06 March 2019

Sea Watch

Week 09; 26 February 2019 - Ras Salmiya

After the disappointing 2-days with respect to migrants, I opted to sleep in on the last day of the holiday's and enjoy some leisurely sea-watching from Ras Salmiya. Of course today had no wind, but it was blue sky and really pleasant temperatures.

I found a good spot in the shade, chilled and enjoyed what was passing by or floating on the sea. The Common Black-headed Gull's are still here, but some now sporting breeding plumage in preparation for the journey back north


Common Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)


Continental Great Cormorants were roosting on the bollards near the harbour entrance and every now and then flew out to sea, returning later


Continental Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sinensis)



A few ended up foraging below me and with the water quite clear, I could see them for some time after they submerged


Continental Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sinensis)





Two Pallid Swift made a brief appearance overhead before disappearing


Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

Slender-billed Gulls, our resident Gull, were much more inconspicuous and only this 1st-year bird remained close to shore


Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei)

There were some larger Gulls present, here a Steppe being harassed by a Heuglin's. The Caspian disappeared


Steppe (Larus f. barabensis) and Heuglin's Gull (Larus f. heuglini)

But the Heuglin's gave a victory fly by


Heuglin's Gull (Larus f. heuglini)


There were also younger Gull's present, but ID is tricky (at least for me)


Gull sp


There was some fun interaction and piracy with a Heuglin's Gull chasing and stealing a small fish away from a smaller Common Black-headed Gull; Arabian Gulf bully!


Gull piracy




Later I watched as the Slender-billed Gull competed for and lost a fish to a Continental Great Cormorant which was quite amusing. If you look closely in the 2nd image, you can see the fish trying to make it's getaway


Hit and miss

There it is...

Damn!

Of course being Kuwait, some of the Jet Skiers are now out and showing off for those watching from the Corniche


Jet Ski

And some impressive boats cruise by, this one with a fishing Dhow in the background


Luxury

All in all quite a pleasant and unstressed 'summers' morning on the coast.

I will leave you with this creative view of Kuwait City Skyline from Ras Salmiya


Kuwait City

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