Cyprus 23 - Day 4

Phil arrived last night. He's picking his car up tomorrow, so I drove down to his Hotel first thing to meet him. It was only 10 minutes away. He'd had his breakfast, so we drove the short distance to the site of his previous visit to bird the immediate area. If your still with me!

We walked the Coastal path as thunder and lightening threatened in the distance. We'd only gone a short distance when Phil spotted a bird on a signpost. Lifting my Bins I confirmed what he's suspected..."Blue Rock Thrush"!

Phil's pic

The next 45 minutes found us enjoying stunning views of a stunning bird in the sunshine (most of the time) before the rain arrived. The Thrush was totally unconcerned by our presence, as it concentrated on finding food. Not a bad start for Phil!

We then headed for Mandria to try and get away from the rain. It still wasn't great but we did OK Birding from the car. Nothing new for me but Phil added some decent birds. Isabelline Wheatear (3), Northern Wheatear (4), Hoopoe...

...and the Spanish Sparrows...of course! I dropped him off at his place and returned "home".

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After lunch we decided to have a drive out to Agia Varvara. I spent the remainder of the day here. There were hundreds of Hirundines hawking the pools. A few "Red-rumps" were amongst them. A Birder then appeared, it was Jonathan Wasse. I'd met him on a precious visit to Cyprus. We shared our sightings and a few memories before we went our separate ways. It was great to see him again. We drove a few tracks but some of them were flooded so I couldn't get to a couple of spots. There weer still some meaty clouds around but I decided to risk a walk around the 3 pools. I instantly added Little Grebe and Wood Sandpiper. There were plenty of Chiffchaffs about but I couldn't see anything else. The hoped for Great-spotted Cuckoo didn't materialize.

The final pool had little water in it and there was plenty of "edge". I saw 4 White Wagtails walking around busily. Then a yellow bird...a Wagtail...yes...but...

Citrine Wagtail

The bird was very active and soon flew off high West...

There was another car in the vicinity and shortly after the bird had flown it approached me. I didn't recognise the driver initially (one of my less attractive traits). It turned out to be Andy Waller, a Birder who lives on the Island. Again, it was great to see another familiar face. I felt slightly embarrassed to tell him about the CW! Turned out he'd come especially to see, it as it had been reported the day before! This didn't make me feel any better.We had a good chat about my previous visits and he gave me some excellent information on the immediate area.I left him so he could stake out the pool in the hope it would return.

I returned to our car and watched the area from there for a while. It was time to leave. As I was putting my gear away Andy shouted over..."Alan...Jack Snipe"! I walked over to the back of his car and after some time and help I finally picked it out by a rock...

c40 yards

An amazing spot by Andy and a Cyprus tick for yours truly to boot. Another excellent day despite the Weather. Much Sunshine ahead starting tomorrow. I'll leave you with another image of the stunning BRT...

Trip Total 49