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Summer is ending, and that means the birds are migrating again. In Cyprus it also means that the hunters and trappers are active again. It starts with the trappers, who’ve been at it for weeks now. BirdLife Cyprus started their Fall monitoring program weeks ago. The trapping is particularly bad in the Cape Pyla area. [...]

This comes from BirdLife Cyprus’ research officer Mike Miltiadou, and shared by Melpo Apostolidou: Waterbirds that bred on the island this year. Kentish Plover / Credit: Jane Stylianou It’s just the thing that I thought birders from outside of Cyprus would want to hear that I had to share it in full: BirdLife Cyprus conducts [...]

A type of birding experience that I greatly enjoy is one of those moments where I’ve come across a simply huge number of birds. It can be during migration, in an enormous nesting colony, or with a very gregarious species. As I mined my old birding photos, I recalled one such experience at the Palekhori-Kambi [...]

The big story of the fortnight in Cyprus isn’t about birds, but it crosses the path of birding (kinda). I’ll get to that below. But the biggest story that is about birds is the conference that took place last week. From July 6-8, there was a European conference in Larnaca about illegal bird killing, organized [...]

It’s Poop Week on 10,000 Birds and Sewage, though far from glorious, is great fertilizer. And the water treatment facilities built to support them are kept wet throughout the year, even in the blistering heat of summer in Cyprus. Or at least that’s why I think that the Larnaca Sewage Works is a great location [...]

A few months ago I shared with the 10,000 Birds community the plight of Griffon Vultures in Cyprus, and it has only been getting worse. A census conducted on March 31 indicated that there are in fact only only 6-8 Griffon Vultures left in Cyprus. But there is cause for hope on the horizon. I [...]

Unless you haven’t been paying attention, you know that this is Wood Warbler Week at 10,000 Birds. To us living here in Europe, that’s Sylvia Warblers. And boy do we got ‘em here in Cyprus. Except here they’re killed and eaten as a “delicacy.” Not cool. Because of this, I actually thought of calling my [...]

Migrating warblers typically pass through Cyprus from March until May every Spring – a fact that is sadly taken advantage of by illegal poachers. Their migration typically peaks about a week before the end of April however. Well, last weekend certainly held up to the rule, with April 22nd being a particularly good day. Sadly [...]

The most recent BirdLife Cyprus newsletter had a feature article that was just too good to pass up comment and elaboration on: Our avian forest gems… (English names emphasized by me) Cyprus, although only 16% of its land mass is covered with forest, hosts more than 34 species of forest birds, 15 all-year residents, eight [...]

This just in… Dan Rhoads, weary to the bone with eyes nearly burnt out from competitive bird watching, just completed his report of the  Second Annual Cyprus Bird Race, transmitted it to the 10,000 Birds home office through secret back channels, and then collapsed. We expect he’ll recover in time, but don’t let his struggles be [...]

While in recent weeks I’ve Britain has a bit of a controversy over the Songbird Survival proposal, Cyprus too has had an issue with Corvid shooting. A couple years ago in fact, I’d done some research on this and found some interesting information… From a 2003 article in the journal Zeitschrift für Jagdwissenschaft (Science magazine [...]

Just about everyone likely to read this post probably agrees: Ambelopoulia poaching is a problem and even an ecological disaster. Where opinions might differ here at 10,000 Birds is why this illegal bird trapping is, well, illegal or a problem. In fact, from responses I’ve seen here and there from trappers themselves, it’s perceived by [...]

Geographically, Cyprus is caught between the Western and Central Paleo-arctic. And we get all sorts of vagrants it seems, especially in winter. Last winter in particular was surprising with a Baird’s Sandpiper and a Pectoral Sandpiper, that must’ve gotten just a bit lost. This winter is equally interesting, although the vagrants seem to be coming [...]

BirdLife International has been talking in recent months about the status of Egyptian Vultures and 3 species of Vultures in Kenya, but vultures in Cyprus are having a hard time too. Although generally widespread, Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) are nearly extinct here in Cyprus. Up until about 100 years ago, naturalists have been reporting such [...]

BirdLife Cyprus today gave me to go-ahead to share their Final Trapping Report for Autumn 2010 with the public, and the conclusions are horrific. Among them: 2. The picture emerging from autumn 2010 is one of a bird trapping disaster on a scale unseen since BirdLife’s monitoring work began almost 10 years ago. Trapping levels [...]

Cyprus is a divided land — it is home to the last divided capital in Europe, and the entire island is separated into two, with Cypriot and Turkish military posts facing each other non-stop for the last 26 years and with the UN peacekeepers’ posts standing between them. My flat in Nicosia looks out towards [...]

Cyprus’ attractiveness to traveling birders is largely a result of its endemic species – the Cyprus Warbler (Sylvia melanothorax) and the Cyprus Wheatear (Oenanthe cypriaca). The whole of their populations breed only in Cyprus every year. Happily, they’re not difficult to see if you come here, and their populations are reasonably large considering their limited [...]

I ended my last post by alluding to illegal bird trapping in Cyprus. It’s referred to as Ambelopoulia (or Ambeloboulia – “p” is prounounced more like a “b” in Greek, and the emphasis is on the “-ou-”), which is the pluralized Greek word for Blackcaps. I’ve blogged a good bit on the topic, Charlie has [...]

What corner of the globe is Cyprus tucked away in? I’m sure a lot of people don’t know. Well, for the uninitiated, Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, in the far northeastern corner by Turkey and Lebanon. And the culture is very much under the influence of Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures [...]