I was solo today and although I had low expectations, decided to head out west to Al Abraq. It was raining when I left and the inclement weather continued through most of the morning. It is pretty special to enjoy dark clouds and rain in the desert, with Camels on the horizon
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| Dramatic clouds and desert scape |
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| Iconic desert scape |
The desert still has a carpet of green - but this is not going to last long, as the Camel and Sheep herds enjoy this time of plentiful
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| A carpet of green |
I was last at Abraq 2-weeks back and amazingly the same birds seen then were still present today. The rain continued intermittently along with thunder and lightning and I just 'soaked' it up enjoying the freshness of it all. We have some interesting wintering Common Chiffchaff's and once the rain had stopped a few became a bit active. DNA is really required to nail down the race!
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| Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus c. abietinus) |
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| Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus c. caucasicus/menzbieri) |
4 Corn Buntings were the only spring migrant seen
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| Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra) |
The male Eurasian Sparrowhawk was quite active, but looking closely it seems he has been quite lucky. It appears that he has a few shotgun pellet holes through his wing..
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| Male Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) |
The pair of European Stonechat's were again holding territory in the same patch and this was the only obliging bird at the farm. I managed to use a few lenses; first up the naked 600mm
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| Female European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
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| Male European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
At one point a Painted Lady flew out and in a flash the male Stonechat had it - he would have made a Bee-eater proud. He struggled to dislodge the wings and eventually gave up without eating it. These Painted Ladies must be pretty tough!
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| Male European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) with Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) |
Followed by 600mm + 1,4 converter
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| Male European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
and finally the 100-400 + 1,4 converter
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| Male European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
A small flock of Spanish Sparrows was foraging in the grass under one of the Acacia type trees
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| Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) |
By now the clouds had lightened, so I headed back toward Kuwait City, stopping at Jahra Farm - the first bird was a cracking male Masked Shrike feeding on some emerging flying ants after the rain
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| Male Masked Shrike (Lanius nubicus) |
A couple of Song Thrush were still about - first time I have seen faint wing bars on this species
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| Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) |
A single Squacco Heron was flushed into a Palm Tree by one of the workers
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| Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides) |
I found a tiny Green Toad in the small reservoir looking like it was hiding under an air bubble
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| Green Toad (Pseudepidalea viridis) |
Last stop on the way home was Sulaibikhat Bay but it had clouded over and started drizzling again, so the light was far from ideal. A small flock of Greater Flamingo were filter feeding on the incoming tide
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| Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) |
There were both Common Black-headed Gulls
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| Winter plumage Common Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) |
And quite a few Whiskered Terns feeding up and down the outfall
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| Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) |
By now the tempo of the rain was increasing, so a good time to call it a day
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