Cyprus 4th & 5th September 2019

Last full day and a bit in Cyprus. I had an early flight back home on the 5th but I had enough time to check Oroklini Lake first thing in the morning. No sign of the Terek Sandpiper. Less water and even less waders. I had an impressive list of 23 species of waders though during the trip which I wasn't quite expecting.
I had another look at Larnaca Sewage Works on the 4th. A few nice additions there.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48284606

I ended up recording 116 species for the trip. It's a spot that would worth my time doing a Spring trip at some stage to experience Spring migration in full swing along with the possibility of a few lifers such as Cyprus Scops Owl, Caspian Plover and Ruppells Warbler. Full trip list below.

Garganey

Northern Shoveler

Mallard

Eurasian Teal

Ferruginous Duck

Chukar Partridge

Black Francolin

Greater Flamingo

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Rock Dove

Common Wood Pigeon

European Turtle Dove

Eurasian Collared Dove

Laughing Dove

Common Swift

Pallid Swift

Water Rail

Common Moorhen

Eurasian Coot

Little Crake

Demoiselle Crane

Black-winged Stilt

Spur-winged Lapwing

Greater Sand Plover

Kentish Plover

Common Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Whimbrel

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruff

Curlew Sandpiper

Temminck's Stint

Sanderling

Dunlin

Little Stint

Common Snipe

Terek Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Common Greenshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Common Redshank

Collared Pratincole

Slender-billed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Gull-billed Tern

White-winged Tern

Whiskered Tern

Great Cormorant

Grey Heron

Little/Dimorphic Egret

Western Cattle Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron

Glossy Ibis

Griffon Vulture

Bonelli's Eagle

Western Marsh Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Northern Goshawk

Long-legged Buzzard

Eurasian Hoopoe

Common Kingfisher

European Bee-eater

European Roller

Common Kestrel

Eleonora's Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Red-backed Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Masked Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Eurasian Jay

Eurasian Magpie

Western Jackdaw

Hooded Crow

Crested Lark

Sand Martin

Barn Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Common House Martin

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Short-toed Treecreeper

Eurasian Wren

Cetti's Warbler

Willow Warbler

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Eurasian Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Zitting Cisticola

Eurasian Blackcap

Lesser Whitethroat

Cyprus Warbler

Sardinian Warbler

Spectacled Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Blue Rock Thrush

Whinchat

Northern Wheatear

Cyprus Wheatear

Isabelline Wheatear

Common Blackbird

Western Yellow Wagtail

Tree Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

Common Chaffinch

European Greenfinch

European Goldfinch

Corn Bunting

Ortolan Bunting

Cretzschmar's Bunting

House Sparrow

Eurasian Teal, Garganey, Sanderling,

Garganey

Juvenile Sanderling

Juvenile Sanderling

Adult Baltic Gull with juvenile Yellow-legged Gull.

Adult Baltic Gull

Adult Baltic Gull

Adult Baltic Gull

Third-calender Yellow-legged Gull

Mediterranean Gulls & Pink-footed Geese

A few shots from the last week or so. I came across a flock of six Mediterranean Gulls in Kilkieran Harbour feeding on the outflow from the seaweed processing factory on Thursday 6th October. One of the birds present was a green colour ringed first-winter from Zwillbrocker Venn in Germany which is right on the German/Netherlands border. It was ringed as a pullus on 18th June of this year and has moved approximately 1,100km to the west. This was the first re-sighting of it. 

I revisited the same spot again the following day and amazed to see that the flock had doubled in size to twelve - four first-winters and eight adults (there was a third-winter present on the 6th). The German bird was again present along with an Irish born and colour ringed bird 2X4N. This bird had been ringed by Tony Murray and co at Lady's Island Lake, Co. Wexford this summer.

ANNC German colour ringed first-winter Mediterranean Gull.

ANNC German colour ringed first-winter Mediterranean Gull.

2X4N Irish colour ringed first-winter Mediterranean Gull.

Adult winter, third-winter & adult winter Mediterranean Gulls

Third-winter Mediterranean Gull.

Eight Mediterranean Gulls and one Black-headed Gull.

Ten Mediterranean Gulls

Seaweed Factory outflow.

While up on Achill Island last Sunday I had a nice flock of Pink-footed Geese fly in from the west. Pink-footed Geese are still fairly scarce along the west coast but have become more regular in recent years as the population is increasing. Female Garganey also on Sruhillbeg Lough.

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Garganey

Buff-breasted Sand

Selection of the best of the weekend lot. Had planned to check the Roonagh/Corragaun Lough stretch on Saturday but left it late waiting for the low tide. Got word that Seamus Feeney and Declan Skehan had found a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Corragaun Lough in the morning. Caught up with the sandpiper in beside the lake itself with about 130 Ringed Plover and 30 Dunlin. The whole flock was very flighty and I couldn't approach the flock too closely. The whole lot got up and relocated out onto the large open area of salt marsh/machair. I had a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper here last year on 10th September. I think there's another previous record of the species here also.
Checked several of the beaches and Roonagh Lough itself but nothing special doing.

The first half of Sunday was a wash out so took a trip out to Rahasane Turlough in the afternoon. Aonghus had a Pectoral Sandpiper here on Friday, the first autumn Yank wader in the county. Water levels which were worryingly high up until only last weekend have dropped dramatically. All the action was as usual up at the East/Craughwell end. A flock of 50 Black-tailed Godwits were the same that I had the previous weekend at the opposite end of the turlough as they contained the same juvenile colour ringed bird along with a new colour ringed adult, the juvenile Spotted Redshank and the juvenile Ruff.



Juvenile colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit



Juvenile Spotted Redshank in the there somewhere, I swear.

I also came across these two Garganey. Obviously a first year and adult bird. I reckon the young bird could be a male due to the equal width white bars bordering the speculum. Don't think these are broad enough for an adult male, while the forewing colour isn't strong or bright enough either. Great shot here showing from left to right eclipse adult male, (adult?) female, first year male and eclipse adult male.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/5055727866/

 

First-year male and adult female Garganey.

  


First year male and adult female Garganey.

  

First year male Garganey