03/07/10
Another weekend, more dust -
Categories: Week 10 - 06 March 2010, Mesilla Beach
I'm always amazed at how often we have the dust roll in on a Thursday, just in time for the weekend. Images by Mike Pope
Fortunately, by Saturday the dust had cleared and I spent 20-minutes watching a big flock of Black headed Gulls feeding from the outfall into the sea near Mesilla Beach, late in the afternoon. The bulk of the birds are still in their transition plumage
About 20% of the flock have already transformed into the breeding regalia which means their departure from Kuwait toward the end of March is imminent
03/02/10
Week 09 - 01 March 2010, Pivot Fields and Jahra Pools
Kuwait had a 5-day weekend with National and Liberation Day together with the Prophets Birthday, the weather was inclement (cloudy and early dust storms) till the last day of the weekend which also marked the first day of Spring - or so Graham Whitehead and I thought. Images by Mike Pope
The morning started off cool and clear as we headed to Pivot Fields where we had early signs of spring migration with Hoopoe seen on the way. Whilst searching for Siskins which we had flying over, we found a male Northern Wheatear devouring this caterpillar.
The wind picked up early in the morning and started gusting quite strongly, as a result the remaining Water Pipits were all found sheltering in the far corner of the farm
A Steppe Buzzard flew over crabbing in the wind
We had a lone Imperial Eagle and around 5 Spotted Eagles, this a flight sequence of one that allowed us to get a little closer than the others did
On the way out, we came across a Stonechat also filling up on a similar caterpillar. We also noted today that the number of Painted Lady butterflies has increased dramatically and it appears they too migrate in a north westerly direction
By now the wind was really blowing which brought in the dust and reduced visibility. We put off visiting SAANR and headed to Jahra Pools instead, it was not much better here either. A flock of 6 Glossy Ibis came in low over the reeds to seek shelter from the dust and wind as can be seen in this image
We found a pair of White tailed Lapwings with a juvenile sheltering on a sand bank behind some cover
We had a lull in the wind and a bit of sun, a Moorhen showing its distinctive white outer tail feathers as it swam away from us
The Little Grebes are still resplendent in breeding plumage. We decided to call it a day with both car, equipment and us full of dust and headed home.
02/14/10
Week 07 - 13 February 2010, Jahra and Sulaibikhat
SAANR is not accessible for the next 10-days and Pivot Fields wasnt accessible today. I was giving a new birder in Kuwait, Ginell Osario a tour of the accessible sites so the only one's left were those around Jahra and Sulaibikhat. The really cold weather of last week is now behind us, but today we had cloud cover till quite late in the morning. Images by Mike Pope
The first stop was Jahra East Outfall which is looking a little overgrown along the channel - good birds were Moustached and Great Reed Warbler and Mountain Chiffchaff. No photographic opportunities so we pushed on to Jahra Pools while it was still overcast. As usual a Marsh Harrier was putting up the birds on each sortie over the pools and he wasnt successful while we were watching
Even the Purple Gallinule headed for cover
The numbers of Little Crake have certainly increased - here an adult male
Little Crakes (unlike Baillon’s Crake) are sexually dimorphic, so this is a female
Ducks were well represented today with Shoveller and these Gadwall
Some Garganey
and a lone Mallard drake
Coot numbers are still encouraging
Next stop was Jahra Farm where the first birds seen were Bank Myna's
Green Toads had tadpoles in one of the small holding ponds - this appears to be the male
and another two joined at the hip, so to speak
We then headed toward Kuwait City, stopping at the spur in Sulaibikhat - where I framed this Curlew in a sea of dead vegetation
I surprised this Litte Egret feeding in a channel below the road
In Sulaibikhat Bay I found a huge flock of Great Cormorants, many in breeding plumage which I have not seen before
Thought we would try and check if Lesser Flamingo was still around, but way too many Greaters to sift through and not enough time to do that.
02/07/10
Week 06 - 06 February 2010, Green Island and Sahara Golf Club
We have had almost a week of overcast cool weather with intermittent rain - great for the desert, but challenging for photography. Images by Mike Pope
I spent 45-minutes at Green Island early one of the mornings, no Hypocolius today - all the fruit they were feeding on is gone, so it appears they have moved on - who knows where though. I did get a Pied Kingfisher hunting in the sea near the entrance gate
A House Crow stopped on the tower, but almost immediately departed without waiting for its photograph to be taken - I hadnt seen a House Crow in over a year. You can see from this image why the White cheeked Bulbul is so named
I only found one Red vented Bulbul - against the gloomy grey sky
I found a pale morph Western Reef Heron feeding around the inner lagoon
Great Cormorants are now pretty common all along the coast during the winter months
I saw a shadow pass over me, looked up and got a Pallas Gull flying over and away from me to land some distance away next to another floating on the sea
On a brisk morning yesterday, watching my son have his golf lessons at the green Sahara Golf Club, I saw the first Hoopoe of the coming Spring and a Kestrel hunting from the high spotlights
However, the highlight of the weekend was seeing two Red Foxes casually grooming themselves at the edge of the driving range oblivious to any wayward shots from the practising golfers - that is until the tractor picking up the balls got too close to them. Nevertheless, a real treat.
01/31/10
Week 05 - 30 January 2010, Pivot Fields, Jahra Pools and Khiran
After the coldest day of winter last week, the weather warmed up nicely for the weekend. The French Group (Pierre-Andre Crochet and Eric Didner) and the Brit Group (Richard Bonser, Andy Clifton and Alan Clewes) were still here. As we were all out, we decided to make this weekend a winter bird count - the lists are still coming in, but it bodes well for an impressive winter total. Images by Mike Pope
My first stop was Pivot Fields where Pierre and Eric birding first thing this morning. Photography was hampered a little by moisture in the air from the SE breeze that upped the humidity level today. Raptors were well represented and I had Hen and Pallid Harrier, as well as an adult Eastern Imperial Eagle high up on the pylon
A couple of Spotted Eagles
A male Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus)
Water Pipits are still to be found at most sites in Kuwait
It is not often you hear birds singing in winter, this Corn Bunting however was in full cry
I saw 4 Wood Pigeons roosting on the overhead irrigation and got this image as they flew past me
I checked the spot where Brian and I had seen the 11th record of Buff bellied Pipit and found it close by - good news that it has remained for some time
Following the good rains and mild weather, Kuwait is awash in a sea of yellow flowers
I headed to Jahra Pools, usual suspects in the form of Moorhen, Coot, big flock of Black headed Gulls, Little and Black necked Grebe, Shoveller, Mountain Chiffchaff, Spotted and Imperial Eagle and Marsh Harrier and this female Siberian Stonechat
I then got a call from Brian Foster who passed on the news that Rashed Al Hajji had found a Pharaohs Eagle Owl (Bubu ascalaphus desertorum) south of Khiran. This was too good to pass up and most of the locals, made the 95km trek south to meet up with Rashed to see this great bird roosting in a hole in the jebel
Whilst we were in the vicinity, Rashed said he would show us the location of some Wheatears. On route he pointed out this Cynomorium coccineum which he hadnt seen for many years. The good rain and mild weather can only be responsible for it to suddenly sprout up
Once we got to the site, two birds were seen on some of the rubble and sand heaps - the first turned out to be an autum plumaged Black eared Wheatear
The second was the one we were after, also an autumn plumaged Finsch's Wheatear
A third Wheatear in the same area was Mourning
01/24/10
Week 04 - 23 January 2010, Sulaibikhat
The Lesser Flamingo (2nd record for Kuwait) found by Rashed Al Hajji on 16 January 2010 hadnt been seen for over a week. Pekka had confirmed Hume's Wheatear this morning, so I headed out to Sulaibikhat Bay in the late afternoon to check the big flocks of Greater Flamingo on the incoming tide to see if I could confirm the presence of this rarity. Images by Mike Pope
The first stop at the Maternity Hospital was fruitless, only a small flock could be checked. The much bigger flock was into the sun, so I headed to Sulaibikhat Reserve where I could have the sun behind me. There is still water at the reeds with the hide which is heartening and the first bird seen on the way in were a few calling Graceful Prinia's.
I drove to the part of the reserve closest to the flock, disturbing a flock of around 100+ roosting Kentish Plovers
A lone Dunlin in amongst the Kentish Plovers
I found an undisturbed spot and got myself comfortable. The big flock of Greater Flamingo's was some 500m away and was soon joined by the flock I had checked earlier - making the flock even bigger
After around 30-minutes of scanning back and forth through the flock, two Greater Flamingos parted and I saw the smaller Lesser Flamingo in the middle of the flock, before it got closed in again by the moving birds. The bird is in the middle of this image, but this is to give an indication of how far they were and how easily it could be overlooked
The same image cropped to show the dimunitive Lesser Flamingo amongst the larger Greaters.
Satisfied in confirming its presence for our visitors who arrived last night, I headed to Manchester Club to check what could be seen from the spur. Saturday afternoon is not the best time for this location, as it is used as a launch site for small fishing boats. There were big flocks of Gulls, Terns, Curlews and Greenshank that would roost here overnight.
White Wagtails were preening on the berm after a wash in the outfall
After a productive hour out, it was time to head home when I spotted this large flock of Crab Plovers on the Kuwait City side of the spur
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