Looking back at my pictures, I found a bird that didn't look like either the Spectacled or Sardinian warblers I had found at the Zoo so I investigated further and found it was in fact a female Ruppell's warbler! Another welcome lifer
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73. Ruppell's warbler, Curruca ruppeli
Penultimate day in Cyprus, so decided to go up to a dam with a bit of a reputation for having quite a varied bird life. It was a lovely day, starting the walk at the dam and making my way around the reservoir towards an abandoned Templar Knight Village called Foinikas.
The walk began with a patch of pine woodland full of passerines, which I could distinctly hear but it was very difficult to isolate them among the trees packed with pine cones and needles and in the end I only spotted a single bird which I was nevertheless very proud of:
74. Collared flycatcher, Ficedula albicollis
The walk continued along the top of the cliffs overlooking the reservoir, until the path stopped and one could only move on through a field thick with yellow flowers but more unpleasantly perhaps thistles and nettles (particularly unpleasant given I had shorts on). Still, I rejoined the road for a bit after the field to recover and then turned back onto a path taking me back towards the reservoir. Along this path were numerous very vocal birds, including:
75. Zitting cisticola, Cisticola juncidis
76. Whinchat, Saxicola rubetra
77. Tree pipit, Anthus trivialis
78. Red-rumped swallow, Cecropis daurica
After observing these lovely birds for a while, I rejoined the reservoir and immediately saw a raptor flying low over the cliffs on the other side of the lake. My pictures were fairly poor due to the distance but with binoculars I could easily make out:
79. Western marsh harrier, Circus aeruginosus
Unfortunately I didn't actually reach the knights' village because the path ended around a kilometre before I could reach it, so I turned back the way I came. Along the way back I spotted numerous tree pipits, swallows and doves but nothing new until I startled a pair of Chukar in a field along the road.
80. Chukar, Alectoris chukar
And then came the sighting I had been waiting for for the entire trip. I had seen three Curruca warblers already on the trip but the one I had really been wanting to spot was the endemic Cyprus warbler. I spotted a far away bird resting at the top of a bush about 30 metres from the side of the road. I only got a series of rather grainy photos but through the binoculars, the bird had the 'heavily-barred underparts' I had been searching for.
81. Cyprus warbler, Curruca melanothorax
Finally in the woodlands once more I spotted a Willow warbler briefly in the trees.
82. Willow warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus
So a lovely, lovely day and especially pleased about the warbler and the harrier. That should about round off my birding trips in Cyprus, but I'm quite proud of what I saw and hope to do even better next time!
