NORTHERN CYPRUS TOUR REPORT CELTIC BIRD TOURS

Transcription

1 NORTHERN CYPRUS 24TH APRIL 4TH MAY 2008 TOUR REPORT CELTIC BIRD TOURS

2 TOUR LEADER Steve Cale TOUR PARTICIPANTS Jeffrey Curtis Richard Davies William Gaynor Peter Ryan Maureen Sibbons David Tomalin 24th April The group arrived late in the evening and were met at the airport by Steve and Shefkı our driver. We soon got organised and headed away north east to our hotel, the Malibu Beach at Yenirenkoy. En route, we saw our first wildlife in the form of two probably three European Scops Owl and three Cyprus Long-eared Hedgehog, one of which we managed to catch. We soon let him on his way having all had a good look.the hotel put on a late toasted sandwich and after this we all retired. 25th April At around 07.45, several of us began birding around the hotel and were rewarded with Great Reed and Reed Warblers along with two Squacco Herons. We all met up for breakfast on the terrace and were soon on our way heading for a days birding along the Karpaz Peninsula. We gradually worked our way to the tip of the peninsula and picked up a tremendous selection of birds following a big fall overnight. The birding was truly stunning. There were European Bee-eaters everywhere and we estimated we saw three hundred+ during the day, but the real bonus birds were six Blue Cheeked Beeeaters close to on wires. What stunners! As we drove out, we had arranged to drop Ricky on route as he wished to do his own thing and where we dropped him we found an all too brief Bimaculated Lark. Other wildlife showed well and we saw Northern Wheatear, Spanish Sparrow and Fringe-toed Lizards here. Another stop produced Oscillated Skink and three Lesser Grey Shrike; the first of thirteen seen during the day! Other species out of seventy three seen on this tremendous day's birding included four Lesser Kestrel, four Tawny Pipit, ten Chukar, six Black Francolin, twenty eight Cyprus Wheatear, sixteen Northern and one Black-eared Wheatear, fifteen European Roller, sixteen Red-backed Shrike, eight hundred+ Spanish Sparrow, five Black-headed Bunting, as well as Pallid, Marsh and six Montagu's Harriers. At the tip of the peninsula there were a further eight Red-backed Shrike, five Spotted Flycatcher, fourteen Cyprus Wheatear, three Common Redstart, ten Blackcap, two Lesser Whitethroat, a lone Grey Wagtail, four Whinchat and eight more Chukar - well seven really, because one got taken by a Red Fox on the road in front of us!! W also saw a further four Lesser Grey Shrike, Yellow Wagtail, Black Francolin and more common migrants... Phew what a day, we were exhausted by the time we left! We had to pick Ricky up on the way back but, somehow we missed him and 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 three of us met for a short walk towards the headland west of the hotel. We walked the rough fields and saw our first European Bee-eaters of the day, Red-backed Shrike and a couple of nice Cyprus Warbler. We also saw a nice Bug and several nice Holy Orchids. After breakfast, we set off and drove straight to the Karpaz with only the briefest of stops when Shefkıe spotted a Squacco Heron that had been hit by a car. The poor bird was dead but intact and gave us all an excellent look at this magnificent species. Once at the end, we drove straight out to the very tip and birded here for an hour or so. We saw Common Redstart, Whinchat and there were lots of hirundines over head. The resident pair of Pregrine showed very well and had a small passage of raptors that included two Steppe Buzzard, an Osprey and six Marsh Harrier, while 20 Glossy Ibis moved north east over the sea. We drove back to the area around the Sea Bird restaurant which produced the first of fourteen Greater Short-toed Lark, Isabelline Wheatear, Common Ringed Plover, an Ortolan Bunting and two Water Pipit of the middle eastern race A.s.coutellii. Back at the monastery, we got coffee and ate our lunch, then birded this area. We hit gold for the second day running with a splendid female Isabelline Shrike that was very tame and showy. We watched this bird for thirty minutes and then moved on. We saw three Tawny and a lone Red-throated Pipit, two Common Hoopoe, White Wagtail, Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail. Butterflies included Oriental and Cyprus Meadow Brown, Clouded Yellow and three Hummingbird Hawk Moth. There were also Common Swift and hirundines including Red-rumped Swallow, along with Common Whitethroat, Cyprus Warbler and at least ten Turtle Dove. By it was very hot and we sought a little shade an ice cream, after which we birded the entrance fields. Our second Red-backed Shrike of the day was here and Yellow Wagtails of five sub species including a well marked female M.f.superciliaris showed well too. The highlight here came in the shape of thirty four 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 two male Red Footed Falcons and four Lesser Kestrel. The views were stunning - what magnificent birds... As we headed back, further roadside stops produced ten European Roller, two Common Cuckoo, two Lesser Grey Shrike, two Squacco Heron and a super Steppe Buzzard that perched up beautifully. We arrived back at a very happy bunch after another brilliant day. 27th April We left the hotel at and drove west towards Bogaz and after a fuel stop we turned towards Kantara Castle. There were still European Bee-eaters on the wires and hundreds of hirundines this morning, with a smattering of Alpine Swift amongst them. We slowly drove the roads climbing towards the castle, but other than a couple of Black-headed Buntings, we saw little. Once at the village of Kantara, we stopped to study the Cyclamen and Pyramid Orchids on the roadside along with Common Blue butterfly. There were more Cyclamen at the cafe in the village where we drank tea and we 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 Swallows doing aerobatics, Troodos Lizards and Long-tailed Blue butterfly here. We headed back towards the village and stopped a couple of times to see Early Spıder Orchid [Mamosa] along with Blue Rock Thrush and a stunning Peregrine.

3 Shefki organised some meat balls to go with our packed lunch and we had some good hearted banter with a group of local guys. After lunch, we headed down through Kaplica to the coast and birded both west and then east but the birds were very slow. Whinchat being the best, however the butterflies were good. We noted Millet Skipper, African Grass and Longtailed Blue plus other species. We cheeked out the headland to the east but there was little of note. All the birds of the last two days falls had moved on and so we began to head back towards the hotel. We did get a stroke of luck en route when we picked up three Eleanora's Falcon moving west. On the top of the hills as we drove to Tuzluca we saw more European Bee-eater and two European Roller, as well as a few Barn Swallows, but everything seems to have moved on. Oh well that's migration and the passage had been brilliant for the previous two days. 28th April At some of the group met up and walked almost to the lighthouse near the hotel. It was a lovely morning and we saw a steady trickle of birds. Red-backed Shrike showed well and we also saw Common Whitethroat and Great Reed Warbler. Following breakfast, we headed towards Salamis. Our first stop was at a site for Calandra Lark on the way and we had the birds as soon as we left the bus. It took us twenty minutes to get good views on the ground but we did!. Here we also saw Spectacled Warbler and a number of butterflies including Lang's Short-tailed Blue and Swallowtail. We moved on to Salamis ruins and 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 and then moved on to Silver Beach. We struggled to start with but found a nice male Spectacled Warbler in the end. The inland marsh area was better and gave us seventeen Little and two Temminck s Stint, two Common Greenshank and Spur-winged Plover. The highlight was however a nice male Citrine Wagtail seen by all. It was now lunch time and 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, ate and then took the group to see the Othello Tower, St Nicholas church and 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, three Little Egret, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper and 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 fifty five Black-winged Stilt, fifteen Spurwinged Plover, a nice pair of Garganey and finally seventeen Mallard for David as he had been driving Steve mad all day about the thıngs! We also saw Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, and to round things 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 Glapsıdes but this was disappointing other than a Grey Heron and a nice view of a Zitting Cisticola. It had been another good day. 29th April This morning we left the hotel at and 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 four females. They were stunning and by the end of the day we had seen at least forty two individuals. European Bee-eaters were in smaller numbers but none the less we still saw a good few during the day. The main group suddenly flew very high, calling as they went. They bunched tightly at one point and all flew due west, direct and fast. We also saw four nice Great Spotted Cuckoo en route. At the point, the first fields were empty today but after a tea break we walked to the far end of the monastery and birded there. Spotted Flycatcher showed well, as did Common Redstart, the fist of nine and five respectively during the day. We saw two Greater Short-toed Larks aand some nice Whinchat. As we left this area Gulay spotted two Common Quail on the ground but only Steve managed to get a brief view of one as it disappeared into a bush. We moved on and the area by the sea produced nothing. We drove on out to the tip where we birded until our late lunch. Light passage was happening and we saw single Purple Heron, Eurasian Hobby, Marsh Harrier and European Sparrowhawk all come in off the sea. The strong westerly breeze meant that whilst there were a lot of birds around they were all hiding in bushes, but slowly we built a good list. We saw a Red-throated and a Tree Pipit, Ortolan Bunting, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and flushed a very close Common Quail which most of us saw. Gulay had done us a splendid tuna salad which everyone enjoyed and 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 Bunting, a female Woodchat Shrike, numerous Red-backed Shrike, a dark phase Booted Eagle and three Stone Curlew. Add these to a splendid Wryneck and 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 excellent. We drove through Dipkarpaz to the Oasis at Afilon where we had a tea break and then we birded first the coastal track east and then west from here eventually coming back onto the main road. We had a Lesser Grey Shrike, European Roller and two more Stone Curlew but the highlights here were once again European Bee-eaters and we had beautiful views of eight birds in a group, feeding around some bee hives. They were stunning, Wow!! By now it was well after 18.00, so we headed back to the hotel, another super days birding done. 30th April Jeff & Steve did an early walk this morning across the fields west of the Malibu Beach Hotel. It was well worth the walk and turned up a very nice Eurasian Hobby, a Wood Lark and two very close Alpine Swift. During breakfast, the group saw another pair and a flock of fifteen move through. Two Squacco Heron were in the bay. We checked out of the hotel and headed off to transfer to Kyrenia today. As we drove it became apparent that a movement of swifts was underway and we saw lots of Alpine and Common Swifts. The Alpines gave some v very good views. At Bogaz we stopped briefly to look for Common Kingfisher but without luck and then we carried on to St Barnabus Chapel for William. We spent a little while here looking and then again drove on as we had to get to Nicosia. We made our next stop at Demirhan Pools, but despite the drought conditions there were not many birds here. We did however see two pairs of Garganey and more Mallard, European Bee-eater, European Roller and Jeff was lucky enough to see a male Little Bittern. After this we visited Haspolat sewage works. The birding was better here, and we saw thirty+ Wood, one Green and three Common Sandpipers, fifteen+ Ruff, Little Stint and a lone Temminck's Stint. The best birds however were no less than eight White-winged Black Terns. These birds gave us some super views. We left Haspolat and drove into Nicosia where we went to the Buyuk Han and met up with Rick for our lunch.

4 We all enjoyed our lunch organised by Gulay and then we went on a brief walking tour of Nicosia, visiting St Sophia Cathedral [now a mosque], which most of the group went in and then the Bazaar. Once in the bus Gulay did us a very brief tour of the Green Line and 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 showy Purple Heron. We did not linger long but moved on to Kyrenia and checked into the hotel early evening. 1st May After breakfast, we headed west to Gecıtkoy Reservoir where we spent the morning birding. We got a very good start finding the first of five Olivaceious Warblers. We had very close views of a singing male Cetti's Warbler, while on the dam Corn, Black-headed and Ortolan Buntings were present. The water level was very low, but the edge had a few waders including Temminck's Stint and Black-winged Stilt. The wildflowers here had virtually all finished due to the drought but there were still some small Belardia and both Bug and Holly Orchids along with the last of the Carmel Daisies. We searched further along the track around the edge but with little effect and no sign of the hoped for Bonelli s Eagle's. At mid day we decided to head for the coast and Cape Koruçam. A little way along the coast, we took a minor road inland and found a shady olive grove to sit and have lunch. We had our picnic over looking the sea with a Spotted Flycatcher, Pyramidal Orchid, butterflies and 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 and this started with a pair of Ortolan Buntings and a Greater Short-toed Lark. All of a sudden, out of no where a juvenile Long-legged Buzzard appeared and 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. As we worked our way to the Cape, we picked up more Ortolan's and another Black-eared Wheatear. Spectacled Warbler showed well along with Sardinian and Cyprus Warblers. We also had a warbler that created a real identification challenge, though in the end we got good views and it proved to be a very grey Willow Warbler of one of the eastern races. Red backed Shrike, six European Bee-eater and two or possibly three Stone Curlew all gave views. Our last highlight of the day was a super group of fifteen+ Yellow Wagtails feeding at the side of the track. The day had flown by and we were soon heading back towards Kyrenia, but even so it was almost when we arrived at the hotel. 2nd May The day began with three of the party plus Steve and Gulay going to the two reservoirs at Acapulco. At 07.15, we began birding. The temperature and light were perfect and there was a steady trickle of birds. We watched three Black-crowned Night Heron along with a Grey, a Purple and two Squacco Herons. We also saw a single Common Snipe and some nice Alpine Swift coming to drink. After breakfast, the whole group set of for the Five Fingers Mountains and our first stop was at the site where on the previous week Steve had located Cretzschmar's Buntings. Although only brief, we located a pair within a few minutes. By the behaviour we suspected that the female was sitting on eggs as she 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 and 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 Great Cormorant and 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 Ibis. This was not to be, but as we drove around the network of tracks both before and after lunch, we saw twenty+ Red-footed Falcon, three Marsh Harrier, two more Squacco Herons and Spanish Sparrow. The Mesaria plain was hot and dusty and by mid afternoon, we had had enough, so we headed back over the mountains to Essentepe seeing only a single Common Hoopoe. The birding had gone very quiet and 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 and the site beautiful. We saw a few Common Swifts and Barn Swallows and a Common Kestrel. Our main aim of the day was to go to Korucam and out to the Cape, so we headed along the coast westwards. We began birding seriously once we reached Sadaramskoy. An Ortolan Bunting showed and a pair of Spectacled Warbler to start. As we reached the western side of the village we saw three Spotted Flycatcher and two 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 and going all the time. We watched this spot for a couple of hours and ate lunch here. While here we saw another Ortolan Bunting, Spotted and Pied Flycatcher, Sardinian and Willow Warbler and lots of Blackcaps. After our late lunch, we birded our way to the very tip of the cape where we found two Greater Short-toed Lark and spent some time studying the very specialised salt tolerant wildflowers found here. We also had a flock of European Bee-eater, Barn Swallows and House and Sand Martins head straight out to sea. As we birded our way back, we saw Marsh Harrier, more European Bee-eater, ten+ Yellow Wagtail and one hundred and fifty+ Spanish Sparrow. We began to head gently back east and went via Koruçam village, where we stopped for tea and a look around the Marenite church here. Along the road back we saw a European Roller and yet more close European Bee-eater. This last species has been really passing in big numbers over the entire trip. We finished up at the view point overlooking Geçitkoy Reservoir where we saw eight Red - footed Falcon all be it a little distant to end our birding trip. Our evening meal was at a nice restaurant 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 and then as day broke, we travelled over the Five Fingers mountain range to the airport at Ercan. En route, we saw three Marsh Harrier and the usual Hooded Crows, Eurasian Jackdaws and a single Turtle Dove on power lines. The group then flew home. All in all a very successful and enjoyable trip. As leader writing this I would like to thank all the group for their input and good company on the tour.

5 Birds 1. Little Grebe 2. Great Cormorant 3. European Shag 4. Purple Heron 5. Grey Heron 6. Little Bittern 7. Black-crowned Night Heron 8. Squacco Heron 9. Cattle Egret 10. Little Egret 11. Glossy Ibis 12. Eurasian Wigeon 13. Garganey 14. Mallard 15. Marsh Harrier 16. Pallid Harrier 17. Montagu's Harrier 18. Osprey 19. Steppe Buzzard 20. Long-legged Buzzard 21. Booted Eagle 22. European Sparrowhawk 23. Eurasian Hobby 24. Common Kestrel 25. Lesser Kestrel 26. Red-footed Falcon 27. Elenora's Falcon 28. Peregrine 29. Chukar 30. Black Francolin 31. Common Quail 32. Moorhen 33. Common Coot 34. Black-winged Stilt 35. Stone Curlew 36. Little Ringed Plover 37. Ringed Plover 38. Spur-winged Plover 39. Little Stint 40. Temminck's Stint 41. Common Snipe 42. Common Greenshank 43. Spotted Redshank 44. Green Sandpiper 45. Wood Sandpiper 46. Common Sandpiper 47. Curlew Sandpiper 48. Dunlin 49. Ruff 50. Black-headed Gull 51. Yellow-legged Gull 52. Lesser-black Backed Gull 53. Audouin's Gull 54. White-winged Black Tern 55. Rock Dove 56. Wood Pigeon 57. Collard Dove 58. Turtle Dove 59. Great Spotted Cuckoo 60. Common Cuckoo 61. Little Owl 62 European Scops Owl 63. European Bee-eater 64 Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 65. European Roller 66. Common Hoopoe 67. Wryneck 68. Common Swift 69. Alpine Swift 70. Pallid Swift

6 71. Calandra Lark 72. Bimaculated Lark 73. Greater Short-toed Lark 74. Crested Lark 75. Wood Lark 76. Barn Swallow 77. Red Rumped Swallow 78. House Martin 79. Sand Martin 80. Tawny Pipit 81. Red Throated Pipit 82. Water Pipit 83. Tree Pipit 84. Yellow Wagtail 85. Citrine Wagtail 86. Grey Wagtail 87. White Wagtail 88. Blue Rock Thrush 89. Song Thrush 90. Common Nightingale 91. Common Redstart 92. Whinchat 93. Isabelline Wheatear 94. Northern Wheatear 95. Black-eared Wheatear 96. Cyprus Wheatear 97. Cetti's Warbler 98. Zitting Cisticola 99. Sedge Warbler 100. Reed Warbler 101. Great Reed Warbler 102. Eastern Olivacious Warbler 103. Icterine Warbler 104. Cyprus Warbler 105. Sardinian Warbler 106. Blackcap 107. Common Whitethroat 108. Lesser Whitethroat 109. Spectacled Warbler 110. Willow Warbler 111. Spotted Flycatcher 112. Pied Flycatcher 113. Great Tit 114. Isabelline Shrike 115. Red-backed Shrike 116. Woodchat Shrike 117. Lesser Grey Shrike 118. Hooded Crow 119 Common Raven 120 Eurasian Jackdaw 121 Black-billed Magpie 122. House Sparrow 123. Spanish Sparrow 124. Linnet 125. European Serin 126. Chaffinch 127. Greenfinch 128. Goldfinch 129. Corn Bunting 130. Ortolan Bunting 131. Cretzschmar s Bunting 132. Black-headed Bunting Mammals Red Fox Cyprus Long-eared Hedgehog

7 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 Hawk moth Silver Y Large Orange Underwing Beauty Moth Sp Dragonflies Lesser Emperor Scarlet Skimmer Blue -tailed Damselfly? Reptiles Starred [Sling-tailed] Agama Troodos Lizard Snake-eyed Lizard Fringe-toed Lizard Oscillated Skink Buda s Snake-eyed Skink Green Tree Frog Caspian Terrapin Whip Snake Other Insects Locust sp