Cyprus spring 2016 Part 1 23 – 31 March

23 March

Our first full day started at 6am, only to find that it had been light some time before the alarm went off. This would change once the clocks went forward the following weekend, but for now we’d make the most of the day and see whether Kouklia looked any better than it had in January. There was no running water as expected, but some shrubs had picked up a bit and we set six nets to try our luck. The first bird was a re-trapped Sardinian Warbler, always nice to get a bird that’s been around a while, which was then followed by the usual Reed Warblers, Blackcaps, and Chiffchaffs (including a bird showing characteristics of Siberian Chiffchaff), plus single Robin and Song Thrush (late winter visitors, plus a migrant Cretzschmar’s Bunting and Northern Wheatear – taking us to just over twenty birds – not too bad a start at all. 

 Siberian Chiffchaff? - grey uppers and brown mark below eye.

 Northern Wheatear

 Song Thrush

 Cretschmar's Bunting 5M

Totals: 22 (1)

Robin – 1
Wheatear -1
Song Thrush – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 2
Reed Warbler – 3
Sardinian Warbler – 4 (1)
Blackcap – 4
Chiffchaff – 3 (inc. 1 possible ‘Siberian Chiffchaff’)
Spanish Sparrow – 2
Cretzschmar’s Bunting - 1

Post ringing we did some birding at Secret Valley GC with the highlights being Bonelli’s Eagle, Black Redstart, Black-eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, and Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler.

 Black-eared Wheatear

 This was followed by a visit to Mandria which did not produce the Namaqua Dove, but five Isabelline Wheatears were seen, but little else.

24 March

The second day was to start with negotiations for use of a new ringing site with the resident ringer AC  joining us, but he suffered a car catastrophe en route, and the vehicle had broken down even before CL made it out of the shower! We just about made it on time after collecting him from the roadside and the new location in Paphos looks very promising. At Paphos SW we had five Cattle Egret, four Spur-winged Plover and a Song Thrush. After some domestic issues to resolve we were out again at Anarita Park by the afternoon seeing the usual Wheatear species, plus, a male Eastern Subalpine, male and female Ruppell’s Warbler, two male and a female Cyprus, and male and female Eastern  Orphean Warblers, and a Redstart. We also found one of the unique aberrant plumaged Sardinian Warblers, with an all back head and dusky grey body, which we passed onto AC as Alex Kirschel at University of Cyprus is doing a study on them.

 This area is known for occassional aberrantly plumaged Sardinian Warbler that produces very dark individuals. This male had a completely black head and chest.

 We finished the day off at Agia Varvara where water for some reasons appears in the river and then promptly disappears again after ½ -1 miles or so. We had a couple of Great Spotted Cuckoos, and sitting up on a track through the river we had two Spotted Crakes and a Water Rail.

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

Spotted Crake (taken through window)

25 March

Having found that there was running water at Agia Varvara through the area where we did some ringing in January this year we thought it a good idea to try the area with water so returned here early am. There were signs of goats passing through the area, but late am we were met by two shepherds and their herd of sheep. The nets were furled as they approached, but sheep, are just sheep, and unlike goats that go through in a loose flock, these dam things were in a tight flock, with no idea about going round poles or guys and we ended up with three nets down, two of which after they finished walking over them and perhaps trying to eat them, were fit only for the bin. Thankfully both were slightly tired nets brought over this trip as they were expendable. The session produced 27 birds with a single Kingisher, the first Great Reed and Savi’s Warblers, and five Serins.

 6F Kingfisher

Great Reed Warbler

 Savi's Warbler

Amongst the two Chiffchaffs we had, one another showed characteristics of ‘Siberian Chiffchaff’. This time we remembered to acquire a feather for DNA sampling, hopefully via Martin Collinson at Aberdeen University. 

Another Siberian type Chiff and we await the DNA sampling for confirmation.

Seen during and after the session were a Spotted Crake and the first Sedge Warbler.

Totals: 25 (2)

Kingfisher – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 2 (1)
Savi’s Warbler – 1
Reed Warbler – 3
Great Reed Warbler – 1
Sardinian Warbler – 1 (1)
Blackcap – 4
Chiffchaff – 2 (inc. 1 possible ‘Siberian Chiffchaff’)
Great Tit – 1
Serin – 5
Greenfinch – 1
Spanish Sparrow - 3

Afternoon was spent with a quick visit to Paphos SW were there were ten Spur-winged Plovers this time, with a large flock of Blue and Black-headed Wagtails in the adjacent field, with at least one Red-throated Pipit. This was followed by another trip around Mandria which produced two pairs cof Stone Curlew, a single Short-eared Owl, about twenty Red-rumped Swallows, a Grey-headed Wagtail, the first Whinchat and a male Ruppell’s Warbler.

 Short-eared Owl

Male Ruppell's Warbler

26 March

With the south of the island being so dry, apart from the small area of river at Agia Varvara with its sheep herds, we headed to ACs P2 site on the northern side – Polis way which had flowing water. This site is often productive and we managed 52 birds, which for us, usually with only five nets up, in Cyprus is a good return with birds more concentrated in the river bed. 

 Sedge Warbler

 Male Penduline Tit

We had our first Tree Pipits, plus Sedge Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, plus a Penduline Tit. The first Lesser Whitethroat looked rather dark, with a chocolate coloured mantle rather than brown, which extended up and nape onto the back of the crown, with a thicker area of black behind the eye on the ear coverts than we would normally expect, but consulting Birds of the Middle East only had details of Desert minula  and Hume’s althaea Lesser Whitethroats, which did not match the bird we had, and I had forgotten about Siberian blythi Lesser Whitethroat and the fact I had a copies of the Lesser Whitethroat pages of Martin Garner's Birding Frontiers book with me that we had done for Georgia.

 Chocolate brown extending from mantle with tinges on the headLesser Whitethroat. 

Lesser Whitethroat tail.

Short P2

But we did photograph it, including tail and wing.  When we caught the second one, which made the differences more apparent, and I released I had the page copies, belated reference to this, suggested the bird may well match the northern population of the Siberian Lesser Whitethroat group, which has P2 = 7/8 or 8/9, and when checking the wing photo, P2 was shorter than the second bird, = 7/8 at least, rather than 5/6 on the second bird that had an obviously longer P2.

 Lesser Whitethroat 1 above and 2 below.

 Alas we have no further sample to send away with the potential Siberian Chiffchaff sample. We need to do some more work on this bird. One wintered in the garden of Colin Bradshaw, the BBRC chair, which was trapped, and a sample taken, so we need to get the information on this bird and compare them, but a photo we saw on a birder's blog, shows the bird with the brown from the mantle extending onto the nape and back of the head and more extensive area of black behind the eye, which are not features of Lesser Whitethroat curruca. We also saw a Wryneck within the ringing area.

Totals: 50 (2).

Tree Pipit – 4
Sedge Warbler – 3
Reed Warbler – 4 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat – 2 (inc. potential ‘Siberian Lesser Whitethroat’)
Blackcap – 19
Chiffchaff – 4 (1)
Penduline Tit – 1
Serin – 4
Greenfinch – 9

We then visited Evretou Dam, which had filled up a bit since January and actually had running water into it. Though there is a middle area where the river flows into it, it was disappointingly bare, with just a single Little Ringed Plover and Green Sandpiper, and two Common Sandpipes. After late afternoon lunch we headed up to Arodes where we had our first Cyprus Wheatears and Woodchat Shrike. At dusk we put a net up in an area where we heard the Cyprus race of Scops Owl calling and just as it was almost dark the bird flew from one Olive tree to another and was duly processed.

 Scops Owl, Cypiot sub-species

27 March

Today was supposedly a bit too windy but, actually, it was not, but it picked up as forecast and as it was overcast actually made the afternoon a tad cool. Due to the forecast breeze we had planned to meet Owen and Glynis for a wander around Paphos Headland, with a not too early start due to the clocks going forward. The headland was a bit busier than their previous visits, but it was still reasonably quiet, though we had a few firsts for the trip with a couple of Hoopoe, a Tawny Pipit and two male Collared Flycatchers, plus around ten Red-throated Pipits, Subalpine Warbler, and four Cretzschmar’s Buntings, and a late Chaffinch.

 Male collared Flycatcher

 Paphos headland

We then visited Anarita Park which produced another Wryneck and Blue Rock Thrush, nine Eastern Black-eared Wheaters, male and female Ruppell’s and Eastern Orphean Warblers, Woodchat Shrike and six Cretzschmar’s Buntings.

 

Woodchat Shrike

After the usual late afternoon lunch we returned to Agia Varvara and tried a couple of hours late afternoon, and hopefully a time after the sheep where back at the farm, but we only put two nets up, but it was still rather breezy and cool, and few birds were in evidence, and we only managed three. A Water Rail and Spotted Crake were seen again.

Totals: 2 (1)

Sedge Warbler – 2
Chiffchaff – 0 (1)

28 March

Another forecast windy day saw us heading off in the direction of Akrotiri, this time the day started windy and got more so by the middle of the day. First port of call was Bishops Pool/Farm and it was soon fairly evident despite the heavy overnight showers than had not produced any significant fall of birds. The pool held eleven Ferruginous Ducks and our first Garganey. We also had our first for this trip of Hoopoe, Sand Martin, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler, plus another Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler and a ringtail Hen Harrier. Zakakai Marsh was already showing signs of last years reed cutting will need to be repeated again as reed growth in Cyprus is particularly quick. Open water again was becoming restricted. The first Purple Heron was seen here together with a Bluethroat that put in a brief appearance. A single Greater Flamingo was here, an immature that has very likely been frequenting the site since January, often very inactive and giving the appearance of not always looking in the fullness of health. 

 LittleEgret

 The two trips up and down Ladies Mile produced some of the usual early spring waders with 49 Kentish Plover, a Ringed Plover, two Little Ringed Plover, three Redshank, ten Dunlin and 34 Little Stint, plus a summer plumaged Greater Sand Plover.

 Kentish Plover and Little Stint

 Little Stints

 Greater Sand Plover

 A single immature Caspian Gull at the beach, plus a Stonechat and Eastern Orphean Warbler. Last visit was to Akrotiri GP, which with the low number of birds and strongish winds produced every little apart from a Cuckoo, three Wheatear, a Whinchat, Collared Flycatcher and three Woodchat Shrike.

 European Cuckoo

 As we left we had a look at the fire damage to the bird less Phassouri reed bed, apart from a number of Hooded Crows feeding in the ashes. 

 It is unknown as to how the fire happened. It was not part of the management plan.

Six Alpine Swift were seen at Ermi as we joined the motorway back to Paphos.

29 March

Today am the wind forecast was low so we headed back to Kouklia, with daylight showing at 6.30am this gave us more of a chance to be up and running before too much activity, but re-sighting one net required a bit of scrub removal, so we were not all set up as early as hoped. Whilst setting up a Wryneck and Great Reed Warbler were seen giving hope there might be at last some movement, but that was after the first couple of visit to the nets was found not to be so. We did manage two Wrynecks though, but apart from the local birds, mainly the Sardinian Warblers, a couple of Cetti’s and a single Zitting Cisticola, our catch would have even been lower, with the only other migrants being a single Tree Pipit, Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

 Wryneck 1

Zitting Cisticola

 Wryneck two

Total:17 (4)

Wryneck – 2

Tree Pipit – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 2 (2)
Zitting Cisticola – 1
Sardinian Warbler – 6 (2)
Blackcap -3
Chiffchaff – 1
Spanish Sparrow - 1

Afterwards we headed to Anartia Park as this is predominately a drive around site which due to its openness always seems to give up what is there even on low bird days and managed female Ruppell’s and Eastern Subalpine Warblers, a couple of the resident male Spectacled Warblers. The Lesser Kestrels had arrived with nine hanging in the air, plus a Long-legged Buzzard doing the same. The best bird was a male Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush sat on a rock which whilst we watched it, it never moved off! Last visit of the day was to Secret Valley GC, which also relatively quiet with just a couple of Eastern Bonelli’s Warblers and a Woodchat Shrike, though the roadside Stone Curlew was nice as drove down the access road.

 Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush male

 Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

30 March

We decided to try the Arodes area at the back of the Avgas gorge, which can be fairly good for migrants, but it was quiet, with very little in the area or passing over and we only managed one bird! We had hoped to capture Cyprus Wheatear, but they seemed to see the nets all too easily.

 Cyprus Wheatear

Total: 1

Sardinian Warbler – 1

We managed to see both Eastern Orphean and Bonelli’s Warblers, and two Marsh Harriers which flew over early in the morning suggesting they may have roosted in one of the gorges overnight. We then had to meet the property developers engineer as we have some floor tiles lifting, but after waiting over  two hours a call confirmed he was not coming. Having lost most of the afternoon, we took a look around a very quiet Agia Varvara seeing only a Hoopoe.

31 March

We met AC at Paphos SW for a session at this new site. With things still fairly quiet it is difficult to tell how this will pan out, and working out how the birds use the site will take some observation. We processed ten birds, but nothing of note apart from the first Whitethroat.

First Whitethroat of the year

Total:8 (1)

White Wagtail – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 1
Sardinian Warbler – 3
Whitethroat – 1
Chiffchaff – 0 (1)
Great Tit - 1
House Sparrow –1

There were a couple of Little Ringed Plover, two Green Sandpipers, eight Spur-winged Plovers and a Wood Sandpiper on site. 

As we were leaving we got a text message to tell us there was a ‘Grey’ Shrike at Akrotiri but we were supposed to be meeting the engineer again, but within five minutes of getting the text the developers rang to say the engineer was not coming, but whilst this left us free, we had left the optics at home as we were not expecting to go anywhere until after he had been, so we still had to go back for them.

We made good time on the motorway and arrived in the early afternoon. We were unsure of the precise location but followed Jane’s directions and saw the bird not long after we arrived. It had been reported as a Grey Shrike, possibly Steppe, but didn’t seem quite right – although it did seem a good match for elegans.

 

The bird showed a lot of white on the wings in flight but much

less was apparent at rest. It had only a few feathers in the tail.

There was also an Eastern Orphean Warbler present, three Cretzschmar's Buntings. Photographs were taken and we moved on to check the area around Ladies Mile. The Greater Sand Plover was still present along with a Masked Shrike. We then did a tour around Akrotiri GP area which produced both Woodchat and Masked Shrike, the first Ortolan and two Cretzschmar's Buntings, Eastern Subalpine, Eastern Orphean, Ruppell's Warblers and Redstart with a good number of wheatear.

Isabelline Wheatear

Finally a visit to Zakaki Marsh three Cattle Egret, Spotted Crake and Bluethroat.

 Record shot of Bluethroat, taken at dusk.