Bahrain Obs

I spent the morning going around Maharraq on the high tide - I was surprised by the number and variety of waders that I found. I must have seen over fifty Greater Sand Plovers alone but beside the odd expected Grey Plover and Kentish I found Lesser Sand Plover, Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone and three Terek Sandpipers - Add to these Western Reef Heron, Saunders's and Little Terns, Lesser Crested and White-cheeked Terns - the shore line was pretty busy.

Starting with my favourite shot of the day = a family portrait of Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover

Greater Sand Plover

Lesser Sand Plover - almost showing a white collar

Lesser Sandplover with two Kentish for size comparison

Saunders's Tern

Little Tern starting with a youngster

Western Reef Heron - probably these years bird -

Found what it was looking for

Terek Sandpipers with Greater Sand Plovers - a picture taken straight into the early morning sun

Redshank

Curlew Sandpiper

Friday

saw our first trip to Jarim this year - bird numbers have increased yet again; the Lesser Crested Terns now number on the first island I estimate over ten thousand Birds with the Bridled close to a thousand and White-cheeked over the islands in general a similar number. Brendan ringed 450 Lesser Crested Tern chicks ably assisted by Abdulqader Kamis with my crew - all the odd bods like Kev AJ Nabeel and Mohammed(our coastguard crew)and myself scrambling through the dirt and dust sweeting our '' off catching the little blighters made worse by yet another dust storm that had descended again on Bahrain.

Lesser-crested Terns

Bridled Terns -

Saturday

Weather just as yucky as Fridays but more humid with less wind
Having crashed out early on our return the day before from Jarim I was up bright and early and spent the morning trolling the gardens around Buri and Dumistan checking out what was active.

Rufous Bush Robin a territorial dispute between males

Collared Partincole

Collared Dove

Crested Lark

Palm Dove

House Sparrow

Dove just a weird one a funny colour

Spent just Saturday out assisting a film crew filming various aspects of Bahrain's Natural History - few photographic opportunities for birds but did come across a few anomalies at Buhair - Two Squacco Heron and a Glossy Ibis -unusual for this time of the year. Sadly the reeds have been chopped making a close approach to the water difficult however snapped these from a distance.

Glossy Ibis center - Little Egret left - Western Reef right Grey heron just visible at the back

Glossy Ibis

Only could manage Friday this weekend - spent a lot of time checking out potential sites for returning migrants - only a month to wait and something will be back despite the heat

I didn't take many photos mainly cause I didn't find many birds at the Chicken farm the Black-winged stilts are progressing nicely although we know dogs have taken a few chicks many are now fledging and trying out their wings.

Black-winged Stilt

Moorhen - have had a good year but most wetland sites are under threat

White-cheeked Terns - the bird on the right is a first winter bird unusual to see at this time of the year.

Spent Friday and Saturday looking for terns in odd places end up with very few and only a few Kentish plovers

Kentish Plover

Nest with eggs

White-cheeked Tern

This last weekend saw the mercury rise to the mid forties which with the increase in humidity made for a sweaty weekend. Needless to say most migrants have now passed so I spent my time seeing what was left mostly on the shore.

Some non-breeding waders Curlew, Grey and Ringed Plover a Northern Cormrant and an Oyster Catcher plus a few Grey Herons and a small number of Slender-billed Gulls remain on the shore amongst our summer breeding terns and Reef Herons. In the gardens very little now around a few Bushchats and Olivaceous warblers supplement our resident birds along with the last of the Flycatchers.

Breeding Birds are always worth finding Black-winged Stilt chicks are beginning to show as are the first Reef Heron chicks around the Mangroves of Tubli bay. The Kentish seem to have finished although some might second brood otherwise its birds building nests or tending young.

Western Reef Heron

Black-winged Stilt

Chick

Kentish Plover - a really washed out and odd looking bird

Namaqua Dove - a juvenile bird indicating continued successful breeding

Wood Sandpiper

Ringed Plover

Eurasian Curlew

Northern Cormorant

Large Gull species unknown

Slender-billed Gulls with Caspian Terns

Night herons returning from a nights hunting