Army Ornithological SocietyCyprus Weekly
Birding Highlights for the Week Ending 5 May
Griffon Vulture over the Artemis Trail, Mount Olympus on 5 May.
* indicates that a photo of the species is included please visit Flickr site to view.
Back to work and a long Monday didn’t do anything for my morale. With Mess business to attend to and catching up with a deluge of emails resulted in no birding activity for the first day that I can remember for a long time! I returned home and Deb and Gary alerted me to a large moth on the patio. I eventually managed to photograph it after turning the patio light on and off like a disco and then id’d it as a Striped Hawk Moth*, so not a completely worthless day.
On Tuesday I visited Paralimini Lake to do the bi-monthly Dragonfly survey. 2 Lesser Grey and a Red-backed Shrike were present along with a Little Bittern. A drake Garganey was a surprise and the Spur-winged Plovers are behaving as if they may well have chicks. Several commoner waders were also present but little else of note. On returning through Vrysoulles 3 Rollers sat on the bluff that usually houses the Little Owl and a pair of Kestrels were tending 3 large chicks. Wednesday was a bit of a “fusaster”; busy at work and with lots of things happening at home, there was no chance to get out, although the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler continues to sing in the garden.
Thursday and with my wife and sister at the partners’ lunch, Gary and I headed off to the Gabion Dam area a seldom visited part of the country. We were greeted by a flushed Little Bittern and a couple of Beeaters overhead. Soon a pair of Bonelli’s Eagles was seen and a Grey Heron and 2 Night Herons were seen. The trees contained at least 4 Eastern Olivaceous Warblers with 2 being seen and the surrounding area held at least 1 pair of Cyprus Wheatears. A singing Serin and a male Masked Shrike concluded the line-up. On the return journey home, a Roller and Hoopoe were seen along the road. Oroklini Marsh held little of interest but 2 family parties of Red-crested Pochards was noteable. A brief stop at Akhna Dam brought at least 2 Temminck’s Stints, a couple of Little Stints, 3 Squacco Herons and a female Little Crake. Rollers, Red-backed Shrikes, 2 Little Bitterns and a Cuckoo also made appearances.
We departed early on Friday for the Troodos area and paused at Pera Pedi for a chance encounter with a meadow which held several Eastern Festoons and a target butterfly in the form of a Dark-veined White being photographed. As we proceeded to the mountains the commoner species began to appear with Jays, Coal Tits, Blackbirds and Chaffinches being seen. A Wren darted into a nest hole, a species that has proved difficult in recent months. Pallid Swifts were seen in the Troodos Station area and as we returned from dinner in the village at least 6 Scops Owls were calling with one being seen chasing another in flight views – a year tick!
Saturday was spent wandering the various trails in the Troodos area and a visit to the Mandria to Ayios Nikolaos road (F616) which produced 2 Southern White Admirals. At Pera Pedi Dam, Pallid Swifts drank, a Turtle Dove flushed, a Serin sang, a surprise Common Sandpiper was seen and Nightingales and Corn Buntings were heard.
The final day of the week and feeling pretty good about our chances of success we headed off to Prodromos Dam – which was fairly disappointing with hardly any butterflies and only a singing Serin and Cyprus Wheatears. We had lunch in Kakopetria where more Nightingales were seen, a Cuckoo heard and a Grey Wagtail seen in the village on the stream that runs through it. We walked the Artemis Trail in the afternoon seeing a Griffon Vulture*, a species that is becoming difficult to see. Also along the trail, Serins, Cyprus Wheatears, a Short-toed Treecreeper, Coal Tits and Jays were all present. A Wall Brown was good for the area and as a Masked Shrike tried to catch it a Cuckoo was heard.
For pictures of birds with a * please click on the following Flickr links:
- Black-veined White at Ayios Nikolaos.
- Speckled Wood (Cyprus Ssp) at the Caledonian Falls.
- Brown Argos at Pera Pedi.
Highlight of the Week: Seeing a Scops Owl in any sort of view is always a joy and Griffon Vultures in any situation is becoming a rarity.
Other Interesting Finds: A Striped Hawk Moth* on the patio and a Southern White Admiral was a new butterfly for me.
Look Forward: With Monday and Tuesday off a bit more searching for migrants and butterflies, but with migration appearing to be all but over it’ll be all hard work in the heat for a few months to come.
If you are planning a visit or require more info please feel free to contact me at: birder639@yahoo.com
Mark Easterbrook
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