coal Tits, Winter Wren, Short-toed Treecreeper, Eurasian Jay, Common Chaffinch and Eurasian Blackbird. Of more interest was a male Yellowhammer and a Mistle Thrush at Almirolivado, two Goldcrest at Livadi tou Pashia and at least twelve European Siskin at Platania.
Photograph below of a Coal Tit at Livadi tou Pashia. One of the Cyprus endemic sub-species.
Coal Tit Troodos 20th November 2015 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
The second day out with Mark and Sally saw us find several of Mark’s target species, enjoy two rare visitors to Cyprus at close quarters and was a fitting end to a great year of guided tours for me. We visited Lower Ezousas Pools (morning and late afternoon), Paphos Sewage Works, Asprokremmos Dam and Mandria and brought the total of species seen on the two days out to sixty four.
Highlights today included:
Lower Ezousas Pools: Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Water Rail 3+, Common Kingfisher, Woodlark 10, Grey Wagtail 1, Bluethroat 1, Moustached Warbler 4+, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler 2, Bearded Reedling 2, Spotted Crake (seen by me).
Paphos Sewage Works – Spur-winged Lapwing 14, Northern Lapwing 18
Asprokremmos Dam area – Little Owl, Common Kingfisher, Woodlark 2, Spectacled Warbler 4, Cyprus Warbler 2m and 1f, European Serin c50, Corn Bunting 7
Little Grebe, Great Cormorant, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Kestrel, Chukar, Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Common Moorhen, Spur-winged Lapwing, Northern Lapwing, Common Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, Common Woodpigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Little Owl, Common Kingfisher, Crested Lark, Woodlark, Eurasian Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, European Robin, Bluethroat, Western Black Redstart, Common Stonechat, Song Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Moustached Warbler, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Cyprus Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Great Tit, Bearded Reedling, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Hooded Crow, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Common Chaffinch, European Serin, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch, Common Linnet, Corn Bunting
Bearded Reedling male Lower Ezousas Pool 18th November 2015 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
The third day out with Peter and Jean was spent around Paphos. We stopped at Achelia Dam on our way to Anarita Park. There we found the lone Ferruginous Duck that has been there for at least a week as well as fourteen Great Cormorant – one of which we watched struggle with a large fish it had caught. Onto Anarita Park, where it took us longer than expected to find a Finsch’s Wheatear, but with a little help from another birder we finally had some good views of a male. We also spent time watching two Little Owls and then were treated to the spectacle of two adult Bonelli’s Eagle flying to the east of the area being mobbed by a Long-legged Buzzard. Three Woodlark were also seen as well as a couple of Western Black Redstart and the ubiquitous Common Stonechat.
Some Yellow-legged Gulls, two Grey Heron and two Great Cormorant were the only water birds on Asprokremmos Dam so we headed to the mast area to the west of the water where we had brief views of a male and female Cyprus Warbler and a couple of Spectacled Warbler. A late Northern Wheatear was a surprise but the best bird of the area was a male Merlin we saw speeding over the scrub and fields putting the large flocks of European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, Spanish Sparrow, Meadow Pipit and Corn Bunting into a panic. Down by the water’s edge we also found large flocks of European Serin. A Long-legged Buzzard was also flying over the area.
We finished our day at Lower Ezousas, a site that has been very busy over the last few days since a pair of Cyprus rarities, the Bearded Reedling, had been seen on Saturday. We saw the female as soon as we arrived and the male as we left. We also had close up views of at least one Moustached Warbler, a Grey Wagtail, two Water Rail and a Bluethroat as well as several Cetti’s Warbler and Chiffchaff. As we left the light was fading – some good birds to round off the day.
The new species that we saw today brought the total seen over the three trips to 77.
Today’s species – 52
Little Grebe, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mallard, Ferruginous Duck, Long-legged Buzzard, Bonelli’s Eagle, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Chukar, Water Rail, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Yellow-legged Gull, Common Woodpigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Little Owl, Crested Lark, Woodlark, Eurasian Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, European Robin, Bluethroat, Western Black Redstart, Common Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Finsch’s Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Song Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Moustached Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Cyprus Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Bearded Reedling, Eurasian Magpie, Hooded Crow, Western Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Common Chaffinch, European Serin, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch, Common Linnet, Corn Bunting
Water Rail Lower Ezousas 16th November 2015 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Cyprus Birding Tours 