I visited with 6 German birders, headed by Ferdinand Wegmann, Pivot Fields today. Actual target species was Caspian Plover. First we managed to find 3 among 96 Collared Pratincoles. After short but heavy wind and some slight rain we came back to same spot to find a flock of 30 Caspian Plovers. Almost half of them were male birds in stunning summer plumage.

Grey Heron 1, Cattle Egret 5, Squacco Heron 6, Little Bittern 2, Black-crowned Night Heron 2, Little Crake 1, Collared Pratincole 96, Caspian Plover 30, Marsh Harrier 3, Pallid Harrier 2, Steppe Eagle 2, Eastern Imperial Eagle 1,  Steppe Buzzard 1, Black Kite 6, Pallid Swift 500+, Blue Cheeked Bee-eater 10, Hoopoe 8, Sand Martin 15, Barn Swallow 20, Tree Pipit 50, Red-throated Pipit 10, Tawny Pipit 2, Yellow Wagtail 100+, Isabelline Wheatear 1, Northern Wheatear 10+, Pied Wheatear 10+, Sedge Warbler 1, Clamorous Reed Warbler 1, Ciffchaff 4, Corn Bunting 4.

Caspian Plover (Charadrius asiaticus)

It was a true surprise to come across with Indian Roller at this time of the year. My best guess is that this bird, which was first seen on 10th Oct. 2008, is the same. It probably visits some other farms nearby but returns to the place that we call Jahra Farms. Hopefully it stays few more weeks to come. At Doha Spit I saw c. 130 Crab Plovers, several Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers. Bad news is that earlier this week I visited Abdaly Farms finding Red-wattled Lapwing but no Commom Babbler. However, Khalid Al Nasrallah told me that he has seen two birds at Sulaibikhat Nature Reserve.

Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis)

I heard from Khalid Al-Ghanem about Mongolian Finches on previous day. Today I went to the site with Simon Price to see the birds by ourselves. First we saw two Trumpeter Finches but soon after that Mongolian Finches started to come to drinking pool. Our best estimation was 12 birds.

Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus)

Mongolian Finch (Bucanetes mongolicus)  Male

Mongolian Finches

On 5/03/2009 Khaled Al-Ghanem has found a first record for Kuwait a Mongolian Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes mongolicus. The bird was found in Sabah Al-Ahmed Natural Reserve in a flock of up to six, but today on 20/03/2009 the number increased to 12 birds according to Pekka Fågel.

This bird inhabits high arid desert to semi-desert  mountains up to 4200m or in rocky slopes and steep  cliffs, descends in winter to lower levels, a gregarious bird, sedentary to partially migratory that flies some distance to water.

The bird occurs in Western Palearctic only in Eastern Turkey discontinuously to Armenia and Azerbaijan (and in Northern Iran, Elburz Mountains).

It has been recorded in Bahrain as vagrant but no records from the other Gulf States as far as I know.

The following photograph is by Khaled Al-Ghanem Bucanetes mongolicus.

Migration is in full swing though numbers are still relatively small. Semi-collared Flycatcher, White-throated Robin, Eastern Orphean Warbler among other species bring clear message of spring migration. Scops Owls make their way to North as well. Amazingly one tree in Tulha seems to atract them more than any other similar tree around. So it was today too.

Squacco Heron 1, Little Crake 1, Ruff 1, Little Stint 2, Scops Owl 1, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 25, Common Swift 2, Barn Swallow 6, Red-rumped Swallow 1, Sand Martin 2, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Eastern Orphean Warbler 1, Desert Warbler 1, Menetries’s Warbler 1, White-throated Robin 1, Semi-collared Flycatcher 1, Woodchat Shrike 1, Short-toed Lark 1, Chiffchaff 20, White Wagtail 4, Yellow Wagtail 12, Stonechat 1, Pied Wheatear 1, Isabelline Wheatear 2, Desert Wheatear 1, Red-tailed Wheatear 1, Olivaceous Warbler 1.

Semi-collared Flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata) with interesting white supercilium.

Eastern Orphean Warbler (Sylvia crassirostris)

Scops Owl (Otus scops)

Strong Northern wind kept Steppe Eagles on the deck. Also Collared Pratincoles preferred to feed by jerky movements on ground and flying only ocassionally. Female Chaffinch is not any WP-highlight but locally good species. According to G. Gregory’s book it is seen every second year. My own records confirm this. Between 2004 and 2009 I have seen Chaffinch three times.

Cattle Egret 160, Night Heron 2, Steppe Eagle 25, Long-legged Buzzard 2. Steppe Buzzard 1. Black Kite 2, Kestrel 1, Collared Pratincole 8, Quail 3, Eurasian Curlew 2, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 6, Skylark 50, Water Pipit 200, Red-throated Pipit 3, Tawny Pipit 4, White Wagtail 15, Yellow Wagtail 30, Chaffinch 1, Corn Bunting 5.

Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Collared Pratincole (Glareola pratincola)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

As  nobody has seen Asian Koel since 29th Feb. AbdulRahman and I decided to try Desrt Finches at Port Zour. Mark Chichester found the birds early November and they were still there though it took some time to find them. The birds were singing actively.

Desert Finch 3, Grey Hypocolius 1, Desert Wheatear 3, Pied Wheatear 2, Isabelline Shrike 2, Stonechat 1, Quail 1, Song Thrush 1, Barn Swallow 4, Red-rumped Swallow 1, Cormorant 15, Caspian Tern 2.

Desert Finch (Rhodospiza obsoleta)

Desert Finch

White-throated Kingfisher 2 ( amale and female in courtship feeding), Bank Myna 2, Sparrowhawk 1, Common Myna 2, Common Chiffchaff 10, Songthrush 6, Siberian Stonechat 1, Common Redstart 1, Grey Wagtail 2, Red-rumped Swallow 4, Rose-necked Parakeet 4, White Wagtail 4.

Siberian Stonechat, Saxicola maurus

Common Linnet 2, Common Snipe 1, Imperial Eagle 2, Marsh Harrier 1, Black Kite 6, Cattle Egret 60, Red Bishop (escapee) 2, Isabelline Shrike 2, Siberian Stonechat 4, Eurasian Skylark 3, Crested Lark 5, Eurasian Hoopoe 1, Corn Bunting 2, Yellow Wagtail 8, White Wagtail 20, Water Pipit 10, Citrine Wagtail 1

Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina

Yellow Wagtail Motocilla  flava feldegg

Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra