Finsch's wheatear breed in Turkey and winter in Cyprus in very small numbers
at a handful of sites. One such site is Kidasi in the Diarizos valley where I
went today. They're very skittish birds, much more timid than our more familiar
northern wheatear, usually flushing at about 50m, so it's hard to get a decent look at them. However after several
previous visits to Kidasi, today I finally worked out that the track up the valley was good
enough for me to drive in my hire car, which potentially I could use as a hide if the birds were close to the track. I decided to give it a go.
After about 1km I saw a Finsch's wheatear land on a large rock at the side of
the track and decided that it might be worth parking near the rock and waiting
to see if it would come back. Thirty minutes later it did and I managed to get
easily the best views that I've ever had of the species and even managed a few photos.
There were three
Finsch's wheatears at Kidasi today, two males and a female. Also here, a
female hen harrier.
I love those black underwing coverts contrasting with the white belly.
A nice view of the tail pattern.
Ringtail hen harrier.
Female Finsch's wheatear.
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