 |
 |
 |
 |
  So the breakfast was over pretty quickly and I went to look for an ATM. The ATM across the street was not working, so I need to pay my guide when we pass an ATM. I saw two guys looking like bird watchers leaving the hotel and I thought that there were a lot of bird watchers in town. But they were soon coming back, turned out that it was my Guide and a guest, luckily that they discovered the mistake before they left. We got in to my Guide's car and we went to look for birds and we will start our adventure by exploring the Akrotiri Peninsula: • Zakaki Marsh • Lady's Mile • Akrotiri Salt Lake • Bishop's Pool The first stop was down in the port at the Zakaki Marsh. Follow the Vertical Port Road until you reach the Lady Mile Roundabout. Continue straight and as soon as you pass the border to UK you
The bird hide overlooks the reeds, well, first of all, some twat have had the kindness to leave all the garbage behind in the bird hide. And Cyprus, a huge tourist destination and I had expected more. Garbage everywhere, and I don't only mean garbage from the car windows. THEY ARE DUMPING THEIR GARBAGE EVERYWHERE! Old tyres, matrasses, fridges and, well, everything. What a disgrace! I hope the tourist stops coming here and they might learn.  Bird hide in the Zakaki Marsh
 Bird hide in the Zakaki Marsh
 Bird hide in the Zakaki Marsh
Anyway, there were plenty birds in the reeds, but it was impossible to get any pictures through the reeds. Just down from the left side of the hide there is 2 small poles and we saw a Common Kingfisher landing there. That was a very good photo opportunity but the bird was gone by the time I had my camera ready. My Guide spotted a Black Francolin out in the field and we left the bird hide behind. But we were soon giving up, impossible to cross the field due to all the mud. We went back to the car and we went to look for a path do drive closer to the Black Francolin. We managed to find a dirt path and we walked the last few meters in sand and mud. This is what I like with bird watching, not the mud, but to try to sneak up on the birds trying to get a good picture. And the Black Francolin is a very shy bird so it is very hard to get a picture. Of course, you can carry on of those BAZOOKA lenses. But this is not how I operate, I want to come up close to the bird so I stick with my 300mm lens.  Black Francolin, Francolinus francolinus - 27 October 2017 - Muriwai Gannet Colony
 Black Francolin, Francolinus francolinus - 27 October 2017 - Muriwai Gannet Colony
We never got any good pictures, but we had a lot of fun trying to get the Black Francolin on a picture. The birds disappeared under the vegetation and we returned to the “Ladies Mile” Back in the days when Cyprus was a British colony one of the Generals had a horse named Lady and the horse used to run on the road, thus the name “Ladies Mile” The area between the port and the “Ladies Mile” are sold and they will develop the port to cover this area. We turned left when we came up on the “Ladies Mile” and we drove towards the ocean. On the right hand side, just before you reach the beach there is an area with gravel and we drove up there to see if we could find any birds. A few Hooded Crows, also known locally as Scotch crow and Danish crow. We went back to try the bird hide at Zakaki Marsh again. I tried to catch a few beautiful Moorhens, but this is a very shy bird and I failed to get them on pictures. To see the map in a full window click HERE
We also spotted the beautiful Common Stonechat and the very common and unafraid Crested Lark. Well, the common Stonechat, coming back to my hotel to check internet for information I read the bellow on Wikipedia:  Common Stonechat is the name used for the Saxicola species Saxicola torquatus when this is treated in its broad sense. It is, however, now more widely considered to be a super species consisting of several related but distinct species, which are outwardly fairly similar but genetically distinct and replacing each other geographically without significant hybridisation: • African stonechat Saxicola torquatus in the strict sense • European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola • Siberian stonechat Saxicola maurus • Stejneger's stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri • Madagascan stonechat Saxicola sibilla Three other species, not previously included within the broad view of common stonechat, have also been shown to be members of the super species: • Fuerteventura chat Saxicola dacotiae • Reunion stonechat Saxicola tectes • White-tailed stonechat Saxicola leucurus Species status possible, but not yet verified: • Ethiopian stonechat Saxicola (torquatus) albofasciatus Not all of the above are currently recognised as full species by all of the relevant taxonomical authorities, for example the British Ornithologists' Union, currently include stejnegeri as a subspecies of Saxicola maurus.   Sea gull
We continued down to the beach and all the sea gulls were far out and it was not possible to get any good pictures of the Armenian Gull. The gulls had most likely been scared by a dog or something. So no good pictures of the gulls, and I had been hoping for some sea gulls as I have my Guide so he can name them for me. I cannot see the difference between them. But well, I hope to get another opportunity. We continued south on the ladies Mile towards the Akrotiri Salt Lake. We were soon stopping to watch an European Greenfinch sitting in the bushes. I wasn't very pleased with the pictures. But they are better than nothing and I was chasing the European Greenfinch on New Zealand without getting one single good picture that I could use. But these pictures I can use, but of course, I hope  to get better ones.
 We continued south on the Akrotiri Peninsulatowards the Akrotiri Salt Lake. I don't know what to call it, but let's call it marshes. We cannot walk there and we are for sure not going out there with the car. But there are dust roads across the marsh.
We followed one of the dust roads and we were soon spotting a Isabelline wheatear sitting next to the road. Yet again, a little too far away for a good picture. We spotted several European Greenfinches and Crested Larks. But we didn't see any birds in the Akrotiri Salt Lake, 2 or 3 waders. And the birds was very far away so no pictures.   Crested Lark
 European Greenfinch
 European Greenfinch
 Looking for waders in the Akrotiri Salt Lake
We continue south and we the Holy Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats, or short Monastary of the Cats. There is a small lake, the Bishops Pool and according to my Guide there are several interesting ducks and  other birds.
There is a bird hide at the Bishops Pool and there were several different water birds. We also spotted a few birds of prey hunting in the area. The area seems to be a bird watching area, at least I think so as there were several information boards about the birds in the area. There were also a map with different walk paths marked on the map. And it was a beautiful area. But the best was the orange trees and I could not help myself so I picked an orange. It tasted very good so I was soon having a second orange. Sweet and juicy, I would have had more oranges but we were leaving to explore new birding areas.  Birding information
 View over the lake
 Oranges
 We leave the Holy Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats
  We left Holy Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats and I only had pictures of one bird, the House Sparrow. There was a few of them sitting in a tree when we entered the area and I had a few pictures. Well, we will go to Kensington Cliff to see if we can see the Griffon Vulture. But we have to stop for lunch, the place my Guide knew was not open until 28 of February. So we continued towards the Kensington Cliff and we decided to stop at the Kolossi Castle to have our lunch. But firs we made a stop to look at the flamingos in the Akrotiri Salt Lake
We parked the car, it was far away from the Akrotiri Salt Lake so not possible to get any pictures. We could see a rare duck and some flamingos. It was starting to rain se we went back in to the car and we took off to Kolossi Castle.  We stop to have a look over the Akrotiri Salt Lake
 Kolossi Castle
 Kolossi Castle
 Kolossi Castle
 Kolossi Castle
 I found an ATM at the Kolossi Castle
 Theo Food & Drink, where we had our lunch
We went in to Theo Food & Drink for our lunch and I went to look for an ATM while waiting for the food. I gave my Guide 450 € for 3 days of bird watching around Cyprus. The meal was good, some traditional Cyprus/ Greek food. I asked for ice cream but they didn't had any ice cream. Well, good for my diet. We were soon on our way to the Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs. It is just next to a British military garrison so we drive down to the fence and there wasn’t much room to turn down to the dust track leading to the cliff edge. We parked the car and we walked towards the cliff and just before reaching the cliff we left the dust road and we walked through the bushes until we reached the edge.  Walking to the edge of the Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Walking along the edge to look for the Griffon Vulture
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs
 Looking for the Griffon Vulture
 On the way to the Germasogeia Dam
We looked out on the cliffs in a westerly direction but we could not see any of the Griffon Vultures. 14 birds remaining on Cyprus and they all live here at the Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs. We will go to Larnaca tomorrow, but on Thursday we will go to Paphos and we will make a stop here again. We left the British garrison and Episkopi Cliffs / Kensington Cliffs behind bound for the Germasogeia Dam to see if we can see any interesting birds in that area. It didn't take us very long to reach the dam. We crossed the dam and we drove up the mountains following the dam towards the mountains. Well, there wasn't much water in the dam.  Germasogeia Dam
 Driving along the East side of the Germasogeia Dam
 Driving along the East side of the Germasogeia Dam
 Driving along the East side of the Germasogeia Dam
 North of the Germasogeia Dam
We drove along the dust tracks north of the dam. We spotted several birds, of course, I didn't got many pictures. We spotted the beautiful Golden Finch, European Stonechat and of course a lot of larks. And I was very happy that I managed to see the Cyprus Warbler. We spent quite some time with the bird that was sitting in a bush next to the dust track. The bird was covered with twigs and flowers most of the time and the pictures was not any good. But we managed to get the Cyprus Warbler to come up from the bush and we were satisfied when we left. We decided to follow the dirt track up north to see if we could see any birds.   Cyprus warbler
There is usually a river running along the dust road, but now it was just a very small, almot dry stream. We saw a lot of birds but not able to get any good pictures. We saw a few birds of prey, especially the Common Kestrel. The common Kestrel is all over the place and I lost count on how many of them we saw during the day. We reached a dead end and there was a sluice or something. We went out on the bridge to see if we could see any bird life in the water, nothing and we were soon driving back down to the dam again. A very beautiful area, and the smell, it smelled of pastures, grass and flowers. EXCELLENT! But no bird pictures. Well, never mind, I enjoy every second!  We follow the dirt track
 We follow the dirt track
 We follow the dirt track
 We follow the dirt track
 We reach the end of the dirt track
 We reach the end of the dirt track
We went to check out another place in the stream before we left. The birds usually come here to drink, especially the Golden Finch. My Guide explained that they eat a lot of seeds so they need to drink a lot of water. And there were plenty Golden Finches, but as always, they are very scared. So no pictures, again! I would really love to get a good pictures of the Golden Finch, I chased the bird on New Zealand, but I never got any very good pictures, and it looks like I will not get any good pictures today. But we were lucky with the European Stonechat, when we left there was one female sitting just next to the road and she was not scared.  Bird pool
 Female European Stonechat
 Mountain top
I had have a gorgeous day on Cyprus thanks’ to Matt at the CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD www.birdingtourscyprus-bitw.com This is a tour operator that I can recommend if you ever come to Cyprus. Check out his web page and book a tour. I paid 150 € per day. Very cheap: • Excellent guide • Guide that identify all the birds for you • No need to rent a car • No need to drive the car • Just to sit down relaxing enjoying the sights Check out CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD on You Tube and Flickr   CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD is Highly recommended by Aladdin! So if you ever come to Cyprus, and he is also making trip reports with all the birds we had seen. Well, I only count the birds I have got on photo. Anyway, here is the trip report for the first day. Click HERE for Day 1 Trip Report. My Guide dropped me at the hotel and as the hotel breakfast isn't much to write home about we decided to start earlier tomorrow and he will be here to pick me up at 07:15. I spent the afternoon in my room looking at the pictures from today’s birding. I had decided to go to eat at the Limassol Marina, marked as the “tourist area” on the map. I took a taxi and it was about 10 minutes from the hotel. I got out of the taxi and the area was empty. Not any restaurants I wanted to try out, well, after having walked around I passed a place called Rosemary - fast food. But it was, yeah, fast food only and I left again.  Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
 Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
 Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
 Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
 Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
 Limassol Marina - Tourist area - Not much to see here
I was kind of disappointed walking around the “tourist area” and I was especially disappointed with the Rosemary restaurant. A name like that promise a lot but I was not going to eat any fast food. I left the marina, crossed the street and I was in an area with many restaurants, most of them closed as it was only 6 o'clock in the evening. Obviously they don't eat until late night here on Cyprus. I was almost giving up when I found a place that was open.  Limassol Tourist area
 I found a restaurant
And the food was really good
I went inside and I asked for a pot of tea, salad and lamb chops. I got the biggest plate of salad I had ever seen, full of dill. I had asked for extra dill. Lamb chops and I was really full when I left the place to go look for a taxi. Back in my room and the alarm is set to go off at 05:40 and my Guide will come to pick me up at 07:15. We will go East tomorrow to cover the Laranaca + Agia Napa area. Click HERE to find out if we see any birds. English subtitles available - Click on settings
 English subtitles available - Click on settings
  
  You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
winter and spring migration where one can see Herons and Glossy Ibis.
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||