31/12/2007 at JEO.

Imperial Eagle, photographed by Rashed.

Indian Roller, photographed by Rashed.

From left clockwise, Cormorant, Cormorant, Bluethroat and House Crow. All photographs by Rashed.

29/12/2007 at Kabd, the two visiting groups found 8 Dunn's Larks, 4 Black-crowned Sparrow Larks.

At Pivot Fields the Little Curlew was relocated by Dr. Gary Brown and he also found two Eurasian Golden Plovers (the 3rd record for Kuwait and for this year).

28/12/2007 at JEO.

Yesterday the Belgians saw the Long-tailed Shrike and a male Shikra at Sulaibikhat Reserve, but today at the Pivot Fields they found a Black-throated Thrush, 2 Dotterel, 1 Red-wattled Plover, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 1 Shikra, but unfortunately the couldn’t find the Little Curlew.

A large flock of Pallid Swifts were circling over JEO, a flight shot of one of them.

27/12/2007 at JEO

From left to right a Pallid Swift and House Martin all photographed by Rashed.

26/12/2007 at JEO.

A Crab Plover in flight photographed by Rashed.

24/12/2007 at Sulaibikhat Reserve.

2 Brown-necked Ravens

23/12/2007 at JEO.

Rashed had found and photographed the following:

                                 A Black Redstart, female of ssp. Ochruros

The following four photographs by Rashed Al-Hajji, from left clockwise, Pied Avocet, Common Shelduck, a flock of Flamingos, and a Lesser Kestrel.

23/12/2007 at Sulaibikhat Reserve the Swedish group happily found the Long-tailed Shrike.

at Abdali Farms.

9 Common Babblers, 1 Sparrow Hawk.

At Ratqa the Swedish group found two Mourning Wheatear.

22/12/2007 was the first day for Swedish group visiting Kuwait we met at Sulaibikhat Reserve in search of the wintering Long-tailed Shrike unfortunately we could not find the bird but we found the following:

2 Brown-necked Ravens, 6+ White-cheeked Bulbul, 1 Isabelline Shrike, a flock of Spanish Sparrows,1 Sparrow Hawk, 1 Isabelline Wheatear.

At Sulaibikhat Bay:

4 Armenian Gulls, 2 Caspian Gulls, 10+ Steppe Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Taimyrensis type Gull, 2 Crab Plovers and a large flock of Flamingos.

At Pivot Fields, it was very easy to find the Little Curlew:

1 Little Curlew, 1 Red-Wattled Lapwing, 1 Richrd's Pipit, 1 Oriental Skylark seen briefly by Hans Larsson only, 2 Imperial Eagles, 5 Desert Wheatears, 30+ White Wagtails, 2 Black Kites, 1 Steppe Buzzard, 1 Siberian Stonechat, 1 Namaqua Dove, 2 Long-legged Buzzards, and many Water Pipits.

The Swedish group have started their own Blog at the following link:

http://kuwait20072008.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=3

16/12/2007 at JEO.

2 Pied Kingfishers. Photographs by A. Al-Sirhan

15/12/2007 at Sulaibikhat Reserve.

1 Lesser Flamingo, (the first for Kuwait) was seen by many birders.

The following photographs of the Lesser Flamingo, the first for Kuwait, were taken by Pekka Fågel on 15/12/2007.

15/12/2007 at the Pivot Fields.

Today together with Brian Foster, Pekka Fågel, Mike Pope, Mark Chichester and Gary Brown and I we happily twitched the Little Curlew.

We found 3 Long-legged Buzzards, 2 Imperial Eagles, 3 Eurasian Curlews, 150+ Northern Lapwings, C. 100+ White Wagtails, C. 100+ Water Pipits, 20+ Namaqua Doves, 1 Tawny Pipit, C.100+ Collared Doves, 20+ Cattle Egrets, 4 Song Thrushes, 2 Isabelline Shrikes, 4+ Chiffchaffs probably Siberian race lorenzi, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Common Kestrels.

The following photographs were taken by A. Al-Sirhan.

Little Curlew, the 1st record bird for the Middle East and the 6th for the Western Palearctic. First found and photographed by Abdulmohsen Al-Surayae on 13/12/2007.

Tawny Pipit.

Long-legged Buzzard.

15/12/2007 at JEO.

2 Pied Kingfishers, 5 Oystercatchers, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Meadow Pipit all found and photographed by Rashed.

The following photographs were taken by Rashed on 15/12/2007.

Two Pied Kingfishers.

A Buff-bellied Pipit.

A Meadow Pipit.

A flock of Eurasian Curlew and one Oystercatcher.

14/12/2007 at Pivot Fields.

The first record of a Little Curlew for Kuwait and the Middle East, also this is the 6th record for the Western Palearctic, was found and photographed at the Pivot Fields on 12/12/2007 by AbdulMohsen Al-Suraye. There are two records from Britain 1982, and 1985, another one from Sweden 2005, one from Norway 1969 and one from Finland 1996.

The following photographs were taken on 14/12/2007 by Pekka Fågel.

The first record for Kuwait, a first winter Little Curlew.

The Red-wattled Lapwing, photographed by Pekka Fågel.

14/12/2007 at Pivot Fields.

1 European Stonechat, 1 Siberian Stonechat of variegatus ssp.

The Siberian Stonechat ssp. variegatus has arrived to its wintering ground, this species has more distinct white in its tail. Siberian Stonechat are structurally different from the European being longer winged, slimmer bodied. When compared with European, it has the structure of a Wheatear with shorter bill, whereas the European has a structure of Chiffchaff or a desert Warbler, being short bodied and short necked and compact.

The Siberian Stonechat ssp. variegatus.

Also the ssp. variegatus has a tail similar to a Wheatear's tail.

14/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Richard's Pipit.

The Richard's Pipit, the photograph was taken by A. Al-Sirhan.

13/12/2007 at Sulaibikhat Bay.

Rashed Al-Hajji and Khalid Al-Nasrallah have photographed on 13/12/2007 a Lesser Flamingo the first record for Kuwait.

The following photograph was taken by Rashed.

13/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Moustached Warbler, 1 Clamorous Reed Warbler, 1 Bluethroat.

12/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Moustached Warbler, 2 Buff-bellied Pipit, one was the same bird of 5/12/07 (4th record) at the eastern side of the reeds, the other bird was at the western side of the reed at JEO.

11/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Moustached Warbler, 1 Buff-bellied Warbler the 4th record is still at JEO.

The Buff-bellied Pipit.

10/12/2007 at JEO, all photographs by Rashed Al-Hajji

The Blyth's Reed Warbler, the 2nd record is still wintering at JEO, photographed by Rashed on 10/12/2007

A splendid photograph of the Common Kingfisher wintering at JEO. Photographed by Rashed on 10/12/2007

9/12/2007 at JEO.

Rashed Al-Hajji has photographed from left to right clockwise: 3 Eurasian Wigeons, 1 Grey Hypocolius, 1 White-tailed Lapwing, 1 Corn Bunting.

8/12/2007 at the Pivot Fields.

1 Eurasian Golden Plover, found, identified and photographed by Pekka Fågel  and the two Finnish visiting birders, 1 Buff-bellied Pipit (5th record), 1 Steppe Eagle, 1 Red-wattled Lapwing, 4 Long-legged Buzzards, 1 Pallid Harrier, 2 Imperial Eagles, 1 Steppe Buzzard, 168+ Northern Lapwings.

The Eurasian Golden Plover, 2nd record. All photographs by A. Al-Sirhan.

The Buff-bellied Pipit, (5th record).

The Red-wattled Lapwing.

The Northern Lapwing.

7/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Buff-bellied Pipit, the same bird of 5th December, 3 Greater Spotted Eagles, 2 White tailed Plovers, 1 Clamorous Reed Warblers, 2 Black Kites, 1 Northern Lapwing (seen by Rashed).

6/12/2007 at JEO. All sightings and photographs by Rashed Al-Hajji

From left to right clockwise, a Black Redstart ssp.  rufiventris, Grey Hypocolius, Greater Spotted Eagle, Cattle Egret, Isabelline Shrike and a Common Kestrel.

5/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Buff-bellied Pipit (the 4th record), 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Steppe Eagle.

The Buff-bellied Pipit with prominent streaks on mantle.

The Meadow Pipit.

3/12/2007 at JEO.

3 Common Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap (first record for December), 1 Bluethroat, 1 Marsh Harrier.

A female Western Marsh Harrier.

A Bluethroat.

A Balckcap.

Chiffchaffs, I found these Chiffchaffs difficult to assign to subspecies, the distinct supercilium, darkish eye stripe and lore, pale cutting edge of bill suggest a Mountain Chiffchaff but the ssp. expected in Kuwait is the lorenzii  and is supposed to have warmer brown upperparts. Greenish tinge on mantle and green fringes of flight feathers (specially on second bird below) would exclude the ssp. tristis  of Common Chiffchaff and Mountain Chiffchaff. Also dark legs exclude Plain Leaf Warbler. It May be similar to the birds in an article by N. Cleere et all published in Sandgrouse 26(2): 143-146. Any thoughts regarding the identification of these birds are much appreciated.

01/12/2007 at JEO.

1 Blyth's Reed Warbler, 3rd record for Kuwait, the first was on 15 July 1971, the second was on 19 August 1971, this record is subject to acceptance by KORC.

2 Common Reed Buntings, a male and female (first found and photographed by Rashed Al-Hajji), 1 Mallard, 2 Moustached Warblers ssp. mimicus, 2 Little Crakes, 1 Bluethroat, 1 European Robin, 10+ Common Chiffchaffs ssp. tristis and one collybita.

The following photographs by A. Al-Sirhan

The Blyth's Reed Warbler.

The Common Reed Bunting, a male.

The Common Reed Bunting, a female.

The Moustached Warbler, ssp. mimicus.

The European Robin.

The Bluethroat.

The Common Chiffchaff ssp. Collybita. or abietinus?