info please

[Andrea Morley]

Dear bird experts,

I gave up on the group because my friend (Michael) and I felt we were too amateur among serious 'birders' but living on the outskirts of Pachna I do have the pleasure of seeing an enormous variety of birds. Many of them recognizable from the years we spent in the country districts outside Jerusalem, but some have been new to us (e.g. the European Rollers who dominate the scene here for several weeks in Spring, driving out Hoopoes, stroppy Spotted Cuckoos and even buzzing Magpies and surprisingly timid Kestrels). 

 Others have been identified for us by use of the internet supported by the knowledge of local people, but we often wonder how common some of these are.  In the last week there have been two unfamiliar (to us) birds in an abandoned grove of fruit, olive and almond trees. One seems to be a Common Redstart, male, with orange-red lower body and under wings, dark back and white flash on head (sorry if we don't know the appropriate descriptive words). We had thought that the other bird close by was perhaps a female lacking the red colour but we now know that is incorrect so perhaps you can help us?  The bird is similar to the Redstart in shape and size but is black with white on the wings, a ring on the neck and possibly some white on the head. In flight the white makes a perfect half circle (lower half of a semi-circle) from wingtip to wingtip. Would this be a Collared Flycatcher? The photo on Wikipedia looks the same but we are not sure. We imagine these are quite often spotted by you experts but we would appreciate knowing just how common they are in Cyprus.

 We joined the group originally after the excitement of seeing a Golden Oriole but we have become positively blasé about sightings of those gorgeous birds.  Michael lives in a village near Omodos and sees whole families of them flying around the valley below his home!

  Many thanks in advance to anyone who has time to answer,

 Andrea (Morley).

[Shane Marshall]

Hi Andrea
 
Don't be embarrassed among other birders, remember they were all novices once upon a time!
 
On your ID questions, the first does sound like a Common Redstart which are classed as passing migrants in Cyprus, appearing in Spring and again in Autumn. The second if black and white could be either a Collared Flycatcher or a Semi-collared Flycatcher, both are around in Spring. The main difference between the 2 is that the white collar goes all the way round the hindneck and throat on the Collared!
On your second e-mail, the first could be a Black-headed Bunting, these are just arriving now, but another possibility is a Serin which is found all year round. The final one sounds like a male Blackcap, the song is very fluid and flute like but an alternative could be a Lesser Whitethroat, both are common in Spring and Autumn.
 
This website my assist your IDing, it has some great photos of birds in Cyprus
 
http://www.flickr.com/groups/cyprus_birding/pool/
 
Hope this helps.
 
 
Shane


 

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Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 12:02:06 +0300
Subject: [cyprus-birds] info please
From: amor...@gmail.com
To: cyprus...@googlegroups.com

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[Alex Kirschel]

Hi Andrea,

Also consider Whinchat for your first bird which are very common during migration. The greyish bird could well be a Sardinian warbler or Cyprus Warbler.

Alex

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