Migrations

I’ve put together a handy brochure-type checklist for birdwatching in Cyprus (Cyprus Birding Checklist [.doc]), especially for those people who keep lists (e.g. life lists, year lists, records of individual field trips, etc.), and for relative newcomers to birding in Cyprus who wish to know what birds to expect. It’s formated for printing double-sided on A4 paper, and the margins/columns work out that you should just have to fold along the column dividers to get a nice brochure look.

This was put together from BirdLife Cyprus publications, including the complete list of Cyprus birds. I’ve included every bird that has been seen on at least a dozen or so occasions in the past 15 or so years, and left out only the most rare accidentals. (There were a fair number that have only been recorded once ever, for instance, that are not likely to be seen again.) They’ve been grouped by taxonomy into families, using European nomenclature.

I’ve also indicated whether each bird is predominantly a migrant, a vagrant, a breeder, a winter visitor, or a year-round resident. Even though in many cases a species may fall into multiple categories, I tried to choose the category that the greatest number of birds for that species fall into.

Where needed, distinguishable subspecies are also marked. For instance, Steppe Buzzard is considered a distinguishable subspecies of Common Buzzard; and Yellow Wagtails are in fact a complex of at least half a dozen subspecies, of which four subspecies may regularly or semi-regularly be seen in Cyprus.

And lastly, I’ve indicated species for which details are requested by the Rarities Committee of Cyprus, where needed.

Please also note the contact info for reporting poaching incidents.

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Other Birding Checklists

For an exhaustive list of birding checklists for around the world, Mal Jenkins of Wales (UK) has created a nice site for Printable bird checklists.

I have also lived in the Delaware Valley and Cayuga Basin in the United States and use the checklists provided by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club and the Cayuga Bird Club.