Evidence that winter visitors have been arriving at our wetlands the last few weeks with large numbers of Northern Shoveler (see photo), Greater Flamingo and Common Teal at the Salt Lake and Sewage Works. Also two each of Greater White-fronted Goose and Black-necked Grebe as well as four Common Pochard, a Eurasian Wigeon and two Northern Pintail. A small flock of Eurasian Golden Plover is already present as are good numbers of Eurasian Skylark and Meadow Pipit.
Northern Shoveler, Larnaca 18th November 2019 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Another disappointing waterbird count in the Larnaca area this morning. Best birds were three Common Pochard, four Common Snipe (see photo) and the long-staying Mediterranean Gull.
Other birds seen:
Meneou Pool
Little Stint 1
Kentish Plover 2
Larnaca Sewage Works
Grey Heron 3
Common Coot 5
Mallard 122
Common Teal 51
Northern Shoveler 4
Spur-winged Lapwing 6
Common Pochard 2m and 1f
Great Cormorant 7
Western Marsh Harrier 1
Northern Pintail 2f
Common Shelduck 1
Red-throated Pipit 1h
Common Redshank 1h
Red-backed Shrike 1 juv
Common Whitethroat 1
Out for an hour before sunset in the Meneou/Spiros Pool area. A few birds seem to have been put down by the heavy storms in the area during the afternoon. Interesting species seen were:
Larnaca Airport Pools South
Little Tern 2
Squacco Heron 1 (see photo)
Spiros Pool
Little Bittern 1m
Northern Pintail 1m
Eurasian Wryneck 1
Little Tern 4
Common Redstart 1f
Black-tailed Godwit 1
Common Whitethroat 2
Spiros Beach
Dunlin 1
Little Stint c40 (See photo)
Eurasian Stone Curlew 2 (See photo)
Kentish Plover c30
Common Ringed Plover 3
Northern Wheatear 1m and 1f
Eurasian Stone Curlew, Larnaca 19th April 2019 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Little Stint, Larnaca 19th April 2019 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Squacco Heron, Larnaca, 19th April 2019 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Spent most of the day at Cape Greco looking for early migrants. Some putting in an appearance – see list below – but the best was a lovely male Common Redstart of the samamisicus race (see photos). Also visited Oroklini Marsh and a couple of Agia Napa beaches where there were ten Greater Sandplovers (see photos).
Oroklini Marsh
Western Marsh Harrier 1
Black-tailed Godwit 5
Garganey 1m
Yellow Wagtail 1h
Northern Pintail 2m and 3f
Ferruginous Duck 7
Red-crested Pochard 1m and 5f
Black-winged Stilt c30
Spur-winged Lapwing 8
Common Redshank 1
Greater Flamingo 33
Common Swift 22
Cape Greco – from Kermia Beach to Agioi Anargyroi picnic site
Cyprus Warbler 6+ singing males
Ruppell’s Warbler 8m and 1f
Tree Pipit 1h
Cyprus Wheatear 4
Isabelline Wheatear 4
Greater Short-toed Lark 2
Northern Wheatear 1m
Yellow Wagtail 2 over
Blue Rock Thrush 1f
Common ‘Ehrenberg’s’ Redstart (samamisicus spp) 1m
Back after a few weeks away and spent the day on the east of the island. All wetlands now have a lot of water and from the weather forecasts more is to come. Visited Oroklini, Akhna Dam, Paralimni Lake and the coastal sites of Agios Trias, Kermia and Macronissos Beaches. Highlights were:
Oroklini Marsh
Western Marsh Harrier 1
Northern Lapwing c70+
Spur-winged Lapwing 5+ (see photo)
Black-winged Stilt 5
Northern Pintail 2m and 1f
Red-crested Pochard 1m and 1f
Ferruginous Duck 2
Northern Shoveler 80+
Greater Flamingo 73
Grey Heron 1
Common Teal 30+
Common Starling 1
Cattle Egret 140+ evening roost
Akhna Dam
Great Crested Grebe 1
Grey Heron 2
Great Cormorant 6
Woodlark 3 (1 singing from wire)
Eurasian Skylark h
Common Starling 5
Corn Bunting 1
Paralimni Lake – a lot of water
Grey Heron 17
Northern Lapwing 79
Ruff 5
Common Redshank 1
Greater Flamingo 112
Common Teal 5
Western Marsh Harrier 2
Common Starling 8
Pied Avocet 2
Laughing Dove 1+
Plenty of the usual wintering ducks around – Northern Shoveler, Common Teal for example. Interesting birds seen during the count included: Greater White-fronted Goose (see photo), Black-necked Grebe, Ferruginous Duck, Tufted Duck, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Redshank (see photo), young Baltic Gull and Slender-billed Gull, adult Citrine Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Water Pipit, Bluethroat (see photo), Common Snipe, Northern Lapwing, Spur-winged Lapwing, Water Rail, Reed Bunting and a feeding male Penduline Tit (see photo).
Spent much longer out birding than I had originally intended but it was worth it with the best birds being a sub adult Bonelli’s Eagle, two Long-legged Buzzard, three (maybe four) Finsch’s Wheatear, Red-throated Pipit, Spotted Crake, Water Pipit and a female Merlin which scattered the waders at Oroklini Marsh.
Interesting birds seen:
Agios Sozomenos
Bonelli’s Eagle 1 ad
Long-legged Buzzard 2 (see photo)
Peregrine Falcon 1
Finsch’s Wheatear 1m and 2f (prob 3f)
Red-throated Pipit 7+
Black Redstart 5
Spanish Sparrow 30+
Oroklini Marsh
Greater Flamingo 15
Spur-winged Lapwing 52+
Northern Lapwing 18
Black-headed Gull 13
Armenian Gull 1 ad
Northern Pintail 3
Little Stint 37
Common Ringed Plover 1
Common Redshank 8
Marsh Sandpiper 1
Common Snipe 2
Spotted Crake 1
Water Pipit 2
Merlin 1f
Grey Heron 1
Visited Achna Dam and Oroklini Marsh this morning after yesterday’s rain. Birds around included Hen and Western Marsh Harrier, Great Egret, Spur-winged Lapwing, Common Snipe, Common Kingfisher, my first Meadow Pipits of the winter and a Bluethroat. Photos of a female Northern Pintail and a Western Marsh Harrier from Achna.
Northern Pintail, Achna Dam 26th October 2017 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Western Marsh Harrier, Larnaca 26th October 2017 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
More Common Crane migrating over the island today. Over 50 reported over Tala, Paphos while I had 95 over Achna Dam around 9:30 this morning. Also at Achna were:
Hen Harrier 1 ringtail
Eurasian Sparrowhawk 1
Great Egret 1
Glossy Ibis 2
Northern Lapwing 2
Common Redshank 2
Wood Sandpiper 1
Common Snipe 1
Little Stint 2
Dunlin 1
Common Kingfisher 1
Red-throated Pipit 3
Northern Pintail 2
Common Crane, Achna Dam 17th October 2017 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
A group of five Common Crane on Meneou Pool (distant photo below) and ten seen migrating from the main Salt Lake were the highlights of the waterbird count around Larnaca today. Also of interest were a Common Pochard, more than 20 Northern Pintail, 11 Ferruginous Duck, two Sanderling, large flocks of White Wagtail with a few Yellow Wagtail and Red-throated Pipit with them, more than 50 Spur-winged Lapwing in the area, two Whiskered Tern, a Black-necked Grebe and a lone European Bee-eater.
Common Crane, Meneou Pool 16th October 2017 (c) Cyprus Birding Tours
Peter, Pat, Paul and Janet were staying in Nicosia so we had a bit of a drive before we could start our morning’s birding. We headed to Achna Dam where water levels are still good and where I had seen some good birds on a trip there last week. We spent some time there getting good views of three Great White Egret, an immature Whiskered Tern, a Common Kingfisher and two Northern Pintail. A group of five Glossy Ibis feeding on the far shore left the area after a while – probably continuing their migration south. Ten newly arrived Northern Lapwing flew into the area from the north. Several Cattle and Little Egret and Grey Heron were also present and a couple of Willow Warbler were feeding in the shorter reeds. As we returned to the car we spotted two Dunlin, a Little Stint and a Little Ringed Plover feeding in a muddy area. A juvenile Western Marsh Harrier was quartering the area and we saw it fly up from the ground with something in its talons. Unfortunately although we heard several European Bee-eater flying over the area they were too high for us to see.
We searched the rocky beach at Ormedeia for a Greater Sandplover but had no joy so we had to make do with a single Kentish Plover and three more Northern Lapwing. A quick stop at Oroklini Marsh enabled us to see a large group of almost forty Spur-winged Lapwing as well as a couple of Common Redshank, a Little Ringed Plover and a Ruff.
We finished our morning driving through the valley of Panagia Stazousa as we headed back to Nicosia. We were hoping that there would still be some Cyprus Wheatear around and we were not disappointed. At least four were still present and dutifully obliged by sitting out in the open on the top of low bushes. While watching one of them we spotted a juvenile Red-backed Shrike and when it flew further away we were pleased to also see a juvenile Masked Shrike in another bush. Several Whinchat were seen resting as they migrated through the island. We also had brief views of a Spotted Flycatcher and a female Eurasian Blackcap but a female Common Redstart was more co-operative and sat low in a shrub enabling us to watch her through the telescope. An unexpected bird to finish the morning on. A morning on which we managed to see a good variety of species – a few more than I had anticipated.
Total species – 40
Northern Pintail, Little Grebe, Common Woodpigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Coot, Glossy Ibis, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Northern Lapwing, Spur-winged Lapwing, Ruff, Dunlin, Little Stint, Common Redshank, Whiskered Tern, Western Marsh Harrier, European Bee-eater (h), Common Kingfisher, Common Kestrel, Red-backed Shrike, Masked Shrike, Eurasian Magpie, Hooded Crow, Crested Lark, Barn Swallow, Willow Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Cyprus Wheatear, House Sparrow, White Wagtail, European Goldfinch
Cyprus Birding Tours 