Ringing

The breeding season of palm doves is well underway and others including graceful prinia and crested larks are laying. When I came in for lunch today, the bird below was resting on my window. Before it appeared I heard what I thought was a warbler contact call. However as I watched this guy he called. It was him and not a warbler. Needless to say he now has a ring!!

We opened two 60ft nets for a few hours and only caught one bird. However it was the first of the migration season and is Abdulla's favourite warbler. A female Blackcap!

It's hard to resist putting up nets even though we don't catch much in January. On Friday we put 2 sixty foot nets in the fruit trees while the workers were spraying for insects. At first sight we were disappointed but two nice birds popped into the nets.

BK-Exotic species are very common in Bahrain. Today Abdulla and I caught two red-billed quelea and a few Indian silverbills. Over the past few days we also saw two Plum-headed Parakeets feeding on millet at the chicken farm and the Widahs are still surviving after two months. Whether these birds are released purposely or escape from captivity seems irrelevent.
Scaly-breasted munias, red and orange bishops, Madagascar Fodys, ring-necked Parakeets, Alexandrian Parakeets, Red-vented Bulbuls and Red-billed Quelea all breed or have bred in the wild here in recent years. Plum-headed Parakeets could be next!
This quelea is a juvenile male and was half way through his primary feather moult.

Ringing is slow at the moment with numbers down on previous years. However we did manage to catch our first Corn Bunting for the project, a female judging from the measurements (winglength 95, weight 39.6). It is a first for me and a special bird. They became extinct in Ireland in the mid-nineties unfortunately in the absence of any conservation strategy. Perhaps one day we might develop a reintroduction project.

Please excuse the focus. I only had my 150-500 lens with me and used the flash on 160th of a second and manual focus in the dark.

We are catching bluethroats lately in the evenings when we put up nets for water pipits. This adult male was very nicely marked.

This Barn owl seems to like the net poles. He let me approach to within a few meters recently. We still haven't managed to catch him despite several attempts to lure him/her with a mouse.

We had a serious setback this morning with the loss of two 60ft nets at Ali Farm. Myself and Abdulla went there yesterday afternoon and erected four nets, two over the grassland to catch water pipits and two in the fruit trees in a regular ride. We left the site at 6.15pm after lamping larks for 30 minutes. I arrived this morning at 6.30am and discovered the theft.It is painfully obvious that leaving nets up even overnight is not an option. We have lost three nets there now which is a serious financial blow in addition to leaving us low in 60ft nets.
On a brighter note, the Marsh Harrier there has become quite tame, allowing me to approach him while feeding. I watched him gorging himself on a small passerine and then he picked this insect up for desert.

Water pipits and white wagtails are plentyful now also.

At this time of the year we have to target species as they are passing through. On calm evenings we set up a net and tapelure swallows as they gather over the hay meadow at the chicken farm. These birds seem oblivious to Abdulla as he extracts the early birds from the net. We still haven't caught any adults this autumn. We keep expecting them as they usually show up towards the end of the migration. Perhaps they had a late nesting attempt this year?