The Bird's and the Bee's

Week 41, 09 October 2014 - Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City

I was down in the south for what turned out to be a quiet morning's birding, despite an encouraging start.

I made a stop at some reed habitat on route and was rewarded with a 1st year Little Crake, that had me going initially - but the long primaries and ever so slight hint of red at the base of the bill clinched the id.

Juvenile Little Crake (Porzana parva)

There weren't many migrants about, a single Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

along with a female Red-backed Shrike

Female Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

and a few Mauryan Grey Shrikes

A wary Mauryan Grey Shrike (Lanius lahtora pallidirostris)

When I'm birding, I also keep an eye out for other insects; here a Darter sp.

Darter sp.

I think the Clouded Yellow's picked their migration time perfectly as most of the vociferous insect eaters have already departed. Here a male and female

Female Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

Male Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

The Mediterranean Pierrot is one of the small 'Blue's' and has a uniquely patterned underwing

Female Mediterranean Pierrot (Tarucus rosacea)

Male Mediterranean Pierrot (Tarucus rosacea)

Desert and Sea

Week 41, 07 October 2014 - Al Abraq and Sulaibkhat

I don't seem to get the time to get over the backlog hump and I'm still playing catch-up. This post is already 5-weeks old, but better late than never I guess, plus I did spend a stint in hospital in between.

I almost missed my alarm, so had to hustle to pick up Neil on time for the drive to the west and the Al Abraq Farm by sunrise. On route we had one Steppe Eagle that had spent the night roosting on the desert, but it didn't allow close approach - which is a good thing given the number of shooters still about at this time of year. 

Migrating Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

We could tell that there was still some migration happening, by the number of shooters acting like hooligans around the perimeter of the farm - it really does get on your nerves and spoils what should be a pleasant day out. As before we opted to first walk while it was still cool and explored an area with mixed habitat picking up some good birds; first up was a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers, one of my favourites

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

I then picked up a small flock of Common Rosefinch feeding in one of the trees

Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)

and finally a female Ménétriés’s Warbler 

Female Ménétriés’s Warbler (Sylvia mystacea)

amongst some Lesser and Common Whitethroat's - good start so far..

Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)

Around the agricultural area with some new crops, a Pale Rockfinch was a good addition

Pale Rockfinch (Carpospiza brachydactyla)

We picked up our first White Wagtail of the winter

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) intimidated by a large Bee

and the resident Crested Larks were also present.

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)

There were a good number of Accipters flying about, but were challenging as they were never out in the open long enough. I did get onto two of them; the first was a 1st year Asian Shikra

1st year Asian Shikra (Accipiter badius cenchroides)

and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Male Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)

This was followed by a Long-legged Buzzard against the light..

Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus)

The shooters spooked a few juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons, but they escaped with their lives by staying high

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

By now, the temperature had risen, so we had good raptor passage - the predominant raptor being Steppe Eagle

Migrating Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Followed by a few Black-eared Kites which we now know winter in Kuwait.

Black-eared Kite (Milvus m. lineatus)

In the desert area, some movement on the ground caught my eye; a Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard.

Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard (Acanthodactylus schmidti)

A wounded Steppe Buzzard that was shot for fun, was just left by the shooters

Wounded Steppe Buzzard (Buteo b. vulpinus)

We didn't see much on the drive home and after dropping Neil off, I still had some free time, so made a quick stop at Sulaibikhat Bay. At the outfall, a few Caspian Gulls were roosting on the low tide

Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans)

and the wintering Common Black-headed Gulls had arrived in numbers, I enjoyed their antics trying to pick up and eat whatever was being washed out of the 'grey' water outfall

Wintering Common Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

Sychronised; Common Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)

There were also big numbers of winter plumaged Dunlin present

Part of the Dunlin (Calidris alpinaa) flock

Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Further up the coast I found numbers of Western Reef Heron, both forms.

Pale Form Western Reef Heron (Egretta g. schistacea)

A pair of feeding Eurasian Spoonbills rounded the day off nicely, especially seeing one of them catching and eating a small fish

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Feeding with purpose

Success for one

Finally, some Raptors

Week 39, 26 September 2014 - Khuwaisat, Mutla'a Ranch and Jahra Pools

This was a boys birding morning when my son Jaden joined Neil Tovey and I to check for migrating raptors. We were at Khuwaisat just as the sun started peeping over the the Gulf; sadly so were quite a few shooters - although most seemed to be targeting Quail judging by the volume of the calls that were being played out of boom boxes to attract these diminutive game birds.

One not so lucky Quail; big gun for such a small bird!

As the sun slowly rose, we had a few Harriers and Kite on the move and then we came across a medium sized raptor that had us going for some time, as it was flying away. It eventually landed in a distant tree and we managed to get around 100m away without disturbing it - we had debate as to its identity but finally agreed on Bonelli's Eagle. A few gun shots from the shooters chasing Quail put it up again and it landed quite a distance away before disappearing over the 801 and into SAANR.

Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciatus)

There were a few larger raptors that had also roosted overnight, from a distance these were Greater Spotted Eagles.

Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga)

A few Steppe Buzzards also came out of the Casarina Tree's from the farms in this area later in the morning where they had roosted for the night. This image giving an idea of the desert habitat these birds pass through on migration

Migrating Steppe Buzzard (Buteo b. vulpinus)

An Isabelline Wheatear was seen sitting high on one of the berms enjoying the early morning sun

Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina)

As we were leaving, Omar Al Shaheen alerted us to a European Honey Buzzard that was still roosting on the deck.

European Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus)

We then headed to Mutla'a Ranch on the top of the ridge hoping to see some other raptors as they came soaring over - but no luck with that idea. However, whilst we were there we got the message that two Levants Sparrowhawk had been found soon after we had left the Honey Buzzard - damn!

Nevertheless, we worked the Farm, finding a few Pallid Harriers

Male Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

and one of the first Red-breasted Flycatchers of this autumn passage

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

My son found a Darkling Beetle and was patient as I took a photo of it crawling up his arm. According to Wikipedia; the Darkling Beetle is the common name of the large family of beetles the Tenebrionidae. The number of species in this family is estimated at more than 20,000 and the family is cosmopolitan.

Darkling Beetle from Kuwait

Soon after, we also found a Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard

Schmidt's Fringed-toed Lizard (Acanthodactylus schmidti)

Without much more to be seen, we headed back to sea level to spend an hour at Jahra Pools Reserve although by now it was pretty hot. A few waders were seen in their winter plumage; Little Stint

Winter plumage Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

and Dunlin

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

and finally a juvenile Grey-headed Swamphen disappearing quickly into the reeds proving another successful breeding season for this species at JPR

Juvenile Grey-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio  p. poliocephalus)