Paphos People

These wonderful birds are back -- swooping down catching bees in mid air -- they look like small Parrots bright green and red just lovely. They have the most unusual sound . If your lucky enough to see them they are in groups of about 20/30. They just visit CY twice a year. Marj

Would love to see a photo of one, I googled bee catcher but got no where.
Marj, aren't you lucky to be able to see things like that ?
Do you think they will be as spectacular as the group of starlings currently walking round my garden cr*****g everywhere ?
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Try Bee Eater!
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enCY264CY264&q=bee+eater
We used to have a bird watching neighbour, who would rise early to trek to Akrotiri to see these birds, armed with telescopes and cameras, and then when he had gone the birds would perch on the electricity cables outside his front door. They had always gone by the time he returned

Thanks for the link Graham.
Gary they dont sit about yes I said SIT they just swoop have lunch then they are gone. Marj

Ha Ha Marj nice one !
I was hoping Graham would point us in the right direction, that's a good story bout the neighbour, they must be very clever birds as well !
Checked out the link thanks.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Unbelievable! I relate an old story about a bird watching neighbour and his persistent failure to see the bee eaters of Cyprus, and a few hours later they turn up to munch the bees on my bottle brush plants

What a beauty !!!!!
Thanks Graham,
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I was watching them last night
outside our house, I think they are great .

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REACH 1000`s of PAPHOS CUSTOMERS EVERY DAY FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT THE OTHERS CHARGE
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Whilst the optimist and the pessimist argued that the whisky glass was either half full
or half empty ? .
I drank it .....
The opportunist..

On the subject of birds, last time I was over we visited Protaras, it was September and as we were walking along the cliffs looking down at the sea we saw two bright turquoise coloured birds flitting amongst the rocks in the sea.
They looked like kingfishers to me, about the same size but they appeared to be all one colour. Don't know whether this would be appropriate habitat for a Kingfisher though.
Anyone suggest what they could have been ?
Gary

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So close yet so far away

We saw Birds like that the last couple of days up here in Theletra. They are beautiful, but also don't know what they are. They looked bigger than the Kingfishers that we had in Scotland, and they weren't flying over water.

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

Good picture Graham! What a lovley bird - not sure it should be eating bees though, with the decline of the bee population.

Just out of interest, do people feed the wild birds over there like we do in UK, with nuts. seeds etc?

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Pam

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans

The big 'kingfishers' are probably Rollers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Roller which are quite common here.

Cyprus is abundant with insect life and is a major re-fuelling station for migrating birds, of which there are loads around about now. We don't really have a climate where there is nothing for birds to eat so feeding them should be unnecessary.

I also saw a fox in Lemba at the weekend which looked in very good condition and may explain why there do not seem so many feral cats around at the moment. It has done well to avoid the shooters! I thought it might have taken one of ours, but he returned after a couple of days sporting a bad leg injury - it looks as though he had been caught in a rap trap. 'Curiosity killed the cat' is a very apt saying.

Yes, KG, that is exactly the birds we saw - thank you. Sorry to see from the article that they are getting more rare and that they are shot for food in the Oman!
Pam, although we fed the birds in the UK - there is no need up here in Theletra - there is so much natural food for them and they fly around the trees and bushes in,and surrounding, our garden - they are a real joy!

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

The larger green birds can also be bee eaters
as there are diffirent types.
I think the ones that pass here are african bee eaters,
though there is european bee eaters and other types..
just google "bee eaters" then click images ..

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REACH 1000`s of PAPHOS CUSTOMERS EVERY DAY FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT THE OTHERS CHARGE
----------------------------------------------------------------
Whilst the optimist and the pessimist argued that the whisky glass was either half full
or half empty ? .
I drank it .....
The opportunist..

lots of videos of bee eaters HERE