It was really sad to discover that this exciting little seedeater, a Desert Finch and the 6th record for Kuwait had been wounded by the hunters. This was a lifer for all of us today

Blackcap numbers had increased, this female was enjoying a tasty morsel

Warblers were well represented with Great Reed, Sykes, Barred, Ictereen, Olivaceous and Upchers. They are difficult to photograph, but I was fortunate with a few including Barred Warbler

Icterine Warbler

Upchers Warbler

We found two Wryneks interacting and calling earlier, this bird was found later foraging on the ground

Spotted Flycatchers are now to be seen in most localities

Shrikes have easy pickings with the amount of passerines and wounded birds, this juvenile Red backed Shrike with a deceased Sparrow

A Masked Shrike is stunning in breeding plumage

We had opportunity to compare similar looking birds in the form of - Nightingale

A wounded juvenile Thrush Nightingale

A female White throated Robin

and a Rufous tailed Scrub Robin, characteristically cocking its tail

Today was one of the hottest days this spring and typically of this region I came across this camel train out in the western desert, shimmering in the heat haze

I headed out to Jahra Farm, whilst the others checked out the Pivot Fields. A male Northern Wheatear was seen at one of the pools

I surprised a Little Bittern away from the reedbed - but not for long, before it disappeared back into the depths of the reedbed

There was a huge flock of mixed waders on the incoming tide and in amongst them this distant large flock of Red necked Phalaropes. I didnt have time to wait for the tide to really come in, but it would have given some great photographic opportunities

There are still large numbers of Yellow Wagtails and quite a few of the ssp's are still represented

A good looking lutea

A male Winchat popped up really close to the car, I didnt even get time to wind down the window

In a small depression with water, many species congregated at various times of the morning. The number of Barn Swallows have increased dramatically and many were taking advantage of the shallow pool for an in-flight dip.

Collared Pratincole numbers had also increased from the previous week and they too enjoyed the shallow pool

Waders feeding in the shallow pool included Ruff, Curlew and Common Sandpiper, Snipe and fair numbers of Little Stint, coming into breeding plumage

Wood Sandpipers were more solitary

A lone Temmincks Stint appeared more weary than the other birds and favoured feeding on its own

The number of Harriers had also increased and were represented by two species (as far as I could tell) in various plumages. Im not sure if this is a Pallid/ or Montague Harrier

A male Marsh Harrier which swooped low over the ponds and flushing many of the waders

Kestrel numbers were down from last week, but this Kestrel was fairly obliging and was also hawking quite unperturbed around the hay bales were our son's were playing

In terms of passerines, there appears to have been an explosion of Ortolan Buntings at the pivot fields

A female Redstart, seen here with a rather large insect

Isabelline Shrikes still outnumber the other shrike species, like Masked and Red backed which were seen today

European bee-eaters have now replaced the Blue cheeked bee-eaters which appear to have continued their journey north

This first for Kuwait was an exciting and totally unexpected bird that turned up while the group were searching for Socotra Cormarant and fortunately it was captured digitally by Lee. Unfortunately it has not been relocated since then.

The large raptors were scarce, but I did encounter Common Buzzard

And Eurpoean Marsh Harrier

There was a flock of c. 30 Lesser Kestrels that had roosted overnight, here a male and female enjoy the early mornign sun

Female Lesser Kestrel

Male Lesser Kestrel

Among the Wheatears and Isabelline, Northern were seen and this Pied photographed

Collared Pratincoles were present in numbers and feeding on an eruption of small insects over one of the fields

European Bee-eaters which are here in numbers were feeding amongst the Pratincoles

A very skittish flock of 6 White Storks moved around the fields

I came across this very large Desert Monitor and it wasnt happy with me when I got out of my car

Other passerinses included a few Ortolan Buntings

A Red throated Pipit enjoying an early bath

My first Rufous tailed Bush Robin for the spring

Hundreds of Yellow Wagtail were present in the fields, this is ssp lutea

Oriental Skylark identified on call and by it shorter primary projections

An obliging Basra Reed Warbler out in the open

A Cinereous Bunting stopped by for a drink

Red-throated Pipits are all over Kuwait, in abundance

Juvenile Common Babblers at Abdaly Farm

European Bee-eaters are passing through in numbers, this one was seen at the Pivot Fields

A passing Osprey was a surprise visitor at the Pivot Fields

At Jahra Farms a male Semi-collared Flycatcher was present

A one-legged Water Pipit, a victim of indiscriminate shooting

I decided to sit quietly in the SE corner of the reedbeds and my patience was rewarded and at last I was able to photograph the Moustached Warbler

Crakes were very vocal, but typically shy and secretive - but, I was very lucky to photograph the Baillons Crake as it quietly appeared in the darkness of the reedbed and then as quickly disappeared

Warblers were fairly active in the the early hours, bathing, gleening and generally being very busy. I caught this Great Reed Warbler, as it came down to drink

A European Reed Warbler was very active and animated after its bath

Abdulrahman has done a lot of work investigating and seperating Mountain Chiffchaff from the more common Chiffchaff. Unfortunately, this cannot reliably be done on plumage alone and our chalenge is to try and photograph one of this birds singing to clinch the id with certainty. These images will remain as Chiffchaff, for now

Willow Warblers have now also arrived in numbers

Later in the morning I visited Tuhla in SAANR and birding was very quiet, however a Grey Wagtail was foraging on one of the exposed banks at the pool