Kuwait Bird Sightings

Rashed Al Hajji found female Amur Falcon at JEO and kindly informed others including myself. Luckily I wasn’t far away and I had my camera with me. The bird sat on the wire at least 45 mins giving us a good opportunity to photograph.

Female Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis)

Female Amur Falcon

I’ve been birding with Daniel Mauras in recent days. After failing to see Afgan Babbler in Abdaly yesterday despite hearing them often we decided to get there early in the morning today. This surely paid off and we saw Babblers very well. We had one chick that was fed by two adult birds. Next target bird was White-cheeked Tern in Fahaheel waterfront Al Kout shopping mall. Almost immediately we saw three birds flying around. On the marker we had 7 Lesser Crested Terns and on a buoy 8 Socotra Cormorants. Later on in the afternoon we found several Upcher’s Warblers, Eastern Orphean Warbler and Thrush Nightingale.

Juvenile Afghan Babbler (Turdoides caudatus huttoni)

Afghan Babbler begging food

White-cheeked Tern (Sterna repressa)

Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) Birds are not always in their natural habitat during migration.

Thrush Nightingale

I visited this morning Al Abraq. Clearly new species were Thrush Nightingale, Red-backed Shrikes and European Nightjar. I wasn’t necessarily prepared to photograph waders in the desert but one isolated farm with nice pool of fresh water makes a big difference. First I came across with two Basra Reed Warblers and Upcher’s Warbler.

Upcher’s Warbler (Hippolais languida)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Temminck’s Stint (Calirdis temminckii)

I visited Mutla’a Ranch this morning with Mike & Sylvie Newey and Christine Canzanella. The main target was Yellow-throated Sparrow which Mike and Sylvie eventually found. We saw the birds nicely. Other good birds were Masked Shrike and female Semi-collared Flycatcher.

Yellow-throated Sparrow (Petronia xanthocollis)

In fact we visited first Green Island in the morning for Red-vented Bulbul which we saw easily. Most common warbler was Blackcap. We saw one Eastern Orphean Warbler too. Next stop, Fahaheel Park, produced at least 4 Wrynecks. From watchtower at Al Kout shopping mall we saw 4 White-cheeked Terns and 6 Socotra Cormorants.

At Mina Zour we hoped to see Bridled Terns but we surprisingly failed to see any. Instead we saw many migrating birds including 10 Glossy Ibises, over 100 Whimbrels and many wader-species. One flock of herons and egrets included 5 Purple Herons, Squacco Heron, 7 Little Egrets and Cattle Egret.  Socotra Cormorants had already arrived and we had good views.

Our records by Martyn Kenefick, who kindly gave me  his notes:

Whimbrel 140 ( new highest daily count), Grey Plover 15, Curlew Sandpiper 8, Turnstone 2, Sanderling 2, Purple Heron 5, Little Egret 7, Squacco Heron 1, Cattle Egret 1, Glossy Ibis 10, Arctic Skua 2 (light phase), Little Tern 5, White-cheeked Tern 2, Sandwich Tern 2, Lesser Crested Tern 2 and Slender-billed Gull 51

Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrocularis)

Socotra Cormorant

Mixed flock of herons: 5 Purple Herons (Ardea purpurea), Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides), 7 Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta) and Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)

Visitors from UK, France and Sweden headed to Al Abraq this morning since Finnish team saw so many good birds over there on previous day. The place was indeed full of migrants. Probably one of the most sought after was Basra Reed Warbler. We managed to see at least 4 birds. Other good species were; Semi-collared Flycatcher 3, White-throated Robin 4, Upcher’s Warbler 1, Eastern Orphean Warbler 1, Menetries’s Warbler 2, Hypocolius 6, Shikra 1 adult male, Pale Rock Sparrow 2 and singing male Dead Sea Sparrow. The latter one is really interesting since the bird was singing actively for long time and it showed several times display next to the nest.

Basra Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus griseldis)

Male Dead Sea Sparrow (Passer moabiticus)

Finnish team was joined today by one more Finn, Markku Santamaa, who happens to be Finnish WP top-lister. However, despite of his desire of Socotra Cormorant we visited Green Island in the morning. Main target was Red-vented Bulbul which was found quickly. While checking other birds we saw Rose-colored Starling on the top of the tree with Red-vented Bulbul. At Jahra Farms we had Bank Mynas and some other interesting species such as Wryneck, Semi-collared Flycatcher and 5 Hypocolius.

Doha spit offered good views of waders. Probably the best was a flock of c. 500 Lesser Sandplovers of race pamirensis. We saw so many species of waders and we had also Swift Terns and Lesser Crested Terns in good numbers.

The last stop was at Souq Sharq shopping mall where we found 2 Socotra Cormorants swimming out from fish boat harbor. We observed a broad smile on Markku’s face.

Rose-colored Starling (Sturnus roseus) and Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)

Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis)

British Canadian group was today joined by Finnish group. We visited Abdaly Farms in hope to find Afghan Babblers and indeed we found breeding birds. We saw at least 3 birds carrying food into one tree. Most probably there were more birds involved that we were able to count. At our usual watch point, where we can see Bubiyan island, we had several Swift Terns, Lesser Crested Terns, Crab Plovers. Yellow Wagtails and European Bee-eaters migrated in good numbers to North.  Next stop was Sabriya Farm in hope of Radde’s Accentor for Finns but in vain. Instead we saw many interesting birds including Semi-collared Flycatcher, 5 Hypocolius, several Ortolan Buntings, Namaqua Dove, Quail, rufous female Cuckoo, two Menetries Warblers etc. Last but not least stop was at Jahra Pool Reserve. We saw on arrival flying Red-wattled Lapwing on the far side of the reserve. When we got there we found White-tailed Lapwing and doubt arouse regarding initial ID.  Only Colin Butler was firm and said that initial ID of Red-wattled Lapwing was correct. Soon after that we saw Red-wattled Lapwing flying and landing in the front of us – what a coincidence.

Afghan Babbler (Turdoides caudatus huttoni) Photograph by Nigel Webster.