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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Hairy Highlander" data-source="post: 1668016" data-attributes="member: 73907">Saturday 29th Aug.AKROTIRI AREAI was looking forward to getting back out to Akrotiri, so as you’ve probably guessed by now, I was up and away by 06:30. The Birdlife Cyprus Meeting was at 07:30 at the Sylvana car park and I going to be early so I dropped in by the St. Nikolias church area to search for some early morning goodies. First birds seen were a pair of Hoopoe and a male Red-Backed Shrike perched on a bush in the middle of the garden area. Some Crested Larks called from the scrub beyond the garden. In one of the bushes a small Warbler showed briefly before skulking back into the thorny undergrowth, a minute or so later and it was out again, this time showing better – Spectacled Warbler. Further still in a small tree, another Warbler showed but this time I would need the scope. I quickly located it and identified it as Olivacious Warbler, the downward flicking tail being a clincher. It was time to head over to Sylvanas and I arrived to find about 10 birders all looking through their scopes and bins towards were the Cranes had been seen the previous day. Sadly, no Cranes had been present but the mood was still good amongst the crowd. Doug and Attila had arrived before me but they would have to wait for any Crane sightings, the hope for them was that there would be a movement of Demoiselles before their holiday was over. It was about time to go and look for some birds so the next stop was the Bishop’s pool, most of the crowd agreed on this move and we left in convoy....We all lined up and began our scan with scopes, starting at the left side and working along the water’s edge were the waders fed. 5 Greenshank, 2 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Curlew Sandpiper and 5 Little Stint were noted first, then further along 6 Glossy Ibis, 5 more Little Stint, 2 Ringed Plover and a single Little Ringed Plover with 2 Temminck’s Stint were seen. Several Yellow Wagtails, Flavas and Feldeggs, skipped between the reeds and a good number of Grey Herons lined the trees that surround the pool, a Male Red-backed Shrike was found in bushes at the end far and a pair of Common Kingfishers darted from side to side. A single Juv. Elenora’s Falcon made a brief appearance before drifting south west and a couple of Turtle Doves were noted flying through. Our attention was then diverted by some Warbler action, a Reed Warbler was first on show then a Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, followed soon after by an elusive Olivacious Warbler which called but never really showed itself that well. The shout then came of a ‘Harrier on the horizon, but distant’, so we all spun round and got on to it, all identifying it as a Marsh Harrier. Whilst watching the Marsh Harrier, a member of the group called out ‘Pipits overhead’, and Tree Pipit was added to the list. It was about 09:30 by now and some of the group decided to return to Sylvana to look for any Raptor movements – Doug had mentioned that it was the perfect time to look for Honey Buzzards leaving their overnight roost in the eucalyptus forest that lines northern edge of the salt lake, There might even be the chance of getting Montague’s Harrier, an early Pallid or some Black Kite. I was torn between staying a bit longer by the Bishop’s pool and adding a few more Warbler species to my list or going for the Raptors......My decision to stay at the pool proved to be the wrong one!!After a further 30 minutes of finding no new species by Bishop’s pool, Attila, Myself and some others also returned to Sylvanas were we joined Doug only to find out that we had just missed about 56 Honey Buzzard flying south, not to high overhead, by about 5 minutes, ARGH!!Then word got round that there was a pair of Grey plovers on the gravel pit by the St. Nikolias church, supposedly quite a scarcity on the island and a twitch was on! A short drive to the area followed shortly after and we all connected with the two Grey Plover. 3 Common Kingfishers were also noted. The rest of the morning/early afternoon was spent back at the raptor view point at Sylvanas restaurant were Doug explained the migrating habits of the Honey Buzzard, Harriers and Kites that usually turn up here during autumn, and told me some of his techniques for picking up raptors from this spot. As we put these techniques to the test I was impressed by his ability to find birds and it wasn’t long before he called the first. It was a Harrier but which one? Because of the distance I wasn’t to sure about the i.d., it was a ring tail for sure, and after an explanation of the differences between the Harrier species Doug confirmed it as a female Montague’s Harrier – a lifer for me, and a firm handshake was given as a thank you, without Doug’s experience I would have put this down as just a Harrier Sp.Not long after the Monty’s, Doug then spotted another two birds flying high, Harriers again but this time they were much easier to identify...they were Juv or female Marsh Harriers. Next on the menu was a fine adult Black Kite once again, picked up by Doug’s keen eye, flying south over the salt lake. By now I was starting to think I needed new Bins!I left Doug at Sylvanas Restaurant around 13:00 and made my way back west, stopping in at the Kensington Cliffs. A fairly intensive scan of the ledges along the length of the cliffs proved unrewarding in regards to seeing any Griffon Vultures but the ever present Elenora’s Falcons were still putting in a performance, I managed to count 10 or so but there were probably quite a few more. 7 Alpine Swifts were also noted, I could hear Cyprus Warbler but they never showed and a Lesser Whitethroat gave a brief appearance before disappearing into some scrub.Later that evening, I mentioned to Ingrid that I was going back out to look for the Scops Owls again and she wanted to join me so we set off, this time though, we were armed with a torch. Before we reached the Owls I thought it might be worth while trying for the Stone curlews at Mandria again, perhaps they would be showing this time and with a bit of ‘woman’s intuition’ we would get a glimpse of them before the light faded? As we approached the beach, the field with the irrigation system which held the Yellow Wagtails on the 27th still had some Wagtails but much fewer, only about 30 or so. We looked in the field that had the Short-toed Larks and they were still there, but to be honest, I didn’t have a clue where to look for the Stone curlews – the whole area is a patchwork of ploughed and stubble fields and Stone curlews being Stone curlews, I knew they’d be hard to find. Ingrid was eager to see the Scops Owls so we made our way to the Nikolias Vasilias Inn. We got as far as the end of the beach road and I don’t know what it was, but something told me to drive down a track on the west edge of Mandria village into an area overlooking some stubble fields cross-sectioned by some olive trees. We parked up and got the scope set up for one last scan when Ingrid pipes up and says: ‘oh look, there’s some Partridges or something over there’ (pointing in the opposite direction to where I was looking)? I had a feeling that they were just some Chuckar but felt obliged to investigate further....as I swung the scope round to the direction of Ingrid’s Partridges I could indeed see some Chuckar but, to my utter amazement, just to the left and behind them, stood our target species, it was a Stone curlew! Then another poked it’s head up  followed by another 12....I don’t know what was better – actually locating the Curlews or seeing the joy on Ingrid’s face as she gushed about finding the birds before me!! I think she was finally ‘getting’ what all the fuss was about. She then suggested getting the camcorder out for some digi-cording – she was on a role as that hadn’t even entered my mind, a few minutes, after obtaining some half descent footage we made for the Scops Owls..We arrived not long after, just as the sun was setting, and took position under the large eucalyptus tree. No Owls were heard after 5 minutes so I did some ‘calling in’ and that paid of more or less straight away. From what seemed only feet away, our target bird started to call, then from higher up a second bird called, the pair were here again. The torch we brought however, did not live up to my expectations....I would have been better using a cigarette lighter. For the next couple of minutes we both had turns calling to the birds before one of them flew from the tree and passed right overhead, we had seen the bird, albeit a silhouette but we were happy with that, that was probably the best view would manage. Little Owls were also calling from the field opposite and I was sure I heard the hissing call of a Barn Owl, superb, 3 species of Owl in 20 minutes!</blockquote>

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