02/07/10
Scratchy Birding -
Categories: 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.
