Friday 30 March 2018
Thursday 29 March 2018
Wednesday 28 March 2018
Tuesday 27 March 2018
Sunday 25 March 2018
Saturday 24 March 2018
Blue-cheeked bee-eater - Merops persicus Pallas, 1773 - Πράσινος Μελισσοφάγος - Cyprus
The blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. The genus name Merops is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and persicus is Latin for "Persian".
It breeds in Northern Africa, and the Middle East from eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan and India. It is generally strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa, although some populations breed and live year-round in the Sahel. This species occurs as a rare vagrant north of its breeding range, with most vagrants occurring in Italy and Greece.This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has blue sides with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the beak is black. It can reach a length of 31 cm (12 in), with the two elongated central tail feathers adding another 7 cm (2.8 in). Sexes are mostly alike but the tail-streamers of the female are shorter.
This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical semi-desert with a few trees, such as acacia. It winters in open woodland or grassland. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes more dragonflies than any other food item. Its preferred hunting perch is telephone wires if available.
Blue-cheeked bee-eaters may nest solitarily or in loose colonies of up to ten birds. They may also nest in colonies with European bee-eaters. The nests are located in sandy banks, embankments, low cliffs or on the shore of the Caspian Sea. They make a relatively long tunnel of 1 to 3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in length in which the four to eight (usually six or seven), spherical white eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs, although the female alone incubates them at night. Incubation takes 23–26 days.The call sounds 'flatter' and less 'fluty' than the European bee-eater.
Two subspecies are recognized:
Merops persicus persicus - Breeds in Asia, winters in East and Southern Africa
Merops persicus chrysocercus - Breeds in North Africa, winters in West Africa.
This species is closely related to blue-tailed bee-eater, M. philippinus of East Asia, and the olive bee-eater of Africa, and has been treated as being the same species (conspecific)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-cheeked_bee-eater
Photos and video Oroklini 24/3/2018 by George Konstantinou
Friday 23 March 2018
Thursday 22 March 2018
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Balkan anemone, Grecian windflower or winter windflower - Anemone blanda Schott & Kotschy - Cyprus
Photos Agios Ilarionas 16/3/2018 by George Konstantinou
Anemone blanda, common names Balkan anemone, Grecian windflower or winter windflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to southeastern Europe, Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria. An herbaceous tuberous perennial, it grows to 15 cm (6 in) tall and broad. It is valued for its daisy-like flowers which appear in early Spring, a time when little else is in flower. The flowers are an intense shade of purple blue, but are also available in shades of pink and white. It grows in any well-drained soil which dries out in summer; hence it is often used for underplanting deciduous trees which provide the necessary conditions. It rapidly colonises any favoured location. The dark green foliage dies down in summer. This plant[4] and its cultivars A. blanda var. rosea 'Radar' and A. blanda ‘White Splendour’, have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.The specific epithet blanda means "mild" or "charming"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemone_blanda
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Bimaculated lark - Melanocorypha bimaculata (Menetries, 1832) - Βουνογαλιάντρα - Cyprus
The bimaculated lark (Melanocorypha bimaculata) breeds in warm temperate countries eastwards from Turkey into central Asia. It is the eastern counterpart of its relative, the calandra lark.
The bimaculated lark was originally placed in the genus Alauda. The current genus name, Melanocorypha is from Ancient Greek melas, "black", and koruphos a term used by ancient writers for a now unknown bird, but here confused with korudos, "lark". "Bimaculate" and the specific bimaculata are from New Latin bimaculatus, "two-spotted". The alternate name calandra lark should not be confused with the species of the same name. The alternate name Eastern calandra lark is also used for a subspecies of the calandra lark.This is a large, robust lark, 16–18 cm in length. It is an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly streaked grey above and white below, and with two small black patches on the breast sides, which give this species its name. It has a white supercilium.
In flight it shows short broad wings, which are grey-brown below, and a short tail with a white tip, but not white edges. The wing and tail patterns are distinctions from its more westerly relative.
The song is like a harder version of that of calandra lark.
The bimaculated lark is found from west-central Turkey to southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, north-eastern Iran and northern Afghanistan. It is also found in northern Israel, Lebanon, western Syria and northern Iraq. It is mainly migratory, wintering in northeast Africa, and ranges widely throughout the greater Middle East to Pakistan, India and Tibet. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
This is a bird of stony semi-desert and higher altitude cultivation. Its nest is on the ground, with 3-4 eggs being laid. Food is seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season. It is gregarious in winter.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimaculated_lark
Photos Akrotiri 20/3/2018 by George Konstantinou
Thursday 15 March 2018
Golden anemone - Condylactis aurantiaca (Delle Chiaje, 1825) - Cyprus
Condylactis aurantiaca, common name golden anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. This species always remains largely buried in sand or sediment, attached to the substrate, with only the oral disc and tentacles visible.
The column is translucent white with white spots, and grows to approximately 7 centimetres (2.8 in) in diameter. The oral disc may reach 12 centimetres (4.7 in). The overall diameter with the tentacles spread out is around 30 centimetres (12 in). This species usually has five whorls of tentacles, with 96 tentacles present when it is fully developed. The tentacles are each around 8 centimetres (3 in) long, green to yellow in colour, and sometimes greyish. They often have bands of white and other colours, and purple tips. The mouth, in the centre of the oral disc, is purplish.Condylactis aurantiaca is found only in the Mediterranean Sea in depths of up to 80 metres. The base is attached to a rock, stone or shell and the column immersed in sediment, usually sand or gravel.
Like other sea anemones, this species catches prey with its tentacles which are armed with many cnidocytes, stinging cells which kill the prey. The prey is then transferred by the tentacles to the mouth. This sea anemone reproduces in spring and summer by releasing gametes into the water column where they are fertilised and develop into planula larvae. Alternatively, the gametes can be retained in the body cavity, the larvae being brooded there till the spring.
The shrimp species Periclimenes aegylios may be found living symbiotically with this sea anemone
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condylactis_aurantiaca
Underwater photos March 2018 at Akrotiri by Kostas Aristeidou
Starfish - Hacelia attenuata John Edward Gray, 1840 - Cyprus
Hacelia attenuata is a species of sea star. The type species of the genus Hacelia, it was described by John Edward Gray in 1840. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea.Underwater photos March 2018 at Akrotiri by Kostas Aristeidou
Wednesday 28 February 2018
Sunday 25 February 2018
Saturday 24 February 2018
Friday 23 February 2018
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