14 October 2012

Citrine Wagtail - Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Another good bird trapped and ringed at Alba Marsh on the weekend was a first year Citrine Wagtail. When I saw it in the net it looked interesting and initially I thought, due to its size and the amount of white in the tail, it may be a pipit. This would have been the first pipit of the autumn for us from the site so would have been good. When I reached the net it became obvious the bird was a first year Citrine Wagtail and I brought it back and gave it to Nicole to look at. Neither of us had ringed Citrine Wagtail before so Nicole ringed the bird making it a very good day for her with two new ringing species. The species is an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor to the area. Alba Marsh is turning out to be a good place to ring and although we do not catch many birds we have a very interesting and varied selection. These is a great place to learn to ring, as we are not too busy, and have time to look at, study and photograph the birds we catch.