A family outing to Khiran

Week 15, 10 April 2013 - Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City (Click to enlarge image)

We arranged a family outing to Khiran to enjoy the beach and sea - unfortunately the weather didn't get out memo and the wind was a lot stronger than we had hoped for.

I had a few small waders on the pristine beaches, a couple of Little Stint

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

and a few more Sanderling's (note the lack of hind toe)

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

More Whinchats were seen and along one stretch of beach I had both male

Male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)

and female

Female Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)

Where there was some habitat, of course Spring migrants were present. I had seen Barred Warbler last week, but was unable to photograph the bird. This time I was luckier.

Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria)

A male Common Redstart provided a splash of colour

Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Turkestan Shrike is still the predominant Shrike species

Turkestan Shrike (Lanius phoenicuroides) 

and I did get my first Lesser Grey Shrike for this Spring and what a cracker it was.

Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) 

The rest of the time, we just enjoyed the day out before the thermo-fan kicks in and the temp heads up to superheated in a month's time.