White-throated kingfisher, Akrotiri Marsh

It's long been an ambition of mine to see white-throated kingfisher in Cyprus, so when one was reported at Akrotiri Marsh about eight weeks ago I was keeping everything crossed that it might stay long enough for me to see it on this holiday. Unfortunately by the time of our first stop at Akrotiri at the end of November the bird hadn't been seen for nearly two weeks so I thought that my chance had gone. 

There was still a slim chance though, because the marsh was very dry at this time and white-throated kingfisher is just at home in dry scrub feeding on lizards as it is eating fish and amphibians, and in fact there had been a few sightings on the adjacent farmland during the early part of its stay. This made the bird very elusive and with relatively few birders about it was possible that it was still present but not being seen.

Since our first visit there has been a lot of rain, in fact a few days ago Paphos had the heaviest daily rainfall in over 100 years, with 113mm recorded on one day, more than the annual average for the whole of December. This has filled Akrotiri Marsh and as a result of this the white-throated kingfisher has been seen again and started to become much more obliging, presumably because it has now turned to eating fish. 

So this morning I arrived at Akrotiri at dawn, 06:45 and scanned the reeds. Within 10 minutes I had seen the bird and I watched it for a while at a distance of about 200m, before walking to the tower hide in the hope that it would be a little closer from there. Fortunately it was now only about 100m away and I watched in for about another 30 minutes. A few times it flew around like a giant butterfly, calling noisily, but it never came much closer. Still, it was a great sight and long awaited.  

White-throated kingfishers are about twice the size of common kingfisher. I've seen plenty in India previously and one in Kuwait, but this was a European first for me.