Rare black-shouldered kite spotted in TRNC
A BIRD rarely seen in Cyprus was spotted for only the second time in six years in the TRNC in Haspolat on Sunday.
Photographer Olkan Ergüler snapped the black-shouldered kite an hour before dusk. The sighting of the bird, believed to be one of a pair, caused a “stir” among “twitcher” photographers, Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature (Kuşkor) spokesman Robin Snape told CyprusToday.
“Birtan Gökeri, Ali Özdinç, Ertaç Cüneyt and Kenan Hürdeniz all went out and photographed it,” Mr Snape said on Tuesday.
“This species was first recorded by the late Zeki Gürsel in 2014 in the Lefke area. Just one record of it and it was never seen since.
“Recently though there has been another record of a couple of birds in the south of the island, and on Sunday Olkan found these two.
“They are apparently increasing in the Levant region so we may start to see more of them. Certainly they are a good thing for our farmers, as they are constantly catching and eating mice, which have been a great pest this year. Perhaps this explains why some of the birds decided to stay on the island.”
The sighting came a day after Kuşkor organised a birdwatching trip for 19 people to three “important bird and biodiversity areas” (IBAs) around North Cyprus – the new Lefkoşa wastewater treatment plant in Haspolat, the Kukla wetlands and the Ayluga wetlands in Gazimağusa. All three sites were designated as IBAs in 2014 after a two-year EU-funded project.
“It was quite a big group and a lot to guide, but with the mixed experience of the group, we partied off into smaller groups,” Mr Snape said.
“All of the less-experienced attendees were pleased, and very surprised with the diversity of birds and some of the spectacular species.
“With the lockdown in the UK we were all reflecting on how lucky we were to be out in the sun in Cyprus and all together, and thinking of others less fortunate back in the UK and elsewhere, including those who would normally have been out with us.”
Referring to the Haspolat site, Mr Snape said that it has been the focus of efforts to “bring the sewerage treatment to EU standards”, work that has had a “negative effect on the IBA, because it has resulted in [the] drying of two thirds of the wetland area, which is the largest permanent body of water on the island”.
He continued: “Despite the reduced capacity as an IBA site, the remaining pools are really busy with birds. Highlights were flamingos, tufted duck (which is very common in the UK but extremely scarce here in Cyprus) black-winged stilt, spurwinged plover, and a rare white-spotted bluethroat which caused a lot of excitement with the guides.
“There were also multiple kingfisher, water pipit, hundreds of ducks, including good numbers of pochard that are listed on the IUCN [International Union for Conservation of Nature] red list of threatened species, and finally a black kite.”
Kuşkor and the South’s Birdlife Cyprus have this year taken action to prevent predation and disturbance of the birds by putting up “informative signs” and sectioning off one large area of the lagoons with a “predator exclusion gate and fence” Snape said.
“So while the site is being dried out, we are trying to make the most of the remaining habitat with small actions like this, in this case with funding by the UK cosmetics firm Lush,” he said.
“We then moved on to Kukla Wetlands near the village of Köprülü. . . We have worked with the TRNC Waterworks Department and Beyarmadu Belediye [Municipality] to improve the passage of water to the site, landscaped the wetland and provided two hides. Highlights were spoonbills, cranes, avocet and white pelican.
“Finally we stopped at Ayluga . . . also protected under law as a Special Environment Protection Area.
“Due to high water levels the diversity of birds was less exciting but we added a few more species onto our extensive list for the day including some winter starlings and black-headed gulls.”
The next Kuşkor birding event will take place on December 5. “We have a community of over 20 bird photographers now,” Mr Snape added. “When I started working with Kuşkor 10 years ago, you could count them on one hand, so it is definitely an increasingly [popular] sport.”