Dermot Breen's Blog: whiskered tern

Sunday, 27 January 2019

Cyprus 1st September 2018

I managed to come across number four of my five targets sitting on the very top of a soil heap beside the roadside just west of Larnaca in the form of a male Black Francolin. A quick look around the Kiti Beach and Cape Kiti produced a few nice birds like Spectacled, Great Reed, Eastern Oliveacous Warblers and Isabelline Wheatear. Very few migrants about though. The next spot were the salt flats around Larnaca Airport but these were all dry. I happen to come across the Larnaca Sewage Works which are fenced off but has a very handy tower which overlooks the two large ponds. This was a very productive site and was jam packed with waterbirds and worth putting up with the rather pungent smell. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48207542
I moved further east along the coastline later up to Cape Greco. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48221919
I finished up the day at Oroklini Lake where a Terek Sandpiper had been found a few days previously. They are a rarity even in Cyprus and thankfully it was still present. The lake wasn't particularly big and there was very little water left but it still held an impressive numbers of waders. I stayed until dark and was rewarded with a Little Crake by the edge of the reeds and a large roost of Cattle Egrets. https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48221509
Between Oroklini and the sewage works I managed to see at least 17 species of waders in the day.

Male Black Francolin

Ferruginous Duck

Spur-winged Plover, Coot, Mallard, Garganey & Little Grebe.

Juvenile Whiskered Tern

Juvenile Gull-billed Tern

Terek Sandpiper

Eurasian Kestrel

Isabelline Wheatear

Laughing Dove

Spotted Flycatcher

Ortolan Bunting

Spectacled Warbler

Willow Warbler

Starred Agama Ladakia stellio cypriaca

Larnaca Sewage Works

Cape Greco

Oroklini Lake

Saturday, 22 April 2017

Sri Lanka 24.2.2017

Today was to be Blue Whale day. We stayed near Mirissa the previous night and first thing in the morning we heading offshore from the rather busy and maniac harbour. Blue Whales have been found to be a regular sight just off southern Sri Lanka in recent years. The sea bed drops quickly to 1000 metres only 10 km offshore which prove to be productive feeding grounds due to up-welling of cold water from the depths into the warmer waters of the surface. Our first sighting of the morning was a mating pair of sea turtles. They were called out as Green Sea Turtles by the on-board guides but on reviewing the pictures for this post I think they're actually Olive Ridley's Sea Turtles. We also had one large pod of Spinner Dolphins on the way out. The seabird diversity was extremely poor as was to be expected with the only seabirds seen being several tern species which included several Bridled Terns which were a lifer for myself. We eventually seemed to hit a hotspot for whales and managed to see about three Blue Whales. These animals are supposed to belong to the subspecies of Blue Whales called the Pygmy Blue Whale which as the name would suggest are slightly smaller than Blue Whales found in the Atlantic but they were still gigantic animals. It really was an honour to see the largest ever animal that has existed on planet Earth. Several Remora fish were also seen attached to the whales. These fish have specially adapted suckers on the top of their heads which attach to the whales skin. A few ugly scars were seen on one animal and many have been the result of a run-in with a boat propeller. This area has a heavy flow of large container ships which use the deep water to transport goods along the coastline. Whale fatalities are a regular occurrence unfortunately. Another feature of concern was the large number of whale watching tour boats in the area and their behaviour. At one stage I counted 21 whale-watching boats in the immediate vicinity of the whales. Once a whale came to the surface to breath there was a huge stampede of boats rushing towards the whales. I don't think this is potentially the best for the whales welfare. The whole whale watching industry is only a very recent addition here and I'd hate to see what sort of numbers of boats will be involved in these trips in a short number of years.

In the afternoon we visited a few more nearby lakes/marshes and gardens where the birding proved very productive.