The government declared a day off work for both public and private sectors due to extreme weather as the rain in the desert continued. The rain abated a little by lunch, so I decided to head to Jahra Pools staying on the freeways and avoiding the roads which had been closed due to flooding.
Unsurprisingly, I was the only one in the Reserve and fortunately the roads in general were driveable, although the cloud was still low and heavy, so had to push the ISO. The first bird I saw was a really soggy and miserable looking Short-eared Owl on the side of the road, trying to dry out.
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| Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) |
There were a number of Greater Spotted Eagles doing the same thing - trying to dry their wet feathers
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| Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga) |
The Western Marsh Harrier had been flying around the reserve in the drizzle and then decided it had had enough
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| Female Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) |
A flock of Mallard erupted from one of the pools behind the reeds
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| Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) |
Around the reserve, a few birds made an appearance, all seemingly thankful for a break in the weather. A Red-spotted Bluethroat emerged from some cover
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| Red-spotted Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) |
A couple of Stonechat's were seen in the gloom, first a Byzantine
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| Byzantine Stonechat (Saxicola m. variegatus) |
Followed by a European
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| European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
Here a Daurian Shrike doing some post rain grooming
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| Daurian Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) |
On the way to the outfall, Spanish Sparrows were seen coming in to roost in the reeds
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| Male Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) |
At the outfall, I spend quite a bit of time with two Pied Kingfishers that were hunting from the perch that had been setup for them.
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| Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) |
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| Dinner time |
The light was not great, but when I left it appeared the rain had stopped, so prospects for the weekend looked dry and sunny
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