BirdLife Cyprus Wetland Count

15/09/17 BirdLife Cyprus Wetland Count. Starting at Kannaviou there were sightings of Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Common Kingfisher and Whiskered Tern. Moving on to Evretou our first highlight was Golden Oriole in the valley and on reaching the the water a complete surprise were the 4 Pied Avocet flying around with the same number of Black-winged Stilt. Also Grey Heron, Yellow Wagtail and Hoopoe were seen. We moved on to the Arodhes area where there were numerous Willow Warbler, European Bee Eater as well as Red-backed and Masked Shrike.

Eurasian Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)

Pied Avocet (Recurvirosta avosetta)

Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

Eurasian Dotterel

11/09/17 EURASIAN DOTTEREL. At Mandria, Paphos, today during our BirdLife Cyprus Raptor Migration Count we noticed a small wader come down in an adjacent field. Scanning at a distance we could not at first pick it up. We then fell upon a Common Ringed Plover and with it was a Eurasian Dotterel, a rare passage migrant to Cyprus that breeds in the Arctic tundra and over winters in north Africa. This bird is on it's way to Africa and does not have far to go to complete it's migration journey.

Eurasian Dotterel

Eurasian Dotterel

Eurasian Dotterel