07/22/09
Waders and Terns -
Categories: Week 29 - 18 July 2009, JEO and Sulaibikhat
There was a favourable hightide (3.8m) at 6:30 in the morning, so JEO was a natural choice for the mornings birding. Images by Mike Pope
Wader numbers and species are increasing each day, but Greater Sand Plovers are still the most abundant at most locations. This one slowly fading out of its breeding plumage
At last I was able to photograph a male Kentish Plover
Ringed Plovers were found foraging with the other smaller waders
I found an area where Libyan Jird's were quite active
Many juvenile Graceful Prinias were seen around the outfall
Next stop was the smelly outfall at Sulaibihat Bay, where some terns were feeding on crickets washed out through the outfall, one eclipse Whiskered Tern was seen
and a White winged Tern
I decided to take a drive inside Sulaibikhat Reserve and was pleased to see that water has been restored at the small reedbed with the hide. However, I found a spot on the coastline and sat in air conditioned bliss in my car photographing the many birds that passed south overhead. A single White cheeked Tern was unusual this far north
A few Caspian Terns were foraging up and down the coast
Slender billed Gulls breed in Kuwait on nearby Bubyan Island
Greater Sand Plovers came by in small flocks and individually
Common Redshank
Crab Plovers also breed on Bubyan in summer and today I saw them at JEO and Sulaibikhat
Bar tailed Godwits outnumber the few Black tailed Godwits that have been seen
All along the coast there are fairly big flocks of Eurasian Curlews with their impressive bills
07/17/09
Week 29 - 17 July 2009, Pivot Fields
Today I had planned a visit to Failaka Island, but the ferry only departed at 10am so that gave me time for a quick visit to the Pivot Fields. Images by Mike Pope
This morning the number of medium sized raptors had increased since my last visit, this Buzzard was first up
A Black winged Kite and 11th record for Kuwait was also seen, alhough I believe this to be the earliest autumn migration record so far
A small flock of mixed Collared Pratincoles were at a water seepage, this is one of the juveniles
with a single adult
Yellow Wagtail numbers have also increased, this one fluffing itself up
07/13/09
Week 28 - 11 July 2009, Pivot Fields and JEO
The wind hadnt abated much, but I decided it was worth a drive to check the Pivot Fields this morning. Images by Mike Pope
There wasnt much ground water from the irrigation, but today Spanish Sparrows appeared in large numbers, flocking as you would normally see with Quelea's
Even the Dhubs are changing appearance as they moult out of their old skins
I saw a juvenile Montagu Harrier and then my first Isabelline Wheatear of the Autumn migration
I went to check for birds at the camel pens and surprisingly only found camels
In the afternoon I went back to JEO in the hope of photographing some waders in the late afternoon sun - no luck with a monochromatic sunset obscured by dust
Week 28 - 10 July 2009, SAANR, Jahra Farm, JEO and Sulaibikhat
Simon Price and I were out this morning checking locations near and along the Gulf in what started as a calm morning with the wind starting to gust and blow before lunch. Images by Mike Pope
I hadnt been to SAANR for sometime and we were fortunate in getting access to the reserve this morning, our first stop. As usual we headed straight to Tuhla to check if anything had roosted overnight. We were really surprised by early signs of autumn migration before we had reached mid-summer. In the pool we found Greenshank in breeding plumage
As well as Green Sandpiper in a newly created pan with some good cover which should be really good during migration
Whilst walking around the area we saw Upchers Warbler, Common Redstart, Roller and what seems to be the resident White chested Kingfisher
Overhead we had scores of both adult and juvenile Sand Martins which had appeared in numbers in the past day or two. I caught this one in a dive.
At Jahra Farms the only birds of interest were Bank Mynas and a returning Willow Warbler, so we headed to JEO where we found signs of Reed Warbler breeding with adults feeding juveniles
As well as Blue cheeked Bee-eater feeding a juvenile perched in the reeds
By now the sun was baking and the wind had picked up, a last stop at Sulaibikhat for the incoming tide produced two Crab Plovers which I havent seen here for some time
A single Dunlin still resplendent in breeding plumage
No sign of the Black Tern seen recently, but we did get a lone Whiskered Tern trying it's tortoise impersonation
One Greater Sand Plover in partial breeding plumage was seen with many other first winter birds
07/06/09
Week 27 - 04 July 2009, Khiran Pearl City
We have had a week of wind and dust and today the wind abated, but the dust remained hanging in the air and this helped a little in keeping the temperatures bearable for the July census at Khiran with Anand the on-site environmentalist and Eric from the media department. Images by Mike Pope
We had planned an early start and I stopped before the resort to take this monochramtic desert sunrise
Even with an early start on the boat, the resort had heavy jet ski traffic, but once out at sea this did diminish, the first birds we saw were Lesser crested Terns
We were in luck again this trip when we found a roosting Bridled Tern in the company of the Lesser crested Terns 100m from the shore
This Bridled had an injured leg - probably as a result of being shot at!
On the way out we had seen a cormorant flying low over the sea that had banked and come back to roost on the furtherest buoy along with a bird that was already roosting there. We were delighted to discover that they were Socotra Cormorants and accompanied by the Bridled Tern which had decided to join the cormorants
We got pretty close to this great bird and we believe there were altogether 3 birds seen during the course of the morning
Socotra in flight
We came across numerous first summer White cheeked Terns roosting on the beach
They were in the company of two Little Terns and this one had a shorter white forehead than some of the other Little Terns seen, but it did have a white rump in flight
On our return Anand was pleased to find a pod of Humpback Dolphins slowly moving south. This is apparently the most northerly distribution of this particular species. We were alerted to their progress by schools of tiny Gulf Herrings (Herkliotsichthys lossei) fleeing in their path by jumping out of the water away from the feeding dolphins
Trying to photograph them was a different challenge, as they never really cleared the surface of the water, I was however lucky with this image which shows a little of the head
In the pod there were large single males, females with young and some swimming together. I particularly like this image just before one is about to sound
Anand took me to a part of the project I hadnt seen where there was some pretty good habitat in the form of ground water and reed cover. We came across some Cream coloured Coursers and this Hoopoe Lark trying to keep cool by spreading out in a small scoop in the shade
On the way home in what was a productive day, I stopped at this site again and now found the Hoopoe Lark perched on the top of a small bush to escape the heat
