Cyprus 2014 Lizards and Birds

Having not been on a foreign trip last year I wanted to go somewhere warm during February half term. Cyprus seemed to fit the bill with a chance of some nice reptiles and if it wasn't warm enough I could do some birding. A cheap Easyjet flight at £115 cheap car hire £60 and a nice apartment in Paphos all was set. My daughter Sasha also came along now aged 15 she likes to sleep a lot, lounge around, make my wallet lighter etc so I let her bring a friend, thereby releasing me to do some field work. At the weeks end I had seen 11 herps (3 lifers) and 47 birds (8 lifers).

All Photos © Carl Corbidge

We arrived at 2pm on the 23rd February and the weather was nice and warm at about 20 Celsius. So I quickly went out with a quick walk around The Tomb of The Kings where I saw a few Starred Agamas Laudakia stellio cypriaca and flipped an Ocellated Skink Chalcides ocellatus. There were also a few small birds flitting around, including Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, Fan Tailed Warbler Cisticola juncidis, Sardinian Warbler Slyvia melanocephala Kestrel Falco tinnuculus and lots of Stonechat Saxicola torquata.

 Crested Lark

 Female Kestrel

 Ocellated Skink

 Male Stonechat

Monday 24th February
This turned out to be the best weather of the holiday at about 21 celcius. I started the day with some birding and had some success seeing lots of Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis, Serin Serinus serinus, Long Legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus, Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus and 4 lovely Spur Winged Lapwings Vanellus spinosus, as the morning warmed up I saw a few Troodos Lizards Phoenicolacerta troodica, a Striped Skink Trachyleis vittata and several Agamas. Then after a nice start to the morning it was spoilt when I saw a male Kestrel stuck to a fence with glue on its tail and wings. It was still alive so I removed it, I realised I would have to return to the apartment to try and clean it up. Gradually with warm water and soap I got most of the glue out gave it some sugared water and ham and left it to dry out, It seemed ok so I released it and I think I saw it again later in the week flying complete with scraggy primaries. This illegal method of trapping birds is practiced in Cyprus by morons.

 Mantis Spp

 Spanish Sparrow

 Spur Winged Lapwing

 Striped Skink

 White Wagtail

 Troodos Lizard

In the afternoon I dropped the girls off at the beach and then walked along the headland. Here I saw a couple of Snake Eyed Lizards Ophisops elegans schlueteri a Juvenile Fringe Toed Lizard Acanthodactylus schreiberi another Ocellated Skink and a few Agamas. Birds included Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria and 3 Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultia one of which was going into summer plumage. Later my ears must have tuned in because I heard some Treefrogs Hyla savignyi near the apartment and found a few breeding in unkempt swimming pools.

 Agama

 Golden Plover

 Greater Sandplover

 Male Kestrel

 Ocellated Skink

 Pafos Lighthouse

 Snake Eyed Lizard

 Treefrog

Tuesday 25th

My Birthday so obviously the worst weather of the week with thunder and lightening in the night and torrential downpours on and off all day, so I went for a run along the coast and didn't see much wildlife at all.

Wednesday 26th

Today started with a little rain and was pretty much cloudy all day but brightening up late on. Therefore I started the day with some birding and finished with some herping. I added a new species of Wheatear to my life list Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina. Lots of larks and pipits were seen along with finches. Later I flipped a Kotchy's Gecko Cryptopodian kotschyi.

 Agama

 Chiffchaff

 Fan Tailed Warbler

 Isabelline Wheatear

 Red Throated Pipt

 Kotchy's Gecko

 Skylark

 Snake Eyed Lizard

 

Wednesday 27th Feb

 

The weather started to pick up a bit but pretty much more of the same. I found 4 species of lizard in our apartment garden!

 ?Armenian Gull

 Black Redstart

 Corn Bunting

 Fringe toed Lizard

 Kotchy's Gecko

 Red Throated Pipit

 Treefrog

 Troodos Lizard

 

 

 Thursday 28th

 

In the morning I tried to get some better photos of some birds I had seen. I managed to get a record shot of Black Francolin and some better photos of Striped Skink.

 

 Black Francolin

 Black Redstart Female

 Cattle Egret

 Chukar Partridge

 Male Serin

 Striped Skink

 Spur Winged Lapwing

 Female Serin

 

Friday 28th

 

Today was supposed to be warm so I assigned it for a determined look for a Blunt Nosed Viper. In the event it wasn't that hot only 16 C. I did however see the best bird of the trip a Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria at fairly close range. I also found a Green Toad Bufo viridis, it was stuck in mud from all the rain with just its eyes showing and looked very much alive, but unfortunately it wasn't I think it must have suffocated because its nostrils were blocked and its body covered in mud

 

 Avakas Gorge

 

Wallcreeper

 

 

Saturday 1st March

Again it wasn't especially warm up to about 17C but I finally saw a snake and caught it (100% catch rate) a nice Black Whip Snake Dolicophis jugularis cypriacas and for people who know this species they are one of the fastest European snakes. Unlike the ones we saw in Symi these are really black including the belly. I also added Levantine Water Frog Rana bedriague, these were quite different from other water frogs I've seen and I ticked off the endemic Cyprus Warbler Sylvia melanothorax.

 

 

SPECIES SEEN

 

Reptiles and Amphibians

(Lemon Yellow) Treefrog (Lifer)

Levantine Water Frog

Green Toad (dead in mud)

Kotchy's Gecko

Starred Agama

Troodos Lizard (Lifer)

Snake Eyed Lizard

Fringe Toed Lizard (Lifer)

Ocellated Skink

Striped Skink

Black Whip Snake

 

Birds

Cormorant

Little Egret

Cattle Egret

Mallard

Long Legged Buzzard

Kestrel

Chukar Partridge (Lifer)

Black Francolin (Lifer)

Spur Winged Lapwing (Lifer)

Greater Sandplover (Lifer)

Common Sandpiper

Dunlin

Armenian Gull (Lifer)

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Scops Owl

Skylark

Barn Swallow

Meadow Pipit

Red Throated Pipit

White Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Robin

Black Redstart

Northern Wheatear

Isabelline Wheatear (Lifer)

Stonechat

Songthrush

Blackcap

Sardinian Warbler

Cyprus Warbler (Lifer)

Fan Tailed Warbler

Chiffchaff

Cettis Warbler

Great Tit

Wallcreeper (Lifer)

Magpie

Jackdaw

Hooded crow

House Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow

Chaffinch

Linnet

Greenfinch

Serin

Goldfinch

Corn Bunting