Cyprus spring 2016 Part 2 1 - 10 April

1 April

The morning was spent at Kouklia where we ringed until midday and captured over 30 birds. We had seen two Pallid Harriers, a male and female, as we left the motorway and that was taken as an indication that birds had been arriving at the end of the previous day. Thirty plus birds ringed at Kouklia isn’t too bad as the birds arrive on a broad front with nothing to channel their progress until the river valleys gain altitude, but the range of species is the attraction of this site. On arriving there was a cautionary reminder as someone had been through in a vehicle and a freshly dead Blunt-nosed viper was lying in the track. We always take care around clumps of vegetation and make more noise than we usually would, in order to warn snakes of our presence. We put up three nets on each side of the dry river bed and were pleased to get Nightingale, Great Reed Warbler, Ruppell’s Warbler and Eastern Subalpine Warbler before take down at midday. 

Totals: 31 (5)

Wryneck – 0 (1)

Nightingale – 1

Zitting Cisticola – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 1 (1)

Whitethroat – 1

Lesser Whitethroat – 7

Reed Warbler – 4

Great Reed Warbler – 2

Eastern Subalpine Warbler – 1

Ruppell’s Warbler – 1

Sardinian Warbler – 0 (2)

Blackcap – 9 (1)

Chiffchaff – 1

Spanish Sparrow – 1

 Ruppell's Warbler

Eastern Subalpine Warbler

Other birds seen included Hoopoe (2), Masked Shrike (1), Ortolan Bunting (5), Stone Curlew (1), Cretzschmar’s Bunting, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (1) and Purple Heron (3).

In the afternoon we trawled around Mandria turning up Red-throated Pipit (3), Northern Wheatear (9), Short-toed Lark (quite scare this year) (2), Cyprus Wheatear (1), another Masked Shrike (1), Marsh Harrier (1), Wryneck (1), Nightingale (1), Purple Heron (1) and Lesser Whitethroat (7).

Moving on to Anarita Park the only new bird was a female Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, a couple of Whinchat and a male Pied Flycatcher

2 April

Back to P2 today, to meet AC and his trainee Michaela.  We had seven nets up and caught throughout the morning. We finished on 109.

 Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

Totals 101 (8)

Tree Pipit – 6

Cetti’s Warbler – 0 (1)

Sedge Warbler – 1

Reed Warbler – 10

Sardinian Warbler – 1 (1)

Lesser Whitethroat – 4

Blackcap – 38 (1)

Bonelli’s Warbler - 1

Willow Warbler - 3

Chiffchaff – 2 (1)

House Sparrow - 2

Spanish Sparrow – 10 (1)

Serin – 2 (1)

Greenfinch – 7

Goldfinch – 1 (2)

Linnet – 1

Cretzschmar’s Bunting – 2

The session continued well into the early afternoon so after a check of Evretou Dam (Green Sandpiper (3), Common Sandpiper (1) and Little Ringed Plover (4)) and a lovely lunch at Peritakis in Kathikas we went on to Arodes to try for Cyprus Wheatear. There were few other birds around and we were unable to catch any of our targeted species. As the light failed, owls began to call – so we continued after dark and managed to catch a Little Owl and a European Scops Owl.

 Little Owl

 European Scops Owl

Total: 2

European Scops Owl - 1

Little Owl - 1

3 April

Kouklia again, and a great start with Hoopoe being the first bird.  There was an obvious passage of Lesser Whitethroat, with 20 being the greatest number we have ever captured in one day. Blackcaps were present in greater numbers and Nightingale and Crested Lark were also ringed.

 Hoopoe

 Nightingale 

 Crested Lark

Totals: 48 (6)

Hoopoe – 1

Crested Lark – 1

Nightingale – 1

Cetti’s Warbler – 0 (4)

Reed Warbler – 1 (1)

Great Reed Warbler – 1

Sardinian Warbler – 1 (1)

Lesser Whitethroat – 20

Whitethroat – 2

Blackcap – 18

Chiffchaff - 2

 Agama at Mandria

Afterwards a trip around Mandria produced a small flock of fifteen Red-throated Pipits, a nice male Citrine Wagtail and another Masked Shrike. After a longish lunch a brief visit to the flooded track at Agia Varvara did not produce any Little Crakes, but one Spotted Crake was still present.

 Masked Shrike at Mandria

4 April

Today was set aside for another attempt at catching Cyprus Wheatear. We decided to head for Adonis Hills, a site where we used to ring regularly on our visits, but due to a huge pack of dogs roaming the area this is no longer somewhere that we work. We had only just set the first net when the first of the dogs arrived, soon to be joined by another four. The main pack (mistaken at first for a head of goats) was across the valley following a man who looked like some strange pied piper of around 50 assorted dogs). Once the last of the dogs had finally trotted off, we put up a two-panel net where we had been seeing Cyprus Warbler. The first net proved hopeless as the wheatears’ eyesight was just too good, even though there were several in the immediate area. We did however, manage to capture a male Cyprus Warbler that had been singing from the top of one particular bush and a small olive tree alternately. While we were re-sighting the first net to a shadier spot, the small double panel captured a female Sardinian Warbler and a female Cyprus Wheatear giving up the second endemic Cypriot bird of the morning. We did try another two nets in areas where Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler, Wood Warbler and flycatchers are seen on passage but the area was mainly quiet- with just the sound of a turkey talking to itself in the farmyard upon the hill, with one solitary Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler present and no other migrants at all, not even an overflying.

 Cyprus Warbler male

 Cyprus Wheatear female

Total:  4

Cyprus Wheatear – 1

Sardinian Warbler – 2

Cyprus Warbler – 1

We headed back to the apartment with half an hour to spare before the engineer arrived to look at the floor tiles. He was early and disappeared after a cursory look, but reappeared with a man who came equipped with chisel, hammer and screw driver – apparently the necessary tools to lift the tiles to look underneath. Having got the first one up we at least knew there was no leaking pipe underneath – just adhesive failure as Cypriot properties have tiles laid straight on to concrete without the benefit of PVC bonding. Still, enough of our maintenance difficulties – but we didn’t get out again for the day, especially as reports we were getting were to the effect there was nothing about!


5 April

Kouklia was slower than last time. The wave of Lesser Whitethroats have mostly gone through and migrants were pretty thin on the ground. That said, we did get a second Subalpine Warbler and our first Eastern Olivaceous Warbler of the year.

 5M Subalpine Warbler

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

 Nightingale

A Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was heard flying over, and a group of twenty Glossy Ibis headed east.
As the temperature climbed, we packed up for midday and tried a couple of nets further along the track where some Wheatears had congregated.Of course, the net was much too obvious for any of them to get caught, but we did get a Woodchat Shrike and a few more Lesser Whitethroats.

 Woodchat Shrike

After a much needed drink, Anarita proved rather breezy, making the two shelf 12 metre net the only option. Luckily, that was sufficient to capture three Spectacled Warblers in an area that we have netted in several past years – but no much wanted retrap. A Bonelli's Eagle drifted over.

Spectacled Warbler, female

 Spectacled Warbler, male

6 April

Today we met  AC at Paphos Sewage Works to work the site again. It was evident from the start that there were no migrants around and only six House Sparrows were captured for our efforts. A Squacco Heron dropped into one of the water storage tanks. We also met Panicos from the Game Fund as he had been instrumental in gaining access at the site. It was interesting to find out that the Diarizos River (that runs/ran through Kouklia) has now been diverted to the Kouris Dam by a pipeline– so the only water flowing will have fallen from that point or beyond – explaining why the river bed has been so dry over the last couple of years. Obviously, that was no prospect of any improvement either.

Totals: 6

House Sparrow - 6

After a last drink, before our departure, with AC we went up to Anarita where it was too windy to try for any of the Wheatears there, but on our way up a stop off at Agia Varvara and some sky watching produced Peregrine and a fly over Black Stork.

7 April

We started the day at Paphos Headland. There were a few more birds around but migration could still be best described as slow. We saw Tawny and four Red-throated Pipits, four Eastern Bonelli's Warblers and three Collared Flycatchers.

 Crested Lark

We had lunch overlooking the Adonis Hills and the dam, with a Bonelli's Eagle and two Long-legged Buzzards over the restaurant.

We then had an explore from Tsada down to Epskopi down the Eszousa Valley, with four Turtle Doves at Pitargou, and despite water in the river at various points no Little Bittern or Crakes.

8 April

  Kouklia

This was our last ringing day in Cyprus and it was spent at Kouklia. The weather  was changing and some clouds developed through the morning, and with them a very stiff breeze. We got 20 something birds including our only Whinchat and decided not to persevere since the nets were blowing completely open. 

 Whinchat

Sedge Warbler

Unusually there were a few same day retraps including a Great Reed Warbler, Nightingale and Sedge Warbler – all birds heading back towards the coast where we knew there to be a couple of fresh water pools, but little was moving up the river bed although we thought that the situation may be different in the evening, with the hazy cloud that was building up. There were six Slender-billed Gulls past, a Kingfisher at the pools, and two Wrynecks seen.

Totals 23 (3)

Nightingale – 2

Whinchat – 1

Cetti’s Warbler – 0 (1)

Great Reed Warbler – 2

Sedge Warbler – 1

Reed Warbler – 1

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler – 1

Sardinean Warbler – 2 (1)

Lesser Whitethroat – 5

Blackcap – 4

Great Tit – 3 (1)

Goldfinch – 1

We packed up and went to Mandria where a Turkestan Shrike had been found. The bird had remained faithful to the area close to the beach bar and was found easily. We also had a flock of c30 Red-throated Pipits.

 Turkestan Shrike

9 April

The next day we went to Larnaca via  Akrotiri. The GPs had a few birds around with tow Redstart, eight Whinchat, ten Woodchat and one Masked Shrike, two Collared and one Spotted Flycatcher, and c25 Ortolan Buntings.

The off to Larnaca via Ladies Mile and Zakaki Marsh, both of which were fairly quite. At Larnaca we first of all headed to Spiro's Pool which had three Ruff, two Marsh and one Wood Sandpiper, three Greenshank, Whimbrel, with a nice group of 21 Collared Pratincoles, and a single Little Tern.

 21 Collared Pratincoles at Spiros Pool.

 Woodchat Shrike

 Masked Shrike

Yellow-legged Gull

We then stopped off at Larnaca SW where there was a Ruddy Shelduck and a group of sixteen Gull-billed Terns went through. At Larnaca SL on the airport north pools there was a single Red-necked Phalarope and a Gull-billed Tern. A stop at a water channel at the west end of Larnaca by the oil depot held four Timminck's Stints, and finally Oroklini were the only notable thing was the roost of 246 Cattle Egrets.

10 April

Before the flight to Israel we again visited Oroklini and Spiro's Pool, which now had two Little Terns, otherwise all was relatively quite.