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However, my current favourite member of the family Cucilidae is the Great Spotted Cuckoo (GSC), a common bird in Cyprus in spring. Perhaps the most curious thing about the Great Spotted Cuckoo is its distribution, for it is both a non-breeding Palearctic migrant to Africa, and a trans-Africa migrant.
One thing that I have learned from repeated spring visits to Cyprus is that no two years are ever the same. Few birds sport such magnificent breeding plumage as the male ruff, but not a single bird showed more than a hint of this plumage. These ruffs still had a 1,000 or more miles to fly to reach their northern breeding grounds.
Therefore, I was quite surprised when I learned that Helm has taken the gauntlet and, this January, published the “Birds of Cyprus” by Colin Richardson and Richard Porter. pounds to carry around, “Birds of Cyprus” (BOC) has 256 pages and weighs only one pound. Unlike “Collins Bird Guide” (CBG) with 416 pages and 1.7
This comes from BirdLife Cyprus’ research officer Mike Miltiadou, and shared by Melpo Apostolidou: Waterbirds that bred on the island this year. These are good news as the species has a non favourable conservation status at European level and this is only the second year the species nests in Cyprus.
I’ve been a regular visitor to the island of Cyprus for over 25 years, making around a dozen trips during this period, every one in search of birds. According to the taxonomists, these weren’t regular Scops Owls ( Otus scops ) but the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl ( Otus cyprius ). Laughing Dove : now a common resident on Cyprus.
Migrating warblers typically pass through Cyprus from March until May every Spring – a fact that is sadly taken advantage of by illegal poachers. But that gets me thinking of just how many warbler species migrate through Cyprus. Their migration typically peaks about a week before the end of April however. Too good to pass up!
All our six endemics have exclusive or partial populations living in forest habitats – exclusive being the Cyprus Jay Garrulus glandarius glazneri , Cyprus Coal Tit Periparus ater cypriotes , Cyprus Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla dorotheae and Cyprus Scops Owl Otus scops cyprius. That’s quite a lot!
That trip was fun, as it reminded me of the delights of watching birds like Golden Plover and even Meadow Pipit on their breeding grounds. I see lots of Golden Plovers in the winter, but (like so many waders) they are birds transformed when in their breeding finery. Crakes are difficult to see on their breeding grounds.
Well, this would be a fitting season for the second, then, this was the strangest Stonechat I ever saw (those birds in January already were in breeding plumage), and it’s either a 1st winter Common male or the Siberian Stonechat. published in the US as “Birds of Europe”), shows only a male in breeding plumage.
It is also familiar at inland sites in winter, especially reservoirs and refuse tips, and breeds in the relatively-Northerly regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Yellow-Legged Gull These gulls breed around the Mediterranean and have yellow, rather than flesh-coloured legs. But it’s a start. Get yours today!
The organization dismantled nearly 9,000 traps on Cyprus last year. The population of Millerbirds on Laysan has doubled , and breeding seems to be going well. Volunteers with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter sneak into a grove where a farmer has just placed lime sticks to snag unwary birds.
In the 70s, with the survival of the species in jeopardy, the entire wild population was captured and brought into a captive breeding program in southern California. Bringing Griffon Vultures into Cyprus – Dan Rhoads, 10,000 Birds. The California Condor has a story well-known by anyone with an interest in birds.
The next couple of months will of course see a boost to my British list, as summer migrants flood into England, while forthcoming trips to Cyprus, Greece and northern Spain will also turbocharge the European list. Wader watching in spring is always exciting, as so many of these birds are transformed when they acquire their breeding finery.
Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. Fourth Whooping Crane This Winter Shot Animal Rights vs Conservation in Cyprus Tennessee Crane Hunt Tabled for 2 Years! There are 400 whooping cranes left in the wild, 100 of them in the eastern population. Sandhill Hunt: They’re Voting Now.Or
I was especially interested in “To Hide From God,” the chapter on songbird slaughter and protection in Cyprus. 192) from the timing of seasons to the ferocity of weather to the shape of breeding, wintering, and stopover habitat to even the size of birds themselves. It is often hard to be positive.
Only four species breed in Britain – the Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting and Cirl Bunting, but there are rather more in Europe, of which my favourite is the Black-headed Bunting. This is a Balkan special, and a bird I know well from Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus. It’s easy to explain its upturn in fortunes.
My first-ever digiscoped bird – a Great Spotted Cuckoo in Cyprus At the time I was travelling a lot in search of birds, usually leading holidays. It was on a trip to Cyprus, watching a Great Spotted Cuckoo ( above ), that one of my clients suggested I should have a go at digiscoping it, a technique I’d never even heard of.
Our North American bird field guides stopped offering this information decades ago, so it’s handy to have it all collected in one handy volume, especially if you’re doing a state breeding bird survey like some 10,000 Birds writers. This is a book that will be read with pleasure and amazement by both birders and nonbirders. Donna). ==.
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