Semicollared flycatcher, Asprokremnos Dam

Flycatchers are beginning to arrive now, with collared, semicollared and pied all reported of the past 48 hours. Ironically the two I have seen have both been the rarest which is semicollared

The white on the median wing-coverts which is diagnostic is reduced to a dot on this bird.

Note the white border to the tail feathers which goes all of the way round which is also a feature of semicollared. 

Agia Varvara

I found another three pools at Agia Varvara that I didn't even know existed prior to today. They held a similar array of birds to the other pools including a male little crake, but also a really smart spotted crake which showed briefly at close range. Too brief for a photo, so here are some more little crake photos.

Masked shrike, Akrotiri

I'd all but given up with masked shrike, there's been a few around but I just couldn't seem to connect with them. Today I was looking at orchids near Agios Georgios chapel at Akrotiri, when a fabulous male suddenly popped up on a branch nearby. A really gorgeous bird.

Semicollared flycatcher at Bishops Pool

At Bishops Pool today there was a wonderful semicollared flycatcher which was a new bird for me. Also here, lots of eastern Bonelli's warblers.

A trip to Larnaca and an unexpected phalarope

Since the weekend Mandria and the Paphos birding sites have faced an invasion of British birders, and this had coincided with better weather which has slowed down migration compared to last week. In a bid to escape the crowds and freshen up my birding I decided to have a trip to Larnaca today. 

The one thing that the Paphos area is missing is good wader and duck habitat so Spiros Pool and Larnaca waste water reservoirs were an ideal antidote. They're 130km from Mandria and a 90 minute drive, but the roads are really good, dual carriageway almost all of the way, so it's not really a problem and with an early start there's hardly any traffic enabling me to arrive at Spiros Pool at 7.15am.

I didn't really go for anything in specific but there has been a red-necked phalarope on the pool for a couple of days and it was nice to see that. 

Photo: Marsh sandpiper.

Also here, several marsh sandpipers, black-winged stilts and Kentish plovers, plus a decent array of other waders including little stint, ruff and black-tailed godwit.

Little crakes (and water frogs!) at Agia Varvara

I called in again at Agia Varvara this afternoon and at least one little crake showed well again, so well in fact that I was able to take this video. I recommend turning your sound up, because the real stars of this production are the Cyprus water frogs! It almost sounds like they're talking.

Eastern orphean warbler, Paphos headland

Earlier in the holiday I had a couple of fleeting glimpses of eastern orphean warblers, but since it was a new bird for me I was hoping to get better views before I left. Today at the archaeological site on Paphos headland a couple of birds showed well. 

They look a bit like outsized lesser whitethroats. Really robust for a warbler with a chunky bill, but notice also the white eye ring.

Little crakes at Agia Varvara

Four little crakes were at Agia Varvara this afternoon, with two males chasing each other around while a couple of females watched with disinterest. Also here a moustached warbler.

I thought that the Ezuosa river was in full flow the other day, but today it seemed like it was about to wash the bridge away! It really has rained a lot over the past few weeks. When I was here in December it was barely a trickle!

Cyprus warblers, Mavrokolympos Dam

This morning I headed up to Mavrokolympos Dam just north of Paphos, hoping to ensure that I saw Cyprus warbler during this holiday. It's not a species that I see a lot of owing to the fact that generally I visit Cyprus in winter when there are only a very few overwintering birds about, and they are not so easy to see. Also they have become scarcer in recent years in part due to the spread of Sardinian warblers. I don't know if they're being outcompeted by their slightly larger cousin. Anyway, a couple of birds did their duty and showed quite nicely this morning. Other birds at the dam included a male Cretzschmar's bunting and several easter bonelli's warblers.

Cyprus warblers are one of three endemics that are found in Cyprus, the others being Cyprus scops owl and Cyprus wheatear. By the time you read this there may well be others if the jay, coal tit or treecreeper ever get split. Black francolin is also at it's only European location, but that does occur elsewhere outside Europe so not an endemic.

Sardinian warbler.

Namaqua Dove on my doorstep in Mandria

A major rarity in Cyprus today, just 200m from my apartment in Mandria. A male Namaqua Dove! It's the size of a sparrow with a long tail like a budgie. The only place it breeds in the western palearctic is southern Israel. I saw a female distantly in Kuwait a couple of years ago, but todays bird was much closer, photographed from the car as it fed on the other side of the road! An amazing bird. 

When I got back to Mandria from Paphos there had just been a torrential downpour and the bird had not unreasonably gone missing and there was a tense 30 minutes or so of no show. Eventually though somebody spotted it further down the road. We all got into our cars to use them as hides and the bird just walked down the road towards us, feeding as it came.

Finsch's wheatear and the Isabelline shrike at Paphos Headland

My original plan was to stay in Mandria all day, but when a Finsch's wheatear was found at Paphos Headland followed by a masked shrike I decided to spend the afternoon there instead. I've seen a few Finsch's wheatears in winter in Cyprus, though it's never a common bird, just a handful overwinter at traditional sites, but it would be the sixth species of wheatear that I've seen on this holiday, so I was keen to see it just to complete the set. Also I thought that since I'd be in Paphos late afternoon, I could take the opportunity to call in for meal in a favourite restaurant on the front. That was the plan but it didn't work out that way.

The wheatear played it's part and was easy enough to find, though it lived up to it's reputation as one of the most skittish of all the wheatears, and wouldn't allow even moderately close approach. 

So that's seven species of wheatear for the holiday so far, Northern, Isabelline, Eastern Black-eared, Desert, Cyprus and Finsch's. What will the next species be?

The masked shrike was never seen again but I managed to relocate the isabelline shrike and it showed better than ever. It was a 1st winter when I saw it back in December but now it's really taking on some decent adult plumage. Gone is the barring on it's flanks, it now has a rusty crown and it's tail is getting redder. Meanwhile, two woodchat shrikes were in the same area.

All great to see and I was starting to think about food, but then I got news of something that I just could not miss back in Mandria and my plans were abandoned. A Namaqua dove had been found just 200m from my apartment. Doh! I knew that I should have stayed in Mandria! Back to the car.