Rashed had found a Saker Falcon. The Saker Falcon has turned out to be an escape, as the  jesses  were clearly seen when the bird took off.

The Saker Falcon photographed by Rashed.

The last day of the month hasn’t left us without Rashed is finding something rare, 1 Common Reed Bunting, The following photographs are all by Rashed.

The Common Reed Bunting.

29/11/2007 at JEO.

1 Redwing found and photographed by Rashed, 3 Eurasian Coots, 3 Little Crakes, 2 Moustached Warblers, 1 Long-legged Buzzard, 1 Steppe Eagle, 2 Greater Spotted Eagles, 2 Marsh Harriers, 1 Osprey.

The Redwing found and photographed by Rashed.

2 European Stonechat, 1 Long-tailed Shrike the 3rd record, the 2nd stayed from 14 Oct. 2006 until 9 April 2007 nearly 6 months, 1 Isabelline Shrike phoenicuroides ssp., 8 Eurasian Curlew of orientalis ssp.

The Long-tailed Shrike, a 3rd record.

The European Stonechat is a darkish bird compared to Siberian Stonechat with dusky underarm pit.

The Eurasian Curlew, ssp. orientalis spotted rump, white underwing and streaked flanks (rather than chevron-shaped spots of arquata) are all characters of this subspecies.

26/11/2007 at JEO and SAANR.

Pekka Fågel went to JEO and found a juvenile Little Bittern, at SAANR was lucky to find the Macqueen’s Bustard, Chlamydotis macqueenii and also found a

 Hoopoe Lark. All Photographs by Pekka Fågel.

Macqueen’s Bustard.

Macqueen’s Bustard.

Hoopoe Lark.

Little Bittern.

1 Buff-bellied Pipits, 6 Richard’s Pipits, 5 Long-legged Buzzards, 1 Imperial Eagle, 1 Pallid Hrrier adult male, 200+ White Wagtails, 100+ Northern Lapwings, 60 Cattle Egrets, 2 Great Egrets, 3 Isabelline Shrike, 150+ Starlings.

The Great Egret

The Buff-bellied Pipit the fourth record was found and photographed today by A. Al-Sirhan.

Buff-bellied Pipit identification: Our bird of ssp. japonicus can be told from Water Pipit ssp. coutelii  by bill length and depth and usually leg colour and the darker streaks on breast. Also separated from Meadow Pipit by lack of streaks on crown and mantle (but the Buff-bellied Pipit can show faint streaks on crown and mantle).

22/11/2007 at JEO

The following photographs by Rashed at JEO. 

A juvenile Steppe Eagle.

A family of Greenshanks in winter plumage.

22/11/2007 at JEO

In his excellent book “The Birds of the State of Kuwait”, George Gregory wrote: Under the heading “European Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria)” the following:

All or almost all of the Kuwait records of this species probably refer to Pacific Golden Plover (P. fulva), which is now regularly recorded in all Gulf States. (The former Lesser Golden Plover (P. dominica) was recently split in two specie, and Pacific Golden Plover is the one which occurs in Kuwait. European Golden Plover was commonly called just ‘Golden Plover’ in the past).

Kuwait records of European Golden Plover include ten records in 1971, four in 1972, one in 1973 and one in 1974. On 15 December 1977 L. Corral recorded one ‘Golden or Lesser Golden Plover’ at Prison Pool. C. W. T. Pilcher wrote of European Golden Plover in Kuwait: ‘Vagrant’. I have seen Golden Plovers on two occasions only and on the first there was no doubt about their being Golden Plovers. More recently a single bird recorded as Golden Plover but could have been Lesser’ (Warr, undated). None of these records is supported by an adequate description, if indeed any was written, and it is best to regard all of them as requiring confirmation.

This morning (23/11/2007) Rashed has sent me his photographs for 22nd November. On looking at his photographs I realized that it wasn’t a Pacific Golden Plover that I thought when I briefly looked at his camera’s LCD yesterday morning. This bird is a European Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria  the first confirmed record for Kuwait if accepted by KORC.

Bird description: Upperparts: Golden spangled on mantle, back, tail and tail coverts and wing coverts, there is a distinct white wing-bar, wing tips projecting beyond tail. Underparts: Buff breast with indistinct brown streaking spreading into flanks and are converted to barring reaching the sides of vent, whitish belly and vent. Bare parts: Bill appears slimmer, shorter and pointed downwards when compared to Pacific Golden Plover. Tibiae are short making the legs looks short. In flight: Shows the distinctive white wing-bar on upper wing typical of a Eurasian Golden Plover, white under-wing coverts and a dusky bar fringed with white formed by the under-wing greater coverts. Legs did not project beyond tail as normally seen on Pacific Golden Plover in fight.

Congratulations Rashed and well done! I must thank Rashed for submitting his photographs, without which the confirmation of occurrence of this bird in Kuwait would have been much delayed, who knows, a number of years!

The following photographs by Rashed all photographed on 22/11/2007 starting from left to right clockwise, the first two are of the first confirmed record for Kuwait, the European Golden Plover, a family of Greenshanks in winter plumage, and a juvenile Steppe Eagle.

Another shot of the European Golden Plover showing its white tertials, axillaries and underwing coverts. 

For comparison reasons I include below a photograph of a Pacific Golden Plover Rashed had photographed on 23/08/2007 at JEO.

Today another Buff-bellied Pipit that has darker and more streaks on breast, belly and flanks. 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Eurasian Skylarks, 1 Citrine Wagtail a different bird from the one of 19/11/2007 has more yellow on face and throat.

A Buff-bellied Pipit,  the second record for Kuwait of ssp. japonicus, was found and photographed by A. Al-Sirhan today. The first Buff-bellied Pipit was seen on 11/02/2005 by A. Bailey, B. Foster and G. Gregory.

Description of the Buff-bellied Pipit 2nd record: Upperparts dark brown, olive tinged, and faint dark streaks on mantle, median and greater coverts with off white fringes much paler than that of Water pipits nearby, buff supercilium with pale lore and white eye ring. Underparts: Fairly buffish specially on flanks, prominent dark streaking on breast and flanks with  a malar patch and a faint malar stripe, also shows a dark moustacial stripe, the streaking on breast go further down on breast along with the pinkish legs this suggests it is  the ssp. japonicus. Bare parts: The bill is not very dark when compared with the nearby Water Pipits but slenderer and shorter with pale base, legs pale pinkish much paler than nearby Water Pipits which are of the ssp. coutellii and have very dark legs.

 The Buff-bellied Pipit.

21/11/2007 at JEO

2 Greater Spotted Eagles, 2 Marsh Harriers, 1 Little Crake, 30+  Water Pipits, 2 Yellow Wagtails 1 flava ssp. with a ring on its right leg. 1 Buff-bellied Pipit,  the second record for Kuwait of ssp. japonicus, the first was seen on 11/02/2005 by A. Bailey, B. Foster and G. Gregory.

The Yellow Wagtail ssp. flava with a ring on the right leg.

19/11/2007 at JEO Rashed had photographed a Steppe Buzzard, a Spanish Sparrow and a Southern Grey Shrike.The following photographs all by Rashed Al-Hajji from left to right clockwise a Steppe Buzzard, the same bird again, a Spanish Sparrow then a Southern Grey Shrike.

3 Great Reed Warblers, 1 Siberian Stonechat ssp. maurus,1 Little Crake, 1 Eurasian Coot, 4 Red-throated Pipits, 30+ Water Pipits, 1 Citrine Wagtail, 1 Little Bittern in juv. plumage, 16 Chiffchaffs, 1 Southern Grey Shrike, 2 Green Sandpipers.

The Siberian Stonechat female ssp. maurus.

The Citrine Wagtail.

The juvenile Little Bittern

The Little Crake.

18/11/2007 at JEO Rashed Al-Hajji found and photographed the following:

A Great Bittern.

A flock of Common Shelducks.

A Little Grebe