Cyprus Revisited: Familiar Friends & A WPA Mega

After hiring a bike for a day (and underestimating how much time it would take to get anywhere!), I hired a car in the last four days and managed to visit some familiar haunts and discover some new ones. I didn’t really expect to see much; my focus was relaxation and sunshine, but I ended up seeing a decent number of species and took some of my best photographs of certain species.

The small headland by the church off Aphrodite’s Avenue was just 10 minutes’ walk away. Apart from the stunning wild flowers, there was a fair amount here given the size of the place. I accidentally flushed a couple of Quail (and also from the scrub on the shoreline near the hotel), and there were plenty of Northern Wheatear, Crested Larks, Hooded Crow, Whinchat, Sardinian Warbler, Fan-tailed Warbler and the odd Tawny Pipit. The highlights at this site were a beautiful Woodchat Shrike, which I eventually tracked down for a photo, and best of all, and one of the highlights of the trip, was a group of 4 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. These amazing birds cruised around the headland for a while before landing on a nearby bush and allowed me to approach to within just a few metres – remarkable!

 At Mandria I encountered Greater short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Red-rumped Swallow, Red-throated Pipit, Hoopoe, Spanish Sparrow (c.50 at the southern end), and the usual large flocks of Yellow Wagtails (mainly blue-headed and black-headed). At nearby Asprokremnos ‘pools’ (dry) near the dam, I enjoyed good views of Long-legged Buzzard (2) and European Bee-eater (c.10), but there was little else here. I eventually got photos of both species. Up at the nearby weather station car park area, I encountered the ‘usual’ stuff, and got some photos of most species, but all proved elusive, and considerable patience was required. Amongst commoner stuff, I found: Red-rumped Swallow, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Hoopoe, Collared Flycatcher (male and female), Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler. Despite the struggle to get decent photos, I enjoyed pottering about in the pines chasing the cuckoos and flycatchers. At nearby Achelia, I found the sewage works by accident and enjoyed excellent views of Spur-winged Plover and the ubiquitous Sardinian Warbler. On a return visit, the fields opposite were flooded, and here I photographed Glossy Ibis and Green Sandpiper.

It was Agia Varvara, however, that was the place to be, not for the Lesser Kestrels I’d seen before here (no longer present?) but for a variety of other species including a palearctic mega, which I only came to find out about by accident. I’d seen a single European Roller in flight briefly and Woodchat Shrike already, as well as a stunning pair of Swallowtail Butterflies, which I was keen to photograph on the wing. I’m delighted with my best shot here: one for the album for sure. But the star bird was on the pools themselves. I was lucky to find only one other birder there who quickly put me onto the rarity in question; the day before there had been 50+ apparently! The bird in question wasn’t that easy: there was a bunch of Common Moorhens on the water or in the surrounding vegetation, and it was only after a number of ‘near misses’ involving juveniles of this species that I hit upon something more unusual: the oddity in question was clearly small(er) and had a largely yellow conical bill (more like that of a Corncrake), not the largely red, thin bill of its relatives. I had found it. This was the famous Lesser Moorhen that anyone who was serious about birding, especially palearctic listers, had come to admire. It was in fact a first for Cyprus and only the eighth (?) for the western palearctic. And how nice it was to be practically the only person here. (Sure, others joined me later, but I still felt relatively privileged.)

There was plenty to distract me whenever the mega went into hiding: Wood Sandpiper (and Common Sandpiper), and a lovely Squacco Heron that flew overhead, but best of all, two of the three crake species. (Apparently, Spotted is also commonly recorded here.) So, once I’d had my fill of the Moorhen, I moved on to Little Crake (images of male and female opposite) and importantly Baillon’s Crake. Now, I’d seen a handful of Littles in my time (even on Scillies!), but Baillon’s was always the trickier one in my experience, and my poor photos of a previous individual (also in Cyprus) are testament to that fact. So, I was quite keen to see another – and get better photographs. What I had not anticipated was cracking views of both species (male and female Little, and Baillon’s), with the latter coming to within just a few feet of me!

Nearby, there’s a derelict, boarded-up two-storey house down a dirt track, and this was the nesting site of about 9 European Rollers! I passed by one evening on my way back from the tin mine and got lucky – two were perched openly on the roof of the adjoining outhouse, basking in glorious sunshine!

 An area another km further on was also good. I fluked a female Blue Rock Thrush, only identifying the bird from photos I took (a pair was present apparently), and there was also a couple of Alpine Swifts cruising overhead as well as more Red-rumped Swallows. I came across at least two more Woodchat Shrikes, one of which posed for its photo to be taken, and I had a lovely encounter with another flock of Yellow Wagtails. The best bird here was a single Ortolan Bunting, which posed nicely for a photograph. The last bird I saw here on my final trip to Agia Varvara was a stunning Hoopoe, which perched openly and rather conveniently on vegetation next to the road. So, despite some initial failures and wasted trips, especially at the beginning, and despite the mixed weather, and the fact that I restricted myself to a comparatively small area, I was pleased with my haul and as well as the unexpected lifer, I also got my best shots ever of a number of species – Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, European Roller, Baillon’s Crake, Little Crake, Ortolan Bunting, Long-legged Buzzard, Hoopoe, Squacco Heron and Swallowtail Butterfly.