Migration time, particularly April and September, is the most exciting period for bird-watchers in Cyprus. Waves of migrants arrive on the south coast and move slowly across the island resting and feeding to regain their strength after their long journey across the Sahara and the Mediterranean, before moving on north to breed. The southern peninsula of Cape Gata, Cape Kiti and Cape Greco, and the salt lakes near Larnaca, are the best places to observe the migration but individuals and parties of migrating birds may be encountered on the island at this time and on a single day in April it is quite possible to see more than 100 different species. In the autumn the movement is in reverse and the birds congregate on the Southern peninsula before departing for Africa.
Some of the most exotic birds to be found in Europe are common migrants
through Cyprus: Bee-eaters, Rollers, Shrikes and Hoopoes are all common while graceful Great White Herons and Little Egrets may be seen near water or flying in loose formation - white crosses against the blue Cyprus sky. Cyprus is on the main migration route for the Cranes which pass over the island in huge skeins; sometimes migrating at night, the only indication of their passing being their honking calls breaking the stillness of the velvet Mediterranean night, or as shadows silhouetted against the moon.
Spur-Winged Plovers, African birds which in recent years have begun to invade Europe and are now moving westwards having found a vacant niche for themselves on the edge of freshwater marshes, are also regular visitors to Cyprus and might one day settle to breed beside any of the newly created reservoirs.
Winter brings another stream of visitors to the island. Birds from the far north move south to a warmer climate where they can find sufficient food to sustain them until they fly back north to breed. The best known visitors are the Flamingos which migrate from the Caspian Sea to winter on the salt lakes at Akrotiri and Larnaca. Usually the wintering flock at Akrotiri numbers about 5500 and that at Larnaca 2000, though they fluctuate from year to year.
Robins, Blackcaps, Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings and many other well-known European birds are among these northern visitors. Most spend the winter in the wooded valleys where they are not easily seen. One, the beautiful little Stonechat, prefers the open plains where, from November until March, it can be seen by the
roadside perched on top of a bush which it uses as a vantage point to seek out insects in the low scrub.

A not so regular visitor is the Mute Swan which, when visiting Cyprus create a great deal of interest and excitement amongst local ornithologists and bird-watchers. It was thought that the swans, which normally migrate from the Russian Black Sea coast to winter in southern Turkey and Iran, had found the weather to be unusually cold in those areas and had flown south to the warmer climes of Larnaca and Akrotiri salt lakes.

With such a variety of birds on the island, visitors to Cyprus can be certain of seeing a number of new and exotic species all year round.