Raptor Watch

Week 36, 6, 7 and 8th September 2012 - Jahra Pools Reserve (Click to enlarge image)

Earlier in the week a few kettles (40 and then 20 birds) of European Honey Buzzards were seen migrating through SAANR and JPR. So,  I spent a few hours on each day at JPR with a few of the other local birders hoping for ideal conditions and to see the passing raptors.

Session # 1

Wind was pretty strong today and so minimised the chance of Raptors stopping for a drink and they didn't. We had to contend with watching some of the waders like; Little Stint

Little Stint (Calidris minuta) 

quite a few juvenile birds were seen, namely Dunlin

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

and Common Ringed Plover

Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Also seen were a number of Little Egrets in the various ponds

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

And the flock of Garganey that had survived some of the shooting

Garganey (Anas querquedula)

Session # 2

I again returned to JPR for a few hours from 7:30 - 10am and again the winds were not as favourable as they should be. In terms of raptors, only the Marsh Harrier was seen harassing birds as it flew low over the reeds. More of the same species seen yesterday in terms of waders, but some more exciting species too like a Common Greenshank (that I hadn't seen at JPR yet)

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Alongside a Marsh Sandpiper for comparison

Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) 

A Common Snipe was quite obliging as it stood quietly in some shelter

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

However, more exciting was a distant single Broad-billed Sandpiper (which I had seen the week before, but there were no photo opportunities)

Broad-billed Sandpiper (Limicola falcinellus)

In and around the reeds I found a pair of Great Reed Warblers

Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)

and a skulking Little Crake

Little Crake (Porzana parva) 

Garganey were still present on some pools

Garganey (Anas querquedula)

And in a flying flock, a Northern Shoveller was also seen

Garganey and the much bigger Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

Whilst talking with Khaled Alghanem a flock of 19 Black-crowned Night Herons flushed from a big clump of reeds in one of the main pools - more 1cy year birds than adults - photo's were difficult against the light

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Along roads I had Isabelline Wheatear

Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina)

and my first Pied Wheatear for this autumn

Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka)

Who said you cant shoot 'macro' with a 600mm?

Dragonfly (not sure which species?)

But what I enjoyed the most was a pair of Little Grebes feeding their 4 young chicks on worms they were diving for an plucking off the base of reeds - it was quite a special occasion watching the parents tend to the hunger needs of their brood - I hope you enjoy the images..

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) chicks

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) adult feeding chick

Session # 3
This time the weather appeared perfect and Gill and Jaden joined me for a enjoyable morning at JPR, again with many of the local birders (Khaled, Mohammad, Mahmoud, Aziz). While waiting for the ideal time (8:30 - 10) we explored the reserve with me showing my wife and son some of the more common species. I had let me son Jaden use my 50D and 400mm and he got good images of Common Snipe

Common Snipe ( (Gallinago gallinago) by Jaden

and later a creative image of a Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Most of the common waders were still present and I photographed Dunlin in an interesting 'pose'

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

A Ruff

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)

And a wounded Terek Sandpiper, also not a common species in this reserve - but obviously with all the water conditions are attracting many more species than usual.

Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus)

I also got an image of the Common Snipe to show the difference between 400 and 600mm

Common Snipe ( (Gallinago gallinago)

Again the Little Grebes were seen close by feeding their chicks

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

In terms of raptors today there were two Western Marsh Harriers

Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)

and we did see a few others namely; Egyptian Vulture, Long-legged Buzzard, Montague Harrier, Steppe Eagle, but all were too distant for photographs. A Western Osprey came over the hide and finally landed in a distant pool. Gill and I drove around the reserve to the pool and found it drinking. We approached slowly and since the Osprey was on Gill's side I passed her the hefty Beast (600mm) and she managed to photograph from a distance the bird in the water. When it finally flew, Gill was able to track and get off a few fantastic images as it flew toward us. 

Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) by Gill

I then turned the car around to go back to the hide only to have the bird fly by on my side, so I too managed to squeeze off volley at 10fps. These actually turned out to be the best images I have of Osprey so far, so we were both very pleased.

Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) by Mike

In the same pool, many White-winged Terns were seen hawking and feeding off the water

White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus)

No other raptors were seen from the hide, but a tatty Blue-cheeked Bee-eater came in to perch on the old tree in the pool.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Merops persicus)

We then called it a morning, said our goodbyes and photographed this Black-tailed Godwit on the way to the gate

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)