Cyprus August 2019 (1 Viewer)

Hello- just arrived in Cyprus for an unexpected last minute holiday. Have never been here before so very much a novice on this island unlike Mallorca where I have been 17 times in spring.Staying at the Aloe hotel in Paphos and today was very much adjusting to the heat and a brief local walk.
From the balcony of our room on the 3rd floor we look out over the pool and a large field with parched grass. There are 4 species in view most of the time-House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon, Hooded Crow and Swallow. There are also fairly regular Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons. A couple of raptors paid fleeting visits- a Kestrel and later a Hobby which caused panic and alarm calls from the Swallows. A thundery shower nearby put some Swifts overhead,whilst at the nearby beach there was one(and only one) Yellow-legged Gull.
Today's frustration was a Shrike sp which hid in a tree just in scope range- probably a Woodchat on the partial views I got. I cannot bird all the time as my wife has ME and our two sons (our eldest on the autistic spectrum) and we will only have a car for part of the time- but I will try and update regularly on what I see. Hugh Matthews Northampton

Hi Hugh. Paphos Headland can be rewarding as can the lighthouse area. They are also walks that you can do as a family.

Regards.

Lee

Thanks Lee- I have done some basic research and have Dave Gosney's book and am looking at the Birdlife Cyprus site as well. My wife was unwell for most of today so I had to stay local in the burning heat but after 1700 I was able to take the walk to the Headland having seen nothing new from the hotel room. The moment I got round the corner from the castle I could immediately see why the headland has a reputation- amazingly good habitat and the tourist vibe disappears and you are lacking any significant disturbance. Immediately the trip list benefited with a few Crested Larks and a real Woodchat Shrike in a bush. There were Shags on offshore rocks and a familiar call got the wader list up and running with a Whimbrel. Then slowly to the furthest point of the headland and a wader attracted my attention- a Temminck's Stint slightly out of normal habitat, but then another movement revealed 3 Greater Sand Plovers- a site speciality, and quadrupling the number I have ever seen (after Cley 1985). Also today a few moths in the hotel(they leave corridor windows open at night) including a smart emerald-type with dark green border and lighter on the rest of the wings. Some small lizards in the grounds and a couple of impressive Agamas on the headland.Tomorrow we get a car so I may be able to venture out further when the family let me. Hugh Matthews

Fantastic stuff. Try to get to Troodos village at some point for the endemics. A very pleasant drive from the Paphos area, I did it April 2017, and a good spot for pallid swift. I dipped May 2018 but picked them up there earlier this year.

Lee

Thanks Lee today I hired a car but the guy had failed to tell me yesterday that it was an automatic and he had no manuals left so I was given a driving lesson again after 49 years driving. Eventually off to Agios Gheorgios on Cape Drepano, but we only got there at 1300 and it was very very hot. A few Jackdaws were around, and I heard some Sardinian Warblers, and later saw one but that was about it apart from House Sparrows. The habitat looks excellent, though. Over a mountain road to Polis and the Baths of Aphrodite revealed a couple of Magpies and another warbler sp. The car park there was totally full, and so we called it a day and drove back to our hotel, and it seems that the weather is going to be a key factor- only a brief window early morning and perhaps an hour in the evening look usable as 32 degrees and cloudless skies are pretty unforgiving. Hugh Matthews

Evening Hugh. The area to the East of Paphos described in the Gosney guide can be productive, given a little patience. At this time of the year scoping the sea for flyby birds can also bring its rewards.

Thanks Lee. Birding can be a frustrating business. Having got up early this morning to get to the Paphos headland I anticipated the goodies mentioned in Gosney, only to find the path round the headland full of joggers, exercise fanatics and fishermen. No chance of finding anything in the short grass. There were actually similar birds to Tuesday- the 3 Sandplovers are still there, today there were 2 Whimbrel, the Woodchat and a flock of about 15 Crested Larks having a game with the local cat but proving far too smart for it. Sardinian Warblers were calling unseen, and I eventually added to my list with Greenfinch and Goldfinch.
Later down towards Coral Beach where my Autistic son wanted to look at some abandoned residences, and a Zitting Cisticola obliged with a bounce or two. We were near Mavro dam so I drove up the slightly hair-raising road to look at it but there was absolutely nothing on the water and only a Magpie and some Sardinian Warblers about. Sea watching today produced just one Shag!- not like Sheringham then. Tomorrow I may be able to persuade the family or part of it of the delights of Paphos sewage works and Aspro- if it is still accessible. Hugh Matthews

hughm said:

Thanks Lee. Birding can be a frustrating business. Having got up early this morning to get to the Paphos headland I anticipated the goodies mentioned in Gosney, only to find the path round the headland full of joggers, exercise fanatics and fishermen. No chance of finding anything in the short grass. There were actually similar birds to Tuesday- the 3 Sandplovers are still there, today there were 2 Whimbrel, the Woodchat and a flock of about 15 Crested Larks having a game with the local cat but proving far too smart for it. Sardinian Warblers were calling unseen, and I eventually added to my list with Greenfinch and Goldfinch.
Later down towards Coral Beach where my Autistic son wanted to look at some abandoned residences, and a Zitting Cisticola obliged with a bounce or two. We were near Mavro dam so I drove up the slightly hair-raising road to look at it but there was absolutely nothing on the water and only a Magpie and some Sardinian Warblers about. Sea watching today produced just one Shag!- not like Sheringham then. Tomorrow I may be able to persuade the family or part of it of the delights of Paphos sewage works and Aspro- if it is still accessible. Hugh Matthews

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For 4 euros (in 2017) you can get into the Archaeology Park which is a lot less disturbed than the adjacent headland. It’s also quite interesting in itself, a World Heritage Site, for its Roman ruins and mosaics.

David

Hi Hugh
I went to Cyprus last year with a non birding partner and have the following advice for you if you are with your family and time is short

The Paphos headland is fab for migrants, but you need to go into the Archeological site itself- as mentioned there's a small charge for entry and does not open until 8.00. The place is festooned with many paths that lead around the place amid the ruins with lots of habitats and shade from the summer heat if you need it. You can spend a whole day here with a family and it's very close to the main town.
If you are going to the Paphos Sewage works, avoid the roads beyond towards the airport. I came here 10 years ago and got stopped by the authorities in a layby that overlooked the place. Nearly got arrested and it took me almost 2 hours to talk the police round. Needless to say I gave the place a miss last year.
If you head out west out of Paphos on the E701 (The Tomb of the Kings) is worth a look for migrants) and turn North towards Polis on the E709, just south of Kathikas, there is a donkey sanctuary signposted on the right. You can have a drink here overlooking a large quarry area from the cafe veranda and watch Rollers and frequent Long legged Buzzards soar over. The whole area is good for Cyprus Wheatear too as they have a fondness for the old buildings around here.
Troodos has some endemic races of various woodland species that can be seen in the small park in the square and you can get great views of Pallid Swift that breed on small buildings feet above your head! However, it can be very crowded with coaches.
Try to get to the many archeological sites as you can with the family as they tend to be in the middle of nowhere, hence are great for birds. I left my partner for an hour in one such place as she took photos of the mosiacs etc. When I caught up with her later, she showed me a gripping Black Francolin pic she had photographed thinking it was just a " spotted chicken" from the local farm......
Anyway, just a few bits that maybe of interest- I feel for anyone who has to compromise the birding within a holiday abroad. Good luck and have a great time

Rhys

Thanks to both of you for your advice. Today I did manage to get out with one of my son's to the sewage works but we only got there at about 11 a.m. and there was not much around to be honest although loads of yellow wagtails were enjoying a field which was being watered and the local Jackdaws and hooded crows were having a bath underneath the sprinkler heads there was also one cattle egret. that was about it for birding today but tomorrow we are hoping to go up into the mountains so I might be able to see some different species. I should manage to have the car all to myself for at least one day soon he hoped.Thanks for your advice again.

If its still really hot, I guess there ain't gonna be much of ornithological interest.

But it slate August so should be quite productive.

Other than Paphos headland, I would also try out Anarita Park, which despite its name is actually a driveable track though low-lying hills that can be good for raptors and warblers, also Great Spotted Cuckoo and Rollers, plus its good for Red-footed Falcons, Lesser Kestrels and harriers but only during migration. Nearby is Anarita Mast which you can also drive around various tracks without having to leave the car, and that itself leads to Aspro Dam area.

For directions to Anarita Park (no signs for it) see the following thread I put up several years ago..........

https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=250820

Thanks wolfbirder- your directions are great but a visit to the area will have to wait until I may possibly get the car on my own for a day. Today we went right up into the mountains- but not to Troodos village but another one nearby called Promodos where my autistic son had located a 1920s luxury hotel now in a state of disrepair and was a strange sort of tourist attraction, especially to Russian tour parties! The birding interest was limited to House Martins, Chaffinches and Coal Tits of the Cyprus race which are certainly dark and with different calls from the British ones. We then got up ro the highest point driveable on the island on Mount Olympus to the car park at 1800 metres where an obliging pair of Cyprus Jays were hanging around. On the way down my wife spotted a shrike on a bush which had disappeared by the time I got my bins on the right vegetation.
So still no new world tocks, but I will keep on trying! Tomorrow I may be able to get out early to the sewage works, and also look at the Esouzas soakaway which had some water in it yesterday. Hugh Matthews

Up early today and drove quickly to the Paphos sewage works again. First new bird was a great tit, but after this things grew much more exotic. As I need the sewage works huge flock of yellow wagtails was in the waterfields probably at least 300 with many black-headed subspecies. As I rounded the corner I nearly ran over a spur-winged plover and eventually managed to see 13 at once in one field. then a couple of hoopoes turned up to have a shower too . turning back towards vs Esouzas soakaway a Roller slow right in front of the car and an unidentified shrike was in a tree but moved away rapidly. The soakaway area is only about 300 m south of the B6 Road Bridge and there is now a little pool in the area where Birds were coming in to drink including two turtle doves,4 Chukars, a willow warbler and then a purple heron flew upstream. sorry if this report is a bit disjointed but someone has changed the Roman alphabet on the hotel computer to the cyrillic alphabet and so I'm dictating this on my wife's phone which I am not very good at doing.

Not much time for birding today, but managed to get out at 1715 to drive to Mandria fields as directed by Dave Gosney. The village directions are OK but the Zephyros apartments have grown rapidly to now be the Zephyros Village and extending down to the greenhouse road. I went via the beach first and along the slightly rough seafront track and back inland to Lark Corner, which today was Wagtail Corner- with yet more Yellow Wagtails everywhere. Whilst looking at the YWags a movement caught my eye and a shrike landed on a water sprayer. With good scope views I was able to confirm it as a Lesser Grey Shrike and the first world tick for the trip.Then another one turned up which was nice. Driving slowly back on the greenhouse road a couple of doves caught ny eye and settled in the nearby field, and I was surprised to find they weren't Turtle Doves but Laughing Doves, which I know are spreading on the island, and another trip tick. Hugh Matthews

Hi Hugh, I have been away for a few days camping with my granddaughters. Much more exhausting than birding in the Cyprus sun, but happy days so here's to next time. I connected with laughing dove in Pathos, on the roof of the hotel outside my room, 2017 and 18. Previously seen in Africa. Keep up seeing good stuff. I found the Gosney Guide and Birdlife Cyprus Google Group info. invaluable. Hopefully you will want to return at some point like myself, but alone so no family restraints. Although secretly we do need them to be there at the end of a long day. Bon Obs as they say in France. Have been fortunate to have holidayed in France for the last 12 years. Different regions, so have managed to get a France list totalling 222.

Thanks again Lee- today I got up early at 0600 again, and went to the Asprokremmos Dam area. As has been reported on the updates on the Easy birder site, the Aspro pools are no longer, having been destroyed by heavy rains and landslips. However, it was nice to get to the site with no need for aircon, and it was very quiet at the dam- just one dog walker and one fisherman. The first bird I saw at the east end of the dam was a Kingfisher, which was nice. I decided to walk across the dam and below the wall on the dry side was a raptor being mightily harassed by corvids, and it disappeared pretty quickly before I could return to my car for the scope. I am fairly certain it was a Long-legged Buzzard but I won't count it as I like to be sure. I could hear a Common Sandpiper on the reservoir side but couldn't pin it down. I have now been to 2 reservoirs and I haven't seen a single bird on the water- perhaps the shooting I heard in the distance was the reason.
Moving on to the Amenities area on the West side of the dam, and at the car park there was a huge flock of Spanish Sparrows- I had only ever seen one before- at Calshot in Hampshire. This flocking behaviour was certainly distinctive- there were well over 100 birds together. In amongst the shrubs was a Hoopoe and in the field next door at least 3 Cisticolas. A bird flycatching from the trees turned into a Spotted Flycatcher- there were 3 in total- and there was also a Willow Warbler. I started back towards the car, but saw a shrike flying below the tree branches, and after stalking it for a couple of minutes I got great views of a Masked Shrike- another world tick and the second new shrike in two days. Back to the hotel for family duties, until 1715 when I went to the far end of the feeder stream at Nata Ford. On the way it is clear that the signs for the chicken farm beyond Aya Ververa have disappeared but the wires are still there- no falcons around though. The road through Nata is interesting, if you get my drift- at one point half of it had fallen into the valley below. At the ford there were plenty of birds around- mainly corvids and doves, including a purring Turtle Dove, and also a flock of Linnets, which were new, and a few Goldfinches. I was very surprised when a large falcon flew up the valley- a dark morph Eleanora's which certainly scattered the local birdlife. I suppose it is not far as the falcon flies from the breeding cliffs. Trying the other side of the bridge a couple of Stone Curlews flew off a short distance, and then the saddest sight of the trip so far- a dead Little Bittern- presumably shot. How a hunter could mistake it for a Chukar of which I heard plenty, I cannot understand.
Anyway- tomorrow my wife needs a day off, so I am taking the boys into the mountains again- this time to Troodos village. Hugh Matthews

Up to Troodos today, via the minor but very scenic road that starts just past Aspro Dam- and early on a nice surprise with 3 Bee-eaters on wires by the road at Mamonia. As we neared Troodos a Small bird with a white rump flew up into a tree by the roadside- of this more later. At Troodos we went into the Ben Nevis restaurant and got a table right at the back overlooking a steep downslope with lots of pine trees and it proved an inspired choice for lunchtime birding. There were Jays and Coal Tits around plus a good number of Swifts and hirundines. A small bird flew up on a branch and I realised it was a Cyprus Wheatear and a third world tick in three days- hence the white rump seen earlier. There turned out to be a lot of them around even up at 1750 metres- and one was colour-ringed with 2 red rings on the left leg. A brief but heavy shower brought the first rain of the trip, and after this we walked around the colonial-era bungalows which remind me greatly of Murree in Pakistan- another hill resort. Troodos is actually an artificial settlement set up by the British Government for Civil Servants to escape the summer heat below.
Walking round the town brought close views of Coal Tits, Jays and later Crossbills , and I heard but did not track down a S_T Treecreeper. A couple of Larks looked to me to be Woodlarks but they did not hang around. In amongst the hirundines were some Crag Martins, and some of the swifts may have been Pallid but they did not come very close. On the way down the same route back to Paphos we must have seen at least 20 Cyprus Wheatears- I did not realise the widespread vertical distribution before today. Troodos is much recommended- easy birding and some quality species. Hugh Matthews

Hi again- today got up early to go to Paphos headland and into the archaeological site. I first went to the shore to say hello again to the 3 Greater Sand Plovers which stay in exactly the same area all the time. I also met another birder- a guy from Bristol- for the first time this holiday and put him on to them. Then to the entrance to the Arch site but despite both my guidebooks saying that it opens at 0800 it actually doesn't let people in until 0830, so when I finally got in I had to dash round as I had to get back to the hotel for the family and breakfast. The brief view I got of the mosaics confirmed that they are stunning and worth seeing. Birdwise there were quite a few Crested Larks, at least 3 Kestrels, and for the trip list a Red-Backed Shrike- my fourth Shrike spp of the holiday. A warbler which gave brief views and was fairly plain and dipped its tail was possibly Eastern Olivaceous but I had not got the time to chase it around. On the way back to the car there was a Shag on the rocks to add to the one YLGull I had seen earlier, and a nice surprise with a Kingfisher also on the rocks.
At 1715 I decided to take a return visit to Mandria fields, and I'm glad I did. To begin with it was nice to get really close views of a number of Yellow Wagtails in the fields at Lark Corner, but at about 1750 a pair of large birds were coming head on to me from the NE. As they started to circle lower and were seeming to look for a place to land I realised they were Demoiselle Cranes! Had great views with time to appreciate some of the subtle differences from Common Crane- slightly smaller size and in particular the shorter bill. Another world tick, but unfortunately they moved off higher again to the NW- and it saved me an early morning dash to Akrotiri which probably wouldn't have happened with the family here. I then noticed a Northern Wheatear on a spray head, and another large bird appeared- this time a Marsh Harrier. Time was against me now so quickly back to the Ezousas soakaway with another lesser Grey Shrike about, and an addition to my pitiful wader list with a Green Sandpiper. So now over 50 species on the trip list which given the heat and humidity and not knowing the country I am really pleased to have reached. Hugh Matthews

No birding until late in the day today- and I went back to the Asprokremmos Dam first- still nothing on the water but at the amenities area the Spanish Sparrows and the Masked Shrike were still around but nothing else, until I heard what sounded like a Redwing. Surely not this early- and so it proved as I tracked the noise to a piece of the water distribution network pump which gave out the Redwing call every few minutes.
Then back to Mandria and Lark corner which was so good yesterday. Still loads of Yellow Wagtails and the Northern Wheatear was in the same area. The area at last lived up to its name with a Crested Lark flyover and then a smaller lark quickly through which was almost certainly a Short-Toed but not tickable on the brief views obtained. Around the village were more Laughing Doves right into the village centre. Also in a field near the greenhouses were 11 Stone Curlews in the middle of a newly ploughed field.
Last call was at Paphos sewage works for a brief look around, and I found at least 45 Spur-Winged Plovers in a field and on the settling bed bunds- the beds are apparently disused. At the Ezousas soakaway there were 8 Chukar in for a drink, and lots of Goldfinches. Just as i was about to leave a large bird appeared in the distance and turned into a Grey Heron, so the trip list advanced by just one today. Only 48 hours left and probably not as much time for birding- but you never know. Hugh Matthews

Last full day here, and as hot and humid as ever. Up at 0630 and took the car to Asprokremmos Dam again- still hundreds of Spanish Sparrows and the Masked Shrike, joined today by a juvenile Red-Backed, but not really much about. Down to the Ezousas soakaway and very little to add- but that it is certainly a good site for Chukar.
In the afternoon a family trip to the Paphos Headland site in the baking heat- and again not much about except for the usual Crested Larks and Kestrels. However there was one Northern Wheatear by the lighthouse, and a flock of about 40 Spanish Sparrows near the house of Dionysos. The archaeology is certainly impressive, and well worth the entrance fee. There is even aircon in the Visitor Centre. Getting the car from the car park there was one YLGull on the offshore rocks- I've never been to a place by the sea with so few seabirds.
Tomorrow we go home, and I won't be able to report until at least Monday- but apart from the heat it has been a very interesting holiday, helped by the 4 world ticks and other exotica- and no charges for parking at any of the places we have been to in the car!