Bahrain Obs

Friday was dull and gloomy with a thick dust haze while Saturday bright and sunny - Still slow in terms of species and numbers turning up, the weekend was notable not for the first collared Pratincole more Yellow Wagtails, Pied Wheatears or Woodchat Shrikes but for an end of day spectacle put on over head by over three hundred House Martins three Swifts and a few swallows. Impossible to photograph, we had set up a net in a vain hope of catching some based on a tape lure - the flock whirled around the lure for half an hour before dusk. It was a low level stunning example of aerial ballet not a single bird caught and to our amazement as the flock came together in a tight knot on sunset, if by magic they were gone; heading north as if on a silent command. It was an evening to remember doubly so as Wales won the Grand slam by beating our Gaelic cousins the French. Sadly for Brendan the Irish lost to the perennial enemy the English.

A good number of warblers were seen today Reed, Grasshopper and Chiffchaff plus Yellow wagtails Tawny Pipits and a variety of Wheatears all seen at various locations, Woodchat shrikes and Hoopoe continue to pass through.

Yellow Wagtail - Feldegg

Woodchat Shrike

Hoopoe

Common Sandpiper

27 February 2008
Mallards 9 (1 male, 8 Females) Tubli near sewage outfall.
Woodchat shrike 1 sakhir near oil museum
Desert wheatear 2 males near Jabal
Isabelline shrike 3 adults near Janusan
Great Black headed Gull 5 Janusan coast

6 March 2008
Bluethroat 1 male Adhari Area

18 February (Hawar island)
Still thousands of socotra cormorant present, not counted.

Saeed Abdulla Al Khuzai

Abdulla just rang me to let me know that he had just seen good numbers of Northern and Pied Wheatear near Dur Jetty and that 10 Stone Curlew had been observed near Zallaq behind the filling station yesterday.

Hoopoe, Yellow Wagtails, Red-rumped and Barn Swallow, House Martins, Pied and Isabelline Wheatear, Woodchat Shrike and Rock Thrush were the most noticable species on the move this last week.