eBird Global Big Day - Spring

Week 18 - 04 May 2019; Pivot Fields, Jahra Farm and Sulaibikhat Bay

I was sadly the lone participant from Kuwait for the Spring Big Day and it took some effort, as I had only arrived back from SA at 3am this morning. So, only a quick shut-eye before I was up and headed to the Pivot Fields.

It was a little overcast and gloomy to start, but a Common Wood Pigeon sitting on the overhead line was a good start and surprising

Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)

I racked up the common resident species quite quickly, at a small pool a number of Common Sandpiper took to the sky

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Today the focus was more on recording birds, so not too many pics were taken. I had good diversity of passerine migrants, but fairly low abundance as most have already passed through Kuwait. A number of Red-backed Shrikes, which are typically late arrivals were present on the farm.

Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

I drove to the big shallow pan and was a little disappointed at the lack of waders that we previously encountered around the pool. There was another smaller pool on the opposite side of the road, but the grass had really shot up - I needed to stand on the running board of my SUV to get a view into the pan. My jaw dropped a little when I saw what was standing near the edge of the pool

Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)

10-minutes later it was almost not visible - so that was certainly a lucky and exciting encounter and for sure was the bird of the day! In the same area, I also added White-tailed, Red-wattled and Spur-winged Lapwing; almost a full house, just missing Northern which is not possible in spring!

Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)

Many Spotted Crake's were seen and heard calling in and around the reedbed

Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana) and Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

Great Reed Warblers amongst other Warblers were calling and foraging in the reeds

Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)

As it was heating up and my eyes were getting more droopy, I headed to Jahra Farm for Parakeet and Bank Myna and managed to tick both

Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus) along with Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

Along with a Eurasian Blackcap

Male Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

This Darter species provided a brief distraction

Darter species

Last stop was for the incoming tide at Sulaibikhat Bay, but I was 20-minutes too late as the tide was already in. But along with Ruddy Turnstone I managed to add another 6 or so species to the mornings list before calling it a day and heading back home for some much needed sleep. Overall I recorded 58 species, but with a few more observers Kuwait would have been closer to 100.

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)