I was in Cyprus for 2 weeks, for family vacations, and only spend a morning out with my friend Stavros Christodoulides, an avid cypriot birder. Under 35 degrees celcius, we managed to get some very nice species, including two lifers of mine. First was the Great Spotted Cuckoo (not very easy in July in Cyprus) in Lake , a juvenile that was taken care by his Magpie mom and soon was about to leave. The other bird, that I have missed several times before, was a Great Sand Plover, at Agia Thekla. O the ohter hand, we missed a very rare bird in Europe, an Oriental Turtle Dove that was seen during the last week in the area.
Other highlights of my trip were numerous Spur-winged Plovers around Paralimni Lake (first for me this year), a lot of Rollers (also first sightings of the year for me) on our way to Achna Lake, and a Night Heron at Paralimni Lake.
Overall, during my stay I saw:
Little Grebe, Little Egret, Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Great Sand Plover, Spur-winged Plover, Coot, Kestrel, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, House Martin, Common Swift, Pallid Swift, Crested Lark, Roller, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Turtle Dove, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Hooded Crow, House Sparrow, Magpie, Corn Bunting
