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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Hairy Highlander" data-source="post: 1667924" data-attributes="member: 73907">Friday 28th Aug.AKROTIRI - LARNAKAYou know how they say ‘women always catch the bigger fish, it must be the hormones’, well I had my fingers crossed that this might apply to the birding world.....Unbelievably it must do, because as soon as we reached the salt lake viewpoint at the Sylvana Restaurant car park, I scanned the area with my Bins and guess what........there, on the far side of the lake, looking towards the port of Limasol stood a gathering of Demoiselle Cranes, milling about and obviously getting ready to continue their long flight south as soon as the sun was up! I was obviously keen to get some photographs and because of the distance, the photo’s I managed to get were nothing special but I had a plan B! I had packed my camcorder and had the thought of trying to get some film footage via my scope. I didn’t really think it would work but I was mistaken, ok, the images weren’t top class and they were a bit shaky but they were a huge improvement on the photos! A fellow birder was there with his daughter and he introduced himself as Chris Wilkinson, we chatted briefly about what we had seen before wishing each other good luck for day ahead. What a great start I thought as Ingrid and I made our way to a cafe for some coffee and a bit of breakfast. During our coffee stop we were joined by another birder, Doug Radford. He had noticed my Bins that were resting on the table and asked if I had seen anything of interest. I told him about the Cranes and that we had only just arrived so hadn’t seen much else. It just so happens that Doug was a regular visitor to the island and was very familiar with the area and suggested trying a search round the small church and garden of St. Nikolias just 2 minutes drive away, he was going there shortly and would show us how to get there if we were interested. I wasn’t about to decline the offer as I had read on a report that it had the potential to attract some nice species during this time of year...Sadly, our quick search of the area didn’t reward us with much apart from 2 Red Backed Shrikes, a Juv. and a male bird. We all then returned to the Sylvana car park to see if the Cranes were still on show but they had left. Not long after, another birder arrived and introduced himself as Attila, a Hungarian fellow over on a week’s visit. Unfortunately he had just missed the cranes. Attila then asked if we had been to Bishop’s Pool but we hadn’t – this was a site that I had been meaning to visit but had never been able to find it. Thankfully, Attila knew its location and offered to show us the way. A short drive East from Sylvana’s Restaurant and turning left after a series of short right/left bends into a set of rusty gates and past a farm had led us to Bishop’s pool. Here, I managed to add a few more ticks to the list with 5 Glossy Ibis, Whiskered Tern, Garganey, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, 2 Temminck’s Stint, 10 Curlew Sandpiper, a Wood Sandpiper, Ringed & Little Ringed Plover, some Coot and all the other common stuff like Hooded Crow, Collared Dove, Crested Lark, House Sparrows etc. all being noted in a short space of time. Doug then had to leave but mentioned that there was to be a meeting of the Birdlife Cyprus members at the Sylvana car park around 07:30 the next morning and that it might be worth while turning up if possible. This sounded like a good idea and I’d probably be coming back tomorrow anyway, we said goodbye and hoped to meet again the following day. A further 20 mins spent by the Bishop’s pool provided us with no new species so we left and went for a look at the saline pools at Lady’s Mile Beach, perhaps something new had arrived?It was Ingrid’s turn to drive which allowed me to scan the area as we neared. Little Stint,  Kentish Plover and a single Little Egret were the first and most obvious species to be seen, then a large looking Plover caught my attention as it sat in one of the furrows made by a vehicle. It turned out to be a Greater Sand plover, an adult moulting into winter plumage. A more intensive scan of the area revealed nothing else of major interest, only Redshank, Dunlin, Lesser Grey Shrike and the usual Corvids. The time had come for Attila to return to his accommodation as he had arranged to take his girlfriend to Paphos for the afternoon. We were to meet again the following day at Sylvanas, hopefully this time he would get the Cranes!As Ingrid and I pondered on our next move, I was surprised to find that Ingrid had agreed to my suggestion of driving the hour or so East to Larnaka, there was a fair chance we would get some different species at the water treatment plant situated just inshore, near the Larnaka Airport....We made good time and arrived about an hour later. Like most birding sites in Cyprus at this time of year, an early morning visit, before the sun gets to high, is almost always more productive and this would probably be a factor in the numbers of birds we would see at our next stop. It was getting close to 13:30 and the heat was at its peak. As I entered the hide that overlooks the two pools, it was obvious that there was much more birdlife than had been seen at Bishop’s Pool but the task of identifying any of the small waders, which were to be found on the far banks, would be very difficult due to the heat haze....I wasn’t about to give up that easily though!In the first pool situated to the left of the hide a large gathering of waterfowl, Coot and Moorhen mingled on the far left side, perhaps about 200 individuals mostly Mallards and Coot with some Moorhen, Teal, Shoveler, a few Garganey and some Ferruginous Duck but most surprising of all was the single Mute Swan – a Cyprus rarity -  surreally basking in the scorching heat!I then picked up some Little Grebes and a single Black-Necked Grebe before turning my attention to the waders. The first and most obvious waders to be identified were Black-winged Stilt, 10 in total, and the Kentish Plovers. A Spur-winged Plover then appeared, some Greenshank hurried along the water’s edge and some Little stint, Green and Common Sandpiper, a Redshank and about 10 Curlew Sandpipers were all confidently identified. There were a few others however, that I had to put down as ‘Possibles’.....Firstly, a small dark looking Sandpiper in with the Little Stints – Broad-billed Sand was a possibility, secondly, definitely a Redshank Sp. but which one, it looked a bit darker and longer billed than Common Redshank so put that down as possible Juv. Spotted Redshank but couldn’t be 100% sure, thirdly, a bird in with the Greenshanks. I put this down as probable Wood or Marsh Sandpiper due to the fact that it looked like a mini version of the Greenshank, the heat haze and distance though, made a positive identification very difficult....A scan through a small flock of Yellow-legged Gulls showed nothing unusual but a Whiskered Tern and a nice Gull-billed Tern were descent additions to the site list.In the second pool to the right of the hide, most of the birds here were the same as the first pool apart from some Grey Heron, a lone Glossy Ibis and most surprisingly of all, a flock of 13 Greater Flamingos which I hadn’t noticed on the first scan of the area. You may wonder just how someone could miss a flock of leggy, bright white and pink giants sat out in the middle of a water treatment pool? I’m still wondering!! The only other species of note to be seen here was a Spectacled Warbler that was busily hunting for spiders between the links of the fence that skirts the treatment works. All in, quite a good day with a few lifers added although Ingrid was still left wondering what all the fuss was about. I’d need to try a bit harder to convince her I thought, perhaps the Scops Owls at Nikolias would do the trick?</blockquote>

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