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Northern Cyprus
Celtic Bird Tours report
24
April
to 4th May
2008
24th April
The group arrived late in the evening & were met at the airport by Stev
& Shefki our driver. We soon got organised & headed away due North east
to our hotel at Yenirenkoy, the Malibu Beach. On route we saw our first
wildlife in the shape of 2 probably 3 scops owl & 3 Cyprus long-eared
Hedgehog, one of which after a bit of chasing we managed to catch for a
good look at by catching the poor creature. We soon let him on his way
having all had a good look.
The Hotel put on a late toasted sandwich & after this we all retired.
25th
April
at around 7.45am several of us began birding around the hotel & were
rewarded with Great Reed & Reed Warblers along with 2 Squacco's. We all
met up for breakfast on the terrace & then soon were on our way heading
for a days birding along the Karpaz. On & of all day we gradually worked
our way to the tip of the peninsula & picked up a tremendous bag of bird
following a big fall overnight. The birding was stunning. There were
Bee-eaters everywhere & we estimated we saw 300+ during the day, but the
real bonus birds were 6 Blue Cheeked Bee-eaters close to on wires. What
Stunners! As we drove out we had arranged to drop Ricki on route as he
wished to walk & where we dropped him we found, all be it briefly a
Bimaculated Lark. Other wildlife showed well & we saw Northern Wheatear,
Spanish Sparrow & Fringe-toed Lizards here.
Another stop produced Oscellated skink & 3 Lesser grey Shrike, the first
of 13 during the day. We had a tremendous day's birding with the group
notching up 73 species & big numbers that included 4 Lesser Kestrel, 4
Tawny Pipit, 10 Chukar, 6 Black Francolin, 28 Cyprus Wheatear, 16+
Northern & 1 black-eared Wheatear's, 15 Roller, 16 Red-backed Shrike,
800+ Spanish Sparrow, 5 black-headed Bunting, Pallid, Marsh 6 Montagu's
Harriers & much more.
At the tip of the peninsula there were 8 Red-backed Shrike, 5 Spotted
Flycatcher, 14 Cyprus Wheatear, 3 Redstart, 10 Blackcap, 2 Lesser
Whitethroat, a lone Grey Wagtail, 4 Whinchat, 8 Chukar, well 7 because
one got taken by a Red Fox on the road in front of us!! 4 Lesser Grey
Shrike, yellow Wagtail, black Francolin & more..... Phew what a day, we
were exhausted! We had to pick Ricki up on the way back but, somehow we
missed him & we had to double back to find him which we did in the end.
Back at the hotel the log was very interesting, with much good humoured
debate about the days sightings. A happy bunch of birders they all were.
26th
April
At 7am 3 of us met for a short walk towards the headland west of the
hotel. We walked the rough fields & saw our first bee-eaters of the day,
Red-backed Shrike & a couple of nice Cyprus Warbler. We also saw a nice
Bug & several nice Holy Orchids.
Breakfast was soon eaten & we all got ready for departure to go birding.
Just after we set of & drove straight to the Karpaz with only the
briefest of stops when Shefkie spotted a Squacco that had been hit by a
car. The poor bird was dead but intact & gave us all an excellant look
at this magnificent species. Once at the end we drove straight out to
the very tip & birded here for an hour or so. We saw Redstart, Whinchat,
& there were lots of hirundines over head. The resident pair of
peregrine showed very well & we had a small passage of raptors that
included 2 Steppe Buzzard, 1 Osprey 6 no less than 4 Marsh Harrier. Also
out to sea 20 Glossey İbis moved north east.
We drove back to the area around the Sea Bird resteraunt which produced
the first of 14 Short-toed Lark, İsabeline Wheatear, Common Ringed
Plover, an Ortolan & 2 Water Pipit of the middle eastern race
A.s.coutellii. Back at the monastry we got coffee & eat our lunch,
then birded this area. We hit gold for the second day running with a
splendid female İsabeline Shrike that was very tame. We watched this
bird for 30 minutes & then moved on. We saw 3 Tawny & a lone
Red-throated Pipits, 2+ Hoopoe, White Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Yellow
Wagtail, Wheatears & more. Butterflies included Oriental & Cyprus Meadow
Brown, Clouded Yellow & 3 Hummingbird Hawk Moth. There were Swift & all
the usual hirundines including Red-rumped Swallow, Common Whitethroat,
Cyprus Warbler & 10+ Turtle Dove.
By 3.30pm it was very hot & we sought a little shade 6 an ice cream
after which we birded the entrance fields. Our second Red-backed Shrike
of the day, & Yellow Wagtail of 5 sub species including a well marked
female M.f.superciliaris that showed close too.The highlight here came
in the shape of 34 Purple Heron moving north east along the coast in a
V, what a sight.
We began to head back towards the hotel but stopped to watch 2 male Red
Footed Falcon & 4 Lesser kestrel. The views were stunning, what
magnificent birds. As we headed back roadside stops produced 10 Roller,
2 Cuckoo, 2 Lesser Grey Shrike, 2 Squacco & a super perched Steppe
Buzzard. we arrived back at 6.15 with a totally happy bunch of birders.
A brilliant day with excellant company.
27th
April
We left the hotel at 8.50 am & drove west towards Bogaz & after a Petrol
Stop we turned at Bogaz towards Kantara Castle. There were still
Bee-eaters on the wires & hundreds of Hirundines this morning, with a
smattering of Alpine Swift. We slowley drove the roads climbing towards
the castle, but other than a couple of Black Headed buntings saw little.
Once at the village of kantara we stopped to study the Cyclamen &
Pyramid Orchids on the roadside along with Common Blue Butterfly. There
were more Cyclamen at the cafe in the village where we drank tea & then
drove on up to the Castle itself. Most of us climbed the castle to the
top where the views are stunning. We watched Red Rumped Swallow doing
areobatics, Troodos Lizards & Long-tailed Blue Butterfly here. We
headed back towards the village & stopped a couple of times to see Early
Spider Orchid (Mamosa) along with Blue Rock Thrush & a stunning
Peregrine. Shefkie organised some meat balls to go with our packed lunch
& we had some good hearted banter with a group of local guys. A
After lunch we headed down through Kaplica to the coast 6 birded both
west 6 then east but the birds were very slow. Whinchat being the best,
however the Butterflies were good. We noted Millet Skipper, African
Grass & Long-tailed Blue plus other species. We cheeked out the Headland
to the east but there was little of note. Allt eh birds of the last 2
days falls had moved on & so we began to head back towards the hotel.
we did get a stroke of luck en route when we picked up 3 Elenora's
Falcon moving west. On the top of the hills as we drove to tuzluca we
saw more Bee-eater & 2 Roller & on the rest of the drive just a few
Swallows, but everything seems to have moved on. Oh well that's
migrationb & the passage had been brilliant for the previous 2 days.
28th
April
At 6.30 some of us met up & walked almost to the lighthouse near the
hotel. İt was a lovely morning & we saw a steady trickle of birds.
Red-backed Shrike showed well & we saw Whitethroat & Great Reed Warbler.
We set of this morning at 8.45am & headed towards Salamis. Our first
stop was at a site for Calandra Lark on the way & we had the birds as
soon as we left the bus. İt took us 20 minutes to get good views on the
ground but we did!. Here we also saw Spectacled Warbler & a number of
Butterflies including Lang's Short-tailed Blue & Swallowtail. We moved
on to Salamis ruins & wandered here for nearly two hours. We saw no
birds of great interest but the group enjoyed studying this historic
site. After this we had a tea stop & then moved on to Silver Beach. We
st6ruggled to start but found a nice male Spectacled Warbler in the end.
The inland marsh area was better & gave 17 Little & 2 Temminck's Stint,
2 Greenshank & Spur-winged Plover. The highlight was however a nice male
Citrine Wagtail seen by all. İt was now lunch time & we headed into
Famagusta where we were to loose Shefki & gain Gulay as our guide for
the rest of the trip. We met up as planned,eat & then took the group to
see the Othelo Tower, St Nicholas church & finally a short tour of the
Ghost City. from here we drove to Famagusta Fresh Water lake, or what is
left of it! We saw the Cattle Egret colony, & 3 Little Egret, Ruff, Wood
Sandpiper & Little Grebe to name a few.
We had done a lot but finished the day with a visit to Gulsaren, where
we saw no less than 55 Black-winged Stilt, 15 Spur-winged Plover, a nice
pair of Gargany & finally 17 Mallard for David as he had been driving
Steve mad all day about the things! Also here we saw Curlew Sandpiper,
Spotted Redshank & to top it off a stunning White-winged Black Tern that
arrived just as we were about to leave, brought in we think by the light
band of rain that had started a few minutes before. We finished the day
with a stop at Glapsides but this was disapointing other than a Grey
Herpon & a nice view of a Fan-tailed Warbler. Another good day.
29th
April
This morning we left the hotel at 9am & headed gently towards the tip of
the Karpaz Peninsula, birding along the way. At about the half way mark
we began to see Red-footed Falcon on the roadside wires. The birds were
in small groups starting with 4 females. They were stunnig & by the end
of the day we had seen at least 42 individuals. Bee-eaters were in
smaller numbers but non the less we still saw a good few during the day.
The main group of bee-eaters we watched in the morning suddenly flew
very high, calling as they went. They bunched tightly at one point & all
flew due west, direct & fast.
We also saw 4 nice Great Spotted Cuckoo on route. At the point, the
first fields were empty today but after a tea break we walked to the far
end of the monastry & birded there. Spotted Flycatcher showed well as
did Redstart, the fist of 9 & 5 respectively during the day. We saw 2
Short-toed Larks & some nice Whinchat. As we left this area gulay
spotted 2 Quail on the ground but only Steve managed to get a brief view
of one as it disappeared into a bush. We moved on & the area by the
seabird produced nothing. We drove on out to the tip where we birded
until our late lunch. Light passage was happening & we saw single Purple
Heron, Hobby, Marsh Harrier & Sparrowhawk all come in of the sea. The
strong westerly breeze meant that whilst there were a lot of birds
around they were all hiding in bushes, but slowley we built a good list.
We saw a Red-throated & a Tree Pipit, Ortolan, Blackcaps, Whitethroat &
flushed a very close Quail which most of us saw. Gulay had done us a
splendid tuna salad which everyone enjoyed & after this we went on an
exploration of the rough track from the tip back along the north coast.
along here the track deteriorated drastically but our driver performed
well. we saw another Ortolan, a female Woodchat Shrike, numerous
Red-backed Shrike, a dark phase Booted Eagle & 3 Stone Curlew. Add these
to a super Wryneck & we had a very good tally. We bumped along the track
until it came out eventually on the main road back straight into all the
Red-footed Falcons again. The views were excellant. We drove through
dipkarpaz to the Oasis at afilon where we had atea break & then we
birded first the coastal track east & then west from here eventually
coming back onto the main road. We had a Lesser-grey Shrike, Roller & 2
more Stone Curlew but the highlights here were once again Bee-eaters &
we had beautiful views of 8 birds in a group, feeding around some bee
hives. They were stunning, Wow!! By now it was well after 6 in the
evening so we headed back to the hotel, another super days birding done.
30th
April
Goeff & Steve did an early walk this morning across the fields west of
the Malibu Beach hotel. İt was well worth the walk & turned up a very
nice Hobby, a Woodlark & 2 very close Alpine Swift. During breafast the
group saw another pair & a flock of 15 move through. Also 2 Squacco
Heron were in the bay. We checked out of the hotel & headed of at 9am as
we are transfering to kyrenia today. As we drove it became apparent that
a movement of swifts was underway & we saw lots of Alpine & Common
Swift. The Alpines gave some v ery good views. At bogaz we stopped
briefly to look for Kingfisher but without luck & then we carried on to
St Barnabus Chaple for William. We spent a little while here looking &
then again drove on as we had to get to Nicosea. We made our next stop
at Demirhan Pools but despie the drought conditions there were not many
birds here. we did however see 2 pairs of Gargany & more mallard,
Bee-eater, Roller & Geoff was luckey enough to see a male Little
Bittern. After this we visited Haspolat sewage works. the Birding was
better here & we saw 30+ Wood, 1 Green & 3
Common Sandpipers, 15+ Ruff, Little Stint & a Lone Temmink's Stint. The
best bids however were no less than 8 White-winged Black Terns. These
birds gave us some super views. We left Haspolat & drove into Nicosea
where we went to the Buyuk Han & met up wİth Rick for our lunch.
We all enjoyed our lunch organised by Gulay & then we went on a brief
walking tour of Nicosea, visiting St Sophia Cathedral, (now a mosque)
which most of the group went in & then the Bazar. Once in the bus gulay
did us a very brief tour of the Green Line & then we left the city
calling in at Gonyli Reservoir en route to Kyrenia. However again due to
the drought there were few birds the best of which was a good Purple
Heron. We did not linger long but moved on to Kyrenia 6 soon checked
into the hotel for the evening.
1st May
After breakfast we headed west to Gecitkoy Reservoir where we spent the
morning birding. We got a very good start finding the first of 5
Olivacious Warblers. We had very close views of a singing male Cetti's
Warbler while on the dam were Corn, Black-headed & Ortolan Buntings. The
water level was very low but the edge had a few waders including
Temminck's Stint & Black-winged Stilt. The wildflowers here had
virtually all finished due to the drought but there were still some
small Belardia & both Bug & Holly Orchids along with the last of the
Carmel Daisies. We searched further along the track around the edge but
with little effect & no sign of the hoped for Bonelli's Eagle's. At mid
day we decieded to head for the coast & Cape Koruçam. A little way along
the coast we took a minor road inland & found a shady Olive Grove to sit
& have lunch. We had our picknick with a spotted Flycatcher, Pyramidal
Orchid & & Butterflies our looking the sea & at one point listening to a
near by mosque calling people to prayer. As we tidied up from the lunch
we saw a female Black-eared Wheatear.
After lunch we had a number of stops as we travelled along the coast
road but it was not until we reached Sadaramsköy that birds started to
pick up & this started with a pair of Ortolan Buntings & a Short-toed
Lark. All of a sudden, out of no where a juvenile Long-legged Buzzard
appeared & while we watched it a second bird arrived. these birds gave
us tremendous views as they soared around in front of us, mobbed by
crows. We had also seen a cracking juvenile Peregrine also. as we worked
our way to the Cape we picked up more Ortolan's, another Black-eared
Wheatear. Spectacled Warbler showed well along with Sardinian & Cyprus
Warblers. We also had a warbler that created a real İD challenge & in
the end we got got good views & proved it to be a very grey Willow
Warbler of one of the eastern races. Red backed shrike 6 Bee-eater, 2 or
possibly 3 Stone Curlew all gave views. Our last highlight of the day
was a super group of 15+ Yellow Wagtails feeding at the side of the
track. The day haqd flown by & we were soon heading back towards Kyrenia
but even so it was almost 6.45pm when we arrived at the hotel.
2nd
May
The day began with three of the party plus Steve & Gulay going to the
two reservoirs at Accapulco. At 7.15am we began birding. The tempreture
& light were great & there was a steady trickle of birds. We watched 3
Black-crowned Night Heron along with a Grey, a Purple & 2 Squacco
Herons. We also saw a single Snipe & some nice Alpine Swift coming to
drink. After Breakfast the whole group set of for the Five Fingers
Mountains & our first stop was at the site where on the previous groups
tour Steve had located Cretzschmar's Buntings 6 although only brief, we
located a pair within a few minutes. by the behaviour we suspected that
the female was sitting on eggs & came away from the nest only for a few
moments to take food from the male. We worked our way across the
mountains to the Herbarium where we looked at the by now fading Violet
Birds-nest Orchids. We birded for a while & then got a coffee in the
cafe. After this we headed south, over the mountains, making a stop at
Degirmenlik Reservoir. This site produced some nice views of Caspian
terrapin, a nice Cormorant & another Black-crowned Night Heron. We moved
on to the area around Meriç. Here we were told by a local birder we had
come across the previous day there had been Glossy İbis. This was not to
be but as we drove around the network ot tracks both before & after
lunch we saw 20+ Red-footed Falcon, 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 more Squacco's &
Spanish Sparrow.
The Mesaria plain was hot & dusty & by mid 3pm we had had enough so we
headed back over the mountains to Essentepe seeing only a single Hoopoe.
The birding had gone very quiet & so after a stop for ice cream we
gently headed back to the hotel for the evening.
3rd
May
Today we firstly went to Bellapais Abbey so that several of the group
who were interested could have a brief look around this famous site. The
scenery is stunning here & the site beautiful. We saw a few Swifts &
Swallows & a Kestrel.
Our main aim of the day was to go to Korucam & out to the Cape, so we
headed along the coast westwards. We began birding seriously once we
reached Sadaramskoy. An Ortolan showed & a pair of Spectacled warbler to
start. As we reached the western side of the village we saw 3 Spotted
Flycatcher & 2 White Wagtail. Gulay went ahead to the drinking trough
with the bus while we gradually walked towards where she had parked. At
this point she phoned Steve to describe a bird she could see in front of
her which, once the group got to her turned out to be a very shy female
Golden Oriole. Eventually most of the group saw the bird even if
briefly. While we studied the Mulberry tree by the water tank birds were
coming & going all the time. We watched this spot for a couple of hours
& eat lunch here. While here we saw another Ortolan, Spotted & Pied
Flycatcher, Sardinian & Willow Warbler & lots of Blackcaps. After our
late lunch we birded our way to the very tip of the cape where we found
2 Short-toed Lark & spent some time studying the very specialised salt
tollerant wildflowers found here. We also had a flock of Bee-eater,
Swallows & Martins head straight out to sea.
As we birded our way back we saw Marsh Harrier, more Bee-eater, 10+
Yellow Wagtail & 150+ Spanish Sparrow. We began to head gently back east
& went via Koruçam village where we stopped for tea & a look around the
Marenite church here. Afterwards along the road back we saw a Roller &
yet more close Bee-eater. This last species has been really passing in
big numbers over the last 8+ days. We finished up at the view point
overlooking Geçitkoy Reservoir wher we saw 8 Red footed Falcon all be it
a little distant to end our birding trip. Our evening meal was at a nice
resteraunt in the town where we celebrated a super trip with a couple of
bottles of red wine.
4th
May
The group had an early breakfast & then as it broke first light
travelled over the Five Fingers mountain range to the airport at Ercan.
En route we saw 3 Marsh Harrier & the usual Hooded Crows, Jackdaws & a
single Turtle Dove on power lines. The group then flew home. All in all
a very succesful & enjoyable trip. As leader writing this İ would like
to thank all the group for thier input & good company on the tour.
Birds
Little
Grebe
25+
Cormorant
3
Shag
50+
Purple Heron
37
Grey heron
3
Little Bittern
1 male
Black-crowned Night Heron
3
Squacco Heron
19 also 1 dead male killed by a car
Cattle Egret 1 usual breeding colony poss a few more nests this year 45+
pairs
Little Egret
12
Glossey İbis
c20 in 1 distant flock moving NE of Karpaz
Wigeon 1
Gargany 3prs
Mallard 47+
Marsh Harrier
20+
Pallid Harrier
1
Montagu's Harrier
1
Osprey
2
Steppe Buzzard
3
Long-legged Buzzard 2
Booted Eagle
1
Sparrowhawk
2
Hobby
3
Common Kestrel
C
Lesser Kestrel
7+ poss 13
Red Footed Falcon
72+
Elenora's Falcon
3
Peregrİne Falcon
Chukar
15
Black Francolin
25+
Quail
3
Moorhen
Coot
Black-winged Stilt 63
Stone Curlew
8
Little Ringed Plover
1
Ringed Plover
1
Spur Winged Plover
35+
Little Stint
44+
Temminck's Stint
4
Common Snipe 1
Greenshank
5
Spotted Redshank
1
Green Sandpiper
5
Wood Sandpiper
59+
Common Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
3
Ruff
c23
Black-headed Gull 1
Yellow-legged Gull C on Karpaz est 200+ at colony only odd birds
elsewhere
Lesser-black Backed Gull 1p2
Audouin's Gull 5
White-winged Black Tern 9+
Rock Dove noted on 4 days
Wood Pigeon C
Collard Dove odd pairs over entire İsland
Turtle Dove 55+
Great Spotted Cuckoo 11+
Common Cuckoo 9
Little Owl
8
Scops Owl
2+
European Bee-eater
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
6
Roller
35+ poss 52 birds
Hoopoe
4+
Wryneck
2
Common Swift
C
Alpine Swift
seen on 3 days 121+ birds
Pallid Swift
1
Calandra Lark
8
Bimaculated Lark
2
Short Toed Lark
21
Crested Lark
C although no where near as numerous as previous years on
Messaria plain presumably
due to the drought
Woodlark
1
Barn Swallow
C
Red Rumped Swallow
seen daily for first 7 days then none max 20+ on 24th
House Martin
seen daily in small numbers
Sand Martin
c20
Tawny Pipit
9
Red Throated Pipit
2
Water Pipit
2
Tree Pipit
13+
Yellow Wagtail
115+
Citrine Wagtail
1male
Grey Wagtail 1 female
White Wagtail
6
Blue Rock Thrush
1
Song Thrush
2
Nightingale sp 1 (prob Common)
Common Redstart
5
Whinchat
27+
İsabelline Wheatear
1
Northern Wheatear
23+
Black-eared Wheatear
Cyprus Wheatear
C
Cetti's Warbler
c20 mostly H/O
Fan-tailed Warbler
C
Sedge Warbler
1
Reed Warbler
5
Great Reed Warbler
4+
Eastern Olivacious Warbler
6
İcterine Warbler
2
Cyprus Warbler
25+
Sardinian Warbler
c10
Blackcap
60+
Common Whitethroat
6
Lesser Whitethroat
2
Spectacled Warbler
8
Willow Warbler
8
Spotted Flycatcher 28+
Pied Flycatcher 1 female
Great Tit
İsabelline Shrike
1 female race L.i.phoneicuroides
Red-backed Shrike
53+
Woodchat Shrike
1 female
Lesser Grey Shrike
14
Hooded Crow
C
Raven
3
Jackdaw
C
Magpie
C
House Sparrow
C
Spanish Sparrow
seen most days well over 1000 birds seen with 800+ on 24th
Linnet
4
European Serin
8
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Corn Bunting seen daily but appears less than in previous years. max
daily count 11 on 24th
Ortolan Bunting 12
Crezschmar's Bunting 1 breeding pair
Black-headed Bunting 19+
Mammals
Red Fox
1
Cyprus Long-eared Hedgehog
5
(Ferrel) Donkey
Butterflies
Clouded Yellow
Cleopatra
Large White
Small white
Eastern Dappled White
Eastern Bath White
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Hermit
Cyprus Grayling
Southern Grayling
Eastern Rock Grayling
African Ringlet
Cyprus Meadow Brown
Oriental Meadow Brown
Long-tailed Blue
Lang's Short-tailed Blue
Common Blue
African Grass Blue
Small Copper
Lullworth Skipper
Millet Skipper
Moths
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Silver Y Moth
Large Orange Underwing
Beauty Moth Sp
Locust sp
Dragonflies
Lesser Emperor
Scarlet Skimmer
Blue Tailed Damselfly ?
Reptiles
Starred (Sling-tailed) Agama
Troodos Lizard
Snake-eyed Lizard
Fringe-toed Lizard
Oscellated Skink
Budak's Snake-eyed Skink
Green Tree Frog
Caspian Terrapin
Whip Snake |