Cyprus - Day 5

Have to be a quick summary of the day as we leave for home early tomorrow (unfortunately). Still we've had a great time with dawn till dusk sunshine in the high teens. Slightly better than back home I would guess? Oh and I've also connected with some great birds. This trip wasn't about quantity, it was about quality. The plan worked!

Today started at the salubrious Paphos Sewage Works hoping for a glimpse of the superb Spur-winged Plover. Wonderful bird, dodgy location! The viewing was difficult as it was very limited through the vegetation, not to mention the pipes and ironwork. After around 15 minutes I managed to pick one up resting on the settling tank wall. Then another and another. I reckon I ended up seeing at least 10 birds.

As already stated, time is limited tonight and I don't have the time to go through my photos properly (Louise is VERY patient). So here's a pic of the Plover...try to ignore the pipes...

Extremely pleased to see this bird as they don't always show apparently.

Boosted by this success we moved on and headed for Nata Ford which is at the northern end of the Asprokremmos reservoir. No water in sight here but I went for a brief stroll anyway. I kept seeing lots of birds disappearing into thick cover. I needed to give the boss time to read so I tried another short track. I then caught sight of a shape in thick reeds, this time the bird hung around. I managed to get a partial view with the bins. It was a Sparrow! It kept hopping around but remained in the same area. Eventually after fiddling with the camera settings I managed to confirm Spanish Sparrow.

Initially...

With patience...eventually...

After a short diversion when we took the wrong road we eventually arrived at the Diarizos Valley north of Kidasi. I wanted more of the Finsch's Wheatear...hopefully! We'd seen three birds on Saturday, I'd have settled for one. We stopped at the first site on the track and waited. Nothing for 30 minutes then there it was up on the wall...

1 down.

After it moved on I tried around the bend where we'd seen the second bird. Again a lengthy wait and then I picked it up low down in the valley. It was interesting watching the bird feeding. Perching on rocks, walking on the ground then back up to perch on grass stems...

Marvelous!

I then pushed my luck and tried for the third bird another 400 yds further up the road. We positioned the car and waited yet again. The sun was sinking fast now and the previous sites were in deep shade. This site however was higher and was still in full sun. Then, out of nowhere there it was, bird number three! This was my lucky day. After watching this stunning bird for a good 15 minutes I managed a few decent shots...

What a fantastic afternoon. I have more, as you can imagine but I've got to go now. Hope you enjoyed the pics. I'll do a summary when I get back...