So,
Cyprus. I always find it interesting to see what the local common birds are
compared to the UK and here there’s no contest – Cyprus is definitely Hooded
Crow territory. They’re frustrating birds as, due to their size and pale
breasts it’s easy to mistake them for raptors. Cetti’s Warblers were often
heard (though seldom seen) and Zitting Cisticolas and Crested Larks were
also widespread. On the flip side, Cyprus has no woodpeckers, perhaps not
surprising due to their aversion to flying over water, but it also has no
accepted record for Blue Tit, which is more puzzling.
‘Rapt..! No,
just another Hoodie’
 |
| Crested Lark |
 |
| Hooded Crow |
Despite
getting up at 4:30 for a 7am flight from Manchester, our hardy band made do
with a quick splash’n’dash at the hotel before heading out into the foothills
around Paphos to see what we could see. We managed to see the endemic Cyprus
Warbler as well as confusion species Sardinian Warbler (key difference being
the red eye ring of the Sardinian Warbler). A couple of Magpies then flew up
into a tree to mob an unseen bird which, as it broke cover, revealed itself to
be a Great Spotted Cuckoo, which gave great views as the Magpies proceeded to
harry it across the valley. Given that the Magpie is the preferred host species
for the parasitic great Spotted Cuckoo their ire was perhaps unsurprising, but
this was a great start to the trip.
The next day saw us ticking Alpine Swift on the way to a water treatment plant
which also provided Spur Winged Plover, before we headed off to Mandria, where
a female Harrier showed extremely well. But what kind of harrier was it? Owen
thought it was a Montague’s Harrier but, when we pulled alongside some other
birders to confer with them, they were adamant it was a Pallid Harrier
(underwing markings don’t y’know). One of Owen’s birding contacts had also seen
the Harrier at very close quarters and thought it was a Monty’s, but Owen
resisted the temptation to make it into the rarer Pallid and put it down as an
‘unknown’. A couple of days later we met the same birders again, who apologised
to Owen - they'd since been able to check their photos and confirm that it had
indeed been a Monty's. I was both impressed by this piece of birding 'honour'
and reassured by the fact that even experienced birders with a good look
at a bird can still struggle with IDs like the rest of us!
 |
| Chukar |
As
the days went by we saw other Cyprus specialities such as the Cyprus Pied
Wheatear and the Chukar partridge, supposedly the only ‘pure’ Chukars, the DNA
of Chukars found in Turkey etc having been analysed and found to contain DNA
from other sources such as Rock Partridge. Horse? Can’t rule it
out…
There were also plumage differences with commoner birds – Cypriot Linnets seem
to be more brightly coloured than their British counterparts.
 |
| Linnet |
A trip into the Troodos mountains was an opportunity to see the local races of
Coal Tit, Three Toed Treecreeper, Jay and Crossbill, some of which may be split
in future (look out for Dorothy's Treecreeper in a future Collins Bird Guide).
I missed out on the Crossbill, but, between us, we managed to see the set, as
well as an impressive Masked Shrike on the climb to the Troodos.
 |
| Masked Shrike |
A bird that had proved easy to hear, though just about impossible to see, was
the Black Francolin. We finally managed to see a female dash across the path
ahead of our car, but hoped for a better sighting, which we were lucky enough
to get on our way to Akrotiri, one of our party noticing a striking male
calling and displaying on top of a hummock:
 |
| Black Francolin |
And, shortly after that, we were treated to superb views of a group of Hawks:Yes, the Red Arrows were in town, based at RAF Akrotiri as they practiced for
the new display season.
Of course, it's not just about ticks - we had had some great views that we're
used to seeing back home:
 |
| Red Arrows display team |
 |
| Kingfisher |
Oddly, normally common migrants were proving thin on the ground – we failed to
see a single lesser whitethroat, which is usually the commonest migrant - but
conversely, did very well on ‘hope to see birds’ that were far from guaranteed.
Blue Cheeked Bee Eater isn't an annual migrant, but we were lucky enough to
catch up with five of them.
 |
| Blue Cheeked Bee Eater |
Baillons' Crake was a great find, and we also managed to score a flycatcher hat
trick - Pied, Collared and Semi-Collared, the latter also being a 'fingers
crossed' bird for the trip.
And
there were raptors – many birds seem to have been named in haste, leaving us to
repent at leisure that a ’better’ (or at least more accurate) name wasn’t
chosen instead. This was the case with a buzzard that I initially took to be an
eagle due to its impressive wingspan. Which begs the question: if a massive
wingspan is its most striking feature, why call it the Long Legged Buzzard?
We
saw a Bonelli’s Eagle on the climb to the Troodos mountains (of which more
later), and Agia Varvara and Anarita were also good for raptors, Montague’s
Harrier being frequently seen though Kestrel was the most common. The
benefits of checking every bird were illustrated when one of our party
announced ‘there’s something about this Kestrel’ and, when Owen checked, it was
found to be an Eleonora’s Falcon.
The search for another raptor took us to the spectacular Kensington Cliffs -
our initial attempt proved fruitless, but a return visit brought us Griffon
Vulture.
.JPG) |
| Kensington Cliffs |
 |
| Roller |
Ayia
Varvara and Anarita were regularly visited in the search for raptors, with
frequent sightings of Montague's Harriers and Kestrels and were one of the
final spots on our desperate last-day search - we'd visited Paphos headland in
the hope of finding migrants but had struck out. Nevertheless, we kept at it,
and Anarita duly paid dividends, with at least 6 Red-Footed Falcon and 3 Lesser
Kestrels, one of the latter being considerate enough to perch on a weed stem
and show off its lack of moustachial stripe and its pale claws (Kestrels have
black claws). And, of course, raptors aren't the only birds that like perching
on wires:
Thanks to Kathy Towers who took the pictures and agreed that I could use them
for our blog.
John Doragh
.JPG)
