Dermot Breen's Blog: glossy ibis

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Cyprus 2nd September 2019

I finally connected with Demoiselle Crane at Akrotiri Salt Lake first thing in the morning. A group of fourteen birds were preening and resting up out on the lake near the north-east side where a freshwater stream enters the lake. The group also contained three juveniles. Very attractive looking birds and brilliant to catch up with the species. The heat haze already early in the morning along with the distance weren't very conductive for photography but I got some very nice views through the scope. I didn't want to get too near the birds as they would obviously be pretty tired having probably flown to here straight from Turkey at least and would be soon be on their way south to the other side of the Mediterranean. Nice backup in the area with at least 10 Eleonora's Falcons, 2 Pallid and 10 Marsh Harriers sitting out in the middle of the salt flats.
I spent the rest of the day visiting a few sites further west of Larnaca all the way up to Peyia north of Paphos produced not a whole lot of interest to be honest.

Demoiselle Cranes with Grey Herons.

Demoiselle Cranes

Demoiselle Cranes with Eleonora's Falcon.

Pallid Harrier

Eleonora's Falcon and Pallid Harrier.

Eleonora's Falcons and Pallid Harrier.

Eleonora's Falcon

Glossy Ibis

Ringed Plover

Juvenile Collared Pratincole

Yellow Wagtail flava

Yellow Wagtail thunbergi

Yellow Wagtail feldegg

Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

Agios Georgios Church

Tombs craved into the rock.

Inside one of the tombs.

Saturday, 13 January 2018

Eyrephort Glossy Ibis

I got a call from Martin O'Malley on Thursday morning to say that he had an unusual bird near his house. He began to describe a bird with a long curved bill, black-brown in colour and fairly big in size. Glossy Ibis immediately popped into my head. I was only the other side of Clifden town so I took the short trip out to the end of the Sky Road to have a look. When I met Martin on site he was fairly happy it was indeed an ibis. The bird was feeding on small flashes of water around a holiday home. It later flew close to the road and seemed very relaxed even though we were as close to 20 metres to it at some stages. I've seen the species in around half a dozen countries but these were probably my best ever views of the species. The sun came out for a period which produced some decent shots. The bird seemed to be doing well with earthworms regularly being caught.
A Glossy Ibis was also reported out on Inishmore over the Christmas period. Several others were reported away from the usual southern counties which usually get the majority of records especially during the winter. Several ringed birds have now turned up in Ireland in recent winters and most have been from the Cota Donana in Spain. They must be one of the few southern species that turn up here during the winter. After the Inishmore record this will be the seventh county record.

Glossy Ibis from Dermot Breen on Vimeo.