International Waterbird Census (day 2)

We completed the waterbird census on Sunday 17/01/16 by walking the Paphos headland coast on the edge of the archaeological site in Kato Paphos.

We started off by seeing 2 Great Cormorant flying in then a Sandwich Tern fishing just off the coast.

Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)

Nearby was a Slender-billed Gull, Common Kingfisher and a number of Dunlin feeding. 

              Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei)

                                                                        Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

Continuing along the coast we came across 4 Greater Sand Plover and reaching the end we were disappointed not to have seen the Golden Plovers that frequent this section of the headland in winter. On our return journey though, we were pleased to see the flock flying in from another location.

     Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultia)

Eurasian Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)

Other birds seen were Yellow-legged Gull and Common Sandpiper, birds missing for us this day, Whimbrel and Ruddy Turnstone which would have been there but probably further along the coast.

Dave and Jan

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International Waterbird Census (day 1)

Spent most of the weekend completing the waterbird census on behalf of BirdLife Cyprus at 5 different sites in the Paphos district. Below are the 4 inland sites we covered on Saturday 16/01/16. Some of these because of their location or water level do not always produce a lot of species but occasionally can yield a surprise, not any this weekend though.

Kannaviou Dam

                               Evretou Dam

                                                                        Argaka Dam

Mavrokolympos Dam

At Kannaviou we found 5 Great Cormorant, 20 Mallard (11 male, 9 fem), 2 Great Egret, 14 Coot, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Teal (2 male, 2 fem) and a Common Sandpiper.

At Evretou there were 51 Coot, 8 Great Cormorant and 19 Mallard (10 male, 9 fem) 

Argaka bought us no waterbirds at all but Mavrokolympos which can also be quiet managed 10 Great Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron and 3 Little Grebe.

Garden Birds

Over the last week we have been seeing small flocks of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Siskin feeding on the seeds of conifer trees in an adjacent ravine to where we live.

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus), female  

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus), male 

European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), male

Diarizos Valley

We started our trip today by driving up the Diarizos Valley from the B6 road turn off at the lower end of the Xeros Valley, the F616 road then takes you across to the Diarizos, a lovely scenic route that can take you all the way up to the Troodos. This is by far the best route to take from Paphos to reach the heights of the Troodos mountains.
Along the way we saw plenty of the normal Finch flocks plus a Long Legged Buzzard, our first main stop was at Kidasi where we saw 3 male Finsch's Wheatears plus Black Redstart and Woodlark.
As the road leads away from the valley towards Agios Nikolaos we turned off to drop down again to the valley that leads to the Arminou Dam wall. Here we saw Blackbids, Jay, Coal Tit, Cetti's Warbler, Grey Wagtail. Arriving at the dam wall there were Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Grebe and Coot. Nothing spectacular but a nice scenery and a change.

           Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

We completed our journey up the valley by backtracking onto the main road and continuing to Agios Nikolaos and turning off again to drop down into the valley to Tzelefos Bridge where again we saw Coal Tit, Blackbird, Grey Wagtail and Wren.

Tzelefos Bridge

                                                                 Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Arodes

With the weather improved, lovely sunshine, we thought we might see a few raptors out and about making the most of the improved weather conditions, we were not to be disappointed.
Travelling through Theletra to get to Arodes we came across a pair of Long Legged Buzzards.

  Long Legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) Theletra, 09/01/16

Arriving near Arodes there were large flocks of Serin, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet. There were also 2 male Finsch's Wheatear but the highlight had to be splendid views of a pair of  adult Bonelli's Eagle together with an Immature.

 Adult Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) Arodes 09/01/16

   Immature Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) Arodes 09/01/16

 

Paphos Today

Another cloudy grey day in the morning with heavy rain in the afternoon.
We started at the sewage works to see if the Northern Lapwings were still around. After searching the many fields around the area we only came up with 6 Cattle Egret.
Moving on to Mandria we again saw the flock of Golden Plover displaying well in flight, they then split and we were able to see a group of around 50 land quite near us.
The weather was closing in so we headed back to Paphos Headland where it was already raining. We were restricted to the café beach area where we were still able to see Common Sandpiper, Common Kingfisher, Whimbrel and a Ruddy Turnstone feeding on Limpets.

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Paphos Headland, 07/01/16

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Paphos Headland, 07/01/16

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Paphos Headland, 07/01/16

Mandria, Kouklia and Paphos Sewage Works

Starting off in heavy rain we thought we would not be seeing much, a very grey overcast day and not good for photography but better out than staying in on such a dull day.
We arrived at Mandria on the coast of Paphos with the rain just stopping and from a distance we could see a flock of Golden Plover circling around, they were flying for approximately 15 minutes before they settled.

Eurasian Golden Plover (Pluviallis apricaria), a passage migrant and winter visitor to Cyprus.

Other Birds in the area were large flocks of Skylark, Meadow and Red Throated Pipit, Starling, and mixed Finches flocks.
Moving on to Kouklia there were a couple of Long Legged Buzzard and a Common Buzzard along with Cetti's Warbler.

At Paphos Sewage works along with the resident Spur Winged Lapwing it was a bonus to see 14 Northern Lapwing feeding in nearby fields.

Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), A winter visitor and passage migrant to Cyprus.

New Years Day

A very cold start to 2016, a visit to the lower end of the Cha Potami River Valley on the Paphos Limassol border.
Starting on one of the higher ridges in snow flurries we had a good view of an adult Bonelli's Eagle. There were flocks of Goldfinch and Woodlark. A Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) crossed our path just a couple of metres in front of us.
Dropping down to the river level and the golf course reservoir there were around 100 coot on the water along with Teal, Mallard and Little Grebe. Approximately 25 Crag Martin were feeding over the reservoir.

Eurasian Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris), a resident breeder but also a passage migrant.

Unusually there was a Barn Swallow present, able to fly and feed but we suspect that it is injured in some way hence it has not made it all the way to Africa.
Other birds seen in the area were Grey Heron, Cormorant, Robin, Blackbird, Black Redstart and Common Buzzard.