13 November
This was to have been the day when AC joined us for another
try for pipits at Evretou Dam, as the wind was forecast to be very low, but he
was sadly unable to make it. We still went over to the dam, finding the breeze
was slight as expected, and changed the position of our nets so that the ground
was a little (although not much) easier under foot. We had some outside
disturbance on this morning as a hunter was exercising his pack of several
hounds from his vehicle. The dogs ranged far and wide, each wearing a bell so
that we seemed surrounded by bonging beagle like gun dogs at times. Thankfully they had
been trained to return to the sound of the car’s horn, and were fairly obedient
as they were called back when they began, as a group, to take an interest in
our pipit nets that had already begun to catch. We were also joined by a farmer
on his tractor, ploughing up the patch next to where we were working. He posed
no problems but the birds did seem to rather prefer his freshly overturned soil
to the area that we’d staked out.
Meadow Pipit
Water Pipit
We got 12 pipits, four of which were Water Pipit. Birds seen
during the day were a Bonelli’s Eagle, 7 Woodlark and a Bluethroat.
Total: 14
Meadow Pipit – 8
Water Pipit – 4
Stonechat – 2
The afternoon was spent exploring the
tracks at the back of Avakas Gorge. We hoped to get close enough to check for
Wallcreeper and Rock Sparrow on the cliff faces, but found neither. We were also unable to find a clear route to
walk into the gorge from the Arodes end. The only bird seen of note was a male
Blue Rock Thrush.
14 November
After a promising first visit to the
Acheleia soakaways, we returned for another go.
A total of 55 birds were processed including Water Rail, Kingfisher and
much to our delight three Penduline Tits.
Kingfisher
Penduline Tit adult female
Penduline Tit adult male
Penduline Tit juvenile male
Water Rail
Male Bluethroat - red-spotted form
Spanish Sparrow male
Most birds were trapped in the
morning although we did go back to see how birds behaved during the evening, getting
just 7 to add to the main session and showing that this is a site best worked
in the morning.
Total: 52 (3)
Water Rail – 1
Kingfisher – 2
Robin – 3
Bluethroat – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 1
Blackcap – 14
Chiff-chaff – 19 (3)
Penduline Tit – 3
Spanish Sparrow – 4
Chaffinch – 2
Reed Bunting – 2
Stonechat – 1
Chris made a solo attempt on Wallcreeper
at Avakas Gorge that afternoon, since thundery showers expected over the
next
couple of days may make conditions
in the gorge more difficult for a few days. His enthusiasm was met with
success
where the gorge opens out, but
the Rock Sparrows seen previously were abscent, which was surprising since them
seemed fairly settled and at home in the gorge. Meanwhile Denise took
photographs along the river.
Autumn takes hold in the gorge
Water snails and their grazing trails on the sandy river bed
Black Redstart visits for a drink
15 November
We again returned to Acheleia soakaways. It had been
forecast for showers after 11, but the thunderstorms from the night before
still lingered. We were supposed to be joined by AC, but as the weather in Polis
was rather wet he did not venture out, and although we had a couple of brief
heavy showers that required the nets to be furled, it was a successful morning with 36 birds processed , all similar species to the two previous days.
Cetti's Warbler retrap 36224
Fan-tailed Warbler
Total: 30 (6)
Kingfisher – 0 (2)
Robin – 1
Bluethroat – 2
Cetti’s Warbler – 4 (1)
Fan-tailed Warbler – 1
Moustached Warbler – 1
Blackcap – 3 (1)
Chiff-chaff – 16 (1)
Great Tit – 1
Reed Bunting – 1 (1)
As the early afternoon weather was looking likely to be more wet than the
morning we just had a run around one or two places, before getting back to the
house early, with the only things seen of any note being a Long-legged Buzzard
and female/immature Hen Harrier at Minthis Hills.
16 November
Being a Sunday and a hunting day we headed to Paphos Forest where there is no
hunting allowed.
Kannaviou Dam
Paphos Forest
We went via Kannaviou Dam where there were lots of feeding
finches at the start of the day. Once we got onto the track circumnavigating
the dam, we didn’t see too many birds but on stopping there were plenty of
birds to be heard once we entered the forest.
We set a couple of nets at Agia
picnic site where we could hear Hawfinch, Short-toed Treecreeper and Coal Tit.
We only caught two birds, a Robin and a Goldcrest.
Robin
Goldcrest
Another try at a different location proved
fruitless and there was no obvious site suitable for ringing at the forest
station. By about 2pm we had completed the Paphos forest circuit and
were disappointed to find that the finches had disappeared from their earlier
foraging spot at the dam.
Total: 2
Robin – 1
Goldcrest - 1
An attempt to ring at Anarita Park failed as the goats and
sheep were too close to the area that we use so we checked out Ayia Vavara
where we found a Lapwing, Snipe and Green Sandpiper on the pools, eight
Woodlark and quite a few passerines that seemed convinced that the several
hunters who were about, were out to get them. At any rate, they wasted no time
in diving into cover. Part of this area looked suitable for further
investigation in the spring, if the river is flowing.
17 November
An early start at Acheliea soakaways where AC had agreed to
join us. During setting up we saw the juvenile Night Heron as it departed its
night time roost and a couple of Peregrines overhead. Later the Great White
Egret and Garganey dropped in. The morning was quite productive with 50 birds
captured, mainly Chiffchaff but also good numbers of Blackcap. While ringing,
we were treated to views of Grey Wagtail and a juvenile Common Rosefinch
dropped into a bush about 15 feet from us, then sitting on top of nearby reeds
giving good views, before disappearing southwards.
Common Rosefinch juvenile (record shot)
Reed Warbler juvenile
The Reed Warbler showed strong growth bars across primaries,
secondaries, tertials, greater and median coverts.
Later in the morning a Black Kite was seen
overhead, as was a stunning male Hen Harrier.
Total: 46 (4)
Kingfisher – 0 (1)
Robin – 1
Bluethroat - 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 2
Moustached Warbler – 2
Reed Warbler – 1
Sardinian Warbler - 2
Blackcap – 12
Chiff-chaff – 24 (3)
Chaffinch – 1
After an extended coffee break with AC we later dropped in
again at Anartia Park and set up just a couple of nets, one by the pool in the
quarry and the other in the stream bed. Although near a juvenileRed-backed Shrike that seemed to resemble
the one seen a few days earlier at the Acheleia Soakaways, it managed to elude us.
Juvenile Red-backed Shrike
We managed a single
Robin at the pool and three other birds at the other net, one of which was a
Wood Lark, one of nine in the area.
Wood Lark
At least one male Finsch’s Wheatear was
still present in the quarry area.
Total: 3 (1)
Wood Lark -1
Robin – 0 (1)
Sardinian Warbler – 2
18 November
Our last chance to visit the Troodos. We left early and
arrived before 8am. This was our first visit on a non-hunting day and it made
such a difference. We drove along long stretches of road without seeing another
vehicle. The sound of silence was very intense, only broken by the occasional
sound from a Chaffinch or Blackbird in the vegetation
nearby.
We started off at the Almirolivado picnic site but had hardly made any progress along
the path towards the Giant Juniper when five birds, clearly buntings, flew up in the direction of where the
car was parked. It was quite difficult to locate them, but one Pine Bunting
male remained in a treetop long enough for a record shot, in addition to another seen in a Pine tree.
Pine Bunting
We relocated to the
Livadi tou Pashia picnic site further up the hill and found a flock of some 15 birds, the bulk of
which, somehow remained tantalisingly just out of sight. Whilst here, we got on
to two definite Yellowhammers, and at another area one female Pine Bunting, and one bird that appeared to be a Yellowhammer/Pine Bunting hybrid.
Having obtained the necessary
permission, and since we had the place to ourselves, we then put up
two nets close to one of the recentlyformed pools in the area that had formed with the recent rain, and settled down to wait. There were only three birds
after about five hours but they were all worth the wait. I did my first Hawfinch,
Chris processed a Coal Tit and I then had a Short-toed Treecreeper.
Female Hawfinch
Both the
Treecreeper and Coal Tit are Cypriot endemic subspecies, bringing the grand ringing
total to 252 birds on the last of our ringing days.
Coal Tit
Short-toed Treecreeper
Totals : 3
Coal Tit - 1
Short-toed Treecreeper -1
Hawfinch - 1
19 November
The plan for this day was to travel East from Paphos to Larnaca, visiting some key sites on the way. The first place visited was Bishop's Pool. We have heard a few horror stories about the state of the water in the pool since more water is to be used to irrigate surrounding fields. We noticed that some of the pumping equipment has been renewed but the water level wasn't bad. This may have been due to recent rain, but the Little Grebes and a small group of mixed hirundines seemed happy enough.
Bishop's Pool
Gecko on pool wall
We also took a walk around the surrounding fields and wild areas, finding Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare.
Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare
Orange groves
Uncultivated land
Narcissus Obsoletus
After a look around the new environmental centre we drove on across the sand, via Lady's Mile to Zakaki Marsh where the Striated Heron was still present. The main marsh hosted a Temminck's Stint, Little Egrets, Water Pipits, Grey Heron and Marsh Harrier.
Striated Heron
Many gulls were congregating at the eastern end of Lady's Mile. Armenian gulls were present among the melee, along with a single Sandwich Tern.
There was time for a look at Germasogia dam. The water level was very low, together with the number of birds, apart from 20 Cormorants.
Germasogia dam
20 November
We had stayed in Larnaca overnight and started the last day of the visit at the salt lake. Flamingo numbers had risen significantly since we had been there on the 5th of the month. Shelduck had increased to 15, three Temminck's Stints were at the viaduct end of the lake, 11 Spur-winged Plovers were on the drier land next to the viaduct, and passerines seen were three Water Pipits, a Red-backed Shrike and four Reed Buntings.
Greater Flamingoes
Even in November, plants around the salt lake were coming into flower.
Capparis Spinosa
Moving on to Oriklini Marsh there were good numbers of Spur-winged Plover, with 58 present along with, 17 Lapwings, and single Marsh Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank, plus a Water Pipit.
Oriklini Marsh
At Meneou Pools we had 127 Golden Plover and we ended the day at Larnaca sewage works where there were eight White-fronted Geese, a Black-necked Grebe and three Mediterreanean Gulls to be seen before returning the hire car and getting the flight home.
Larnaca sewage works
We thank the Game Fund for their support through the issuing of the approrpiate licence to ring birds, and assistance provided by their local officers, and to Birdlife Cyprus for providing the necessary rings and the assistance of AC.
