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Owen's lifetime of wildlife in a year. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Owene
- Start date
Yes. Seems very common. Have seen quite a few at the water park today. Seems a very typical small wall lizard but they’re all split everywhere aren’t they
Also 2 Turkish house gecko and a small blue butterfly with very distinctive underside that I’m not finding online yet.
22 Turkish gecko
Birds 281 Mammals 33 Herp 22 Butterflies 69 Total 405 Lifers 116
November 1st
A full days guided birding today that managed a lot of the Cyprus specialities as well as lot of really interesting general wildlife. Roosting fruit bats. My first praying mantis. Some amazing spiders wasps and bees, three dropwing species including gorgeous indigo and I finally joined every birder in the U.K. in seeing a crimson speckled moth.Tiny aren’t they.
Started out on the paphos headland for two Greater sand plover along with a gorgeous summer plumage golden. Red throated pipits with a reasonable amount of red and some other larks and pipits.
Up in to the hills for Cyprus wheatear. Just one. Seen through the windscreen of our parked car so the pics are awful. Then male and female Cyprus warblers the endemics list was increased by Cyprus meadow brown along with African ringlet which while not close to endemic is pretty limited in Europe.
Next stop for Finschs wheatear brought amazing views as well as The Hermit. One of Europe’s cooler named butterflies.
A dipped stop for blue rock thrush brought gorgeous syriacus subspecies swallowtails and Rock agamas. Also some Wall browns that one Id app has as large wall so I’m going to check the photos out more closely.
Paphos sewage works had spur winged lapwing. The mantis and a ton of blues. African grass being the technical lifer but I think it’s what I also had yesterday
Greater short toed larks were spooked by a sparrowhawk so no way to see if a recent lesser was amongst them.
The afternoon brought Bonellis eagle and flyby Chukar. An amazing young purple heron that walked in front of our car for 10 minutes checking each leak puddle from a farm water pipe for endemic Cyprus frogs. The water pipe was its own microcosm with countless insects around every leak. Tons of dragonflies but also a single millet skipper.
A look for a recently seen little crake unfortunately only found little crake feathers but we did flush a Jack snipe. Never the easiest year tick.
Amazing day. I’ll post some photos when I’m home in the U.K. as all I have on my phone are insects
282 Jack snipe
283 laughing dove (first cat a)
284 greater sand plover
285 red-throated pipit
286 Cyprus wheatear
287 Cyprus warbler
288 Finschs wheatear
289 spur winged lapwing
290 bonellis eagle
291 greater short toed lark
292 chukar
23 roughtail rock agama
24 snake eyed lizard
25 Cyprus water frog
70 Cyprus meadow brown
71 African ringlet
72 African grass blue
73 millet skipper
74 long tailed blue
75 the hermit
Birds 292 Mammals 33 Herp 25 Butterflies 75 Total 427 Lifers 133
A full days guided birding today that managed a lot of the Cyprus specialities as well as lot of really interesting general wildlife. Roosting fruit bats. My first praying mantis. Some amazing spiders wasps and bees, three dropwing species including gorgeous indigo and I finally joined every birder in the U.K. in seeing a crimson speckled moth.Tiny aren’t they.
Started out on the paphos headland for two Greater sand plover along with a gorgeous summer plumage golden. Red throated pipits with a reasonable amount of red and some other larks and pipits.
Up in to the hills for Cyprus wheatear. Just one. Seen through the windscreen of our parked car so the pics are awful. Then male and female Cyprus warblers the endemics list was increased by Cyprus meadow brown along with African ringlet which while not close to endemic is pretty limited in Europe.
Next stop for Finschs wheatear brought amazing views as well as The Hermit. One of Europe’s cooler named butterflies.
A dipped stop for blue rock thrush brought gorgeous syriacus subspecies swallowtails and Rock agamas. Also some Wall browns that one Id app has as large wall so I’m going to check the photos out more closely.
Paphos sewage works had spur winged lapwing. The mantis and a ton of blues. African grass being the technical lifer but I think it’s what I also had yesterday
Greater short toed larks were spooked by a sparrowhawk so no way to see if a recent lesser was amongst them.
The afternoon brought Bonellis eagle and flyby Chukar. An amazing young purple heron that walked in front of our car for 10 minutes checking each leak puddle from a farm water pipe for endemic Cyprus frogs. The water pipe was its own microcosm with countless insects around every leak. Tons of dragonflies but also a single millet skipper.
A look for a recently seen little crake unfortunately only found little crake feathers but we did flush a Jack snipe. Never the easiest year tick.
Amazing day. I’ll post some photos when I’m home in the U.K. as all I have on my phone are insects
282 Jack snipe
283 laughing dove (first cat a)
284 greater sand plover
285 red-throated pipit
286 Cyprus wheatear
287 Cyprus warbler
288 Finschs wheatear
289 spur winged lapwing
290 bonellis eagle
291 greater short toed lark
292 chukar
23 roughtail rock agama
24 snake eyed lizard
25 Cyprus water frog
70 Cyprus meadow brown
71 African ringlet
72 African grass blue
73 millet skipper
74 long tailed blue
75 the hermit
Birds 292 Mammals 33 Herp 25 Butterflies 75 Total 427 Lifers 133
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That smashes through my original target of 413. I’ve been helped a lot by the holidays of course but I really feel like I’ve seen so much cool stuff this year. I’ve gone way past my start of 2022 totals for butterflies and reptiles. Don’t think I’ll make it to the bird or mammal ones but I’d like to get to 300 birds if possible.
Thanks. Yes it was amazing. Think it could probably have been done with a hire car and ebird but a few of the tracks were a bit rocky.
We’re here because it’s half term at home and it’s not really optimum for the birds. A think a few weeks earlier you can still get the owl and get a lot of migrant raptors, a few weeks later you can get wallcreeper but I was very happy with what I saw. Arkotiri cliffs and marsh tomorrow.
We’re here because it’s half term at home and it’s not really optimum for the birds. A think a few weeks earlier you can still get the owl and get a lot of migrant raptors, a few weeks later you can get wallcreeper but I was very happy with what I saw. Arkotiri cliffs and marsh tomorrow.
Tero
Retired
I still don't have Pacific Diver/Loon. It has been in our county 2021 but only 2 people got it, and on my trips to Seattle I did not have a scope.
Our county loon. The bad photo qualifies as the observer is the head of our Game and Parks bird unit. It is just him and a part timer that records all the non game bird counts and nesting in our state.
2nd November
Took a tourist turtles and a swim boat out of paphos with the family.
Highlight of the trip out was some flying fish. One of those things you see on tv over and over but I’d never seen in real life. Also a single Slender Billed Gull directly over the boat. Quite a smart gull in a place where gulls in general are quite scarce.
Once we got over the kelp beds we switched to the underwater windows and amongst countless fish had I’d guess 5 green turtles either feeding or lazily swimming around. Repeated great but quick views of multiple turtles meant it was hard to say just how many were there but it was a great experience
Edit. Not kelp apparently. Seagrass
293 slender billed gull
26 green sea turtle
Birds 293 Mammals 33 Herp 26 Butterflies 75 Total 429 Lifers 135
Took a tourist turtles and a swim boat out of paphos with the family.
Highlight of the trip out was some flying fish. One of those things you see on tv over and over but I’d never seen in real life. Also a single Slender Billed Gull directly over the boat. Quite a smart gull in a place where gulls in general are quite scarce.
Once we got over the kelp beds we switched to the underwater windows and amongst countless fish had I’d guess 5 green turtles either feeding or lazily swimming around. Repeated great but quick views of multiple turtles meant it was hard to say just how many were there but it was a great experience
Edit. Not kelp apparently. Seagrass
293 slender billed gull
26 green sea turtle
Birds 293 Mammals 33 Herp 26 Butterflies 75 Total 429 Lifers 135
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3rd November
Another full day without too many targets left. Started out around the aroktiri marshes. First few stops provided a few new birds for the trip. Lovely views of bluethroat and much better ones of spurwinged lapwing than the other day but nothing actually new for the year. A moustache warbler was viewed well by everyone else in one hide but I only got brief untickable views as it flew away.
Then the jeep in front of us flushed a black francolin from the side of the road and we got good flight views as it headed off away from the road.
A bunch of lagoon and scrub land sites came up blank for birds. The peril of coming this late in the year but we did get 2 Schreiber’s fringe fingered lizard which was great for me. Apparently doing ok in Cyprus despite being on the endangered list.
A long series of lagoons along the beach we’re empty apart from 2 little stint despite apparently normally being full of gulls and waders.
Luckily a quick look in front of a beach bar brought a an easily identifiable Armenian gull and a lunch stop in a hide that was just having the rushes cut brought clear views of moustached warbler that made up for the earlier dip. Very attractive warbler
Up into a wasteland ravine above Limassol and we immediately got on to a two tailed pasha. Easily my top worldwide target, I wasn’t expecting it in Cyprus and had already started planning a 2023 Gibraltar trip.
We watched it in bins very clearly before it went to rest in a shrub about 50 feet up a scree slope behind a thorn hedge. We relocated to the top but couldn’t ever refind it for pics (I took some hopeful ones in flight but need to see them on a pc screen. Not looking likely though)
We waited for an hour. Loads of lizards and hummingbird hawkmoths. A very close osprey and a brief long legged buzzard. A bird I thought I’d missed when we didn’t see it on Tuesday but no more pasha.
We moved on a little up the ravine and found the osprey perched and had a bath white in a place the guide had previously had the very rare Small bath white. No photos to confirm it though and unlike the pasha actual views won’t cut it. We gave it half and hour and found a few Pygmy Skipper.
Went back to where we saw the pasha and saw a local construction lorry flytipping several tons of hardcore over one of the 4 bushes it had been favouring.
We’d been stood in teetering mounds of hardcore to look for it so it is obviously a prime
Site for the practice. A shame as it was amazing for birds butterflies and reptiles. We had a bonellis eagle on the ground just before we left
Last stop was the Kensington cliffs where we located 5 late Eleonoras falcons. Absolutely beautiful location and great birds. Had better views of a bunch of Chukar than Tuesday as well
Top day out.
294 black francolin
295 moustached warbler
296 Armenian gull
297 long legged buzzard
298 Eleanoras falcon
27 schreibers fringe fingered lizard
76 two tailed pasha
77 Pygmy skipper
Most of my photos are still on the camera but here’s the moustached warbler
Every single viable November Cyprus target met. I highly recommend my guide Matt Smith who knows every site incredibly well
Birds 298 Mammals 33 Herp 27 Butterflies 77 Total 437 Lifers 143
Another full day without too many targets left. Started out around the aroktiri marshes. First few stops provided a few new birds for the trip. Lovely views of bluethroat and much better ones of spurwinged lapwing than the other day but nothing actually new for the year. A moustache warbler was viewed well by everyone else in one hide but I only got brief untickable views as it flew away.
Then the jeep in front of us flushed a black francolin from the side of the road and we got good flight views as it headed off away from the road.
A bunch of lagoon and scrub land sites came up blank for birds. The peril of coming this late in the year but we did get 2 Schreiber’s fringe fingered lizard which was great for me. Apparently doing ok in Cyprus despite being on the endangered list.
A long series of lagoons along the beach we’re empty apart from 2 little stint despite apparently normally being full of gulls and waders.
Luckily a quick look in front of a beach bar brought a an easily identifiable Armenian gull and a lunch stop in a hide that was just having the rushes cut brought clear views of moustached warbler that made up for the earlier dip. Very attractive warbler
Up into a wasteland ravine above Limassol and we immediately got on to a two tailed pasha. Easily my top worldwide target, I wasn’t expecting it in Cyprus and had already started planning a 2023 Gibraltar trip.
We watched it in bins very clearly before it went to rest in a shrub about 50 feet up a scree slope behind a thorn hedge. We relocated to the top but couldn’t ever refind it for pics (I took some hopeful ones in flight but need to see them on a pc screen. Not looking likely though)
We waited for an hour. Loads of lizards and hummingbird hawkmoths. A very close osprey and a brief long legged buzzard. A bird I thought I’d missed when we didn’t see it on Tuesday but no more pasha.
We moved on a little up the ravine and found the osprey perched and had a bath white in a place the guide had previously had the very rare Small bath white. No photos to confirm it though and unlike the pasha actual views won’t cut it. We gave it half and hour and found a few Pygmy Skipper.
Went back to where we saw the pasha and saw a local construction lorry flytipping several tons of hardcore over one of the 4 bushes it had been favouring.
We’d been stood in teetering mounds of hardcore to look for it so it is obviously a prime
Site for the practice. A shame as it was amazing for birds butterflies and reptiles. We had a bonellis eagle on the ground just before we left
Last stop was the Kensington cliffs where we located 5 late Eleonoras falcons. Absolutely beautiful location and great birds. Had better views of a bunch of Chukar than Tuesday as well
Top day out.
294 black francolin
295 moustached warbler
296 Armenian gull
297 long legged buzzard
298 Eleanoras falcon
27 schreibers fringe fingered lizard
76 two tailed pasha
77 Pygmy skipper
Most of my photos are still on the camera but here’s the moustached warbler
Every single viable November Cyprus target met. I highly recommend my guide Matt Smith who knows every site incredibly well
Birds 298 Mammals 33 Herp 27 Butterflies 77 Total 437 Lifers 143
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The new butterflies for me might not have been the most extravagant (camera shy Pasha apart) but the joy of working over scree slopes looking for them was great and the numbers of blues was great to see this late in the year.
African Grass Blue
cyprus meadow brown
African Ringlet
Millet Skipper
African Grass Blue cyprus meadow brown African Ringlet Millet SkipperAttachments
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