23 May 2012

Black-winged Stilt completes Clutch of eggs - Dhahran Hills

There has been little of note on the 'patch' the last couple of days but the Black-winged Stilt has completed her clutch of eggs. My last post on the fact the birds were breeding saw Laurie mention he presumed the bird would lay a couple of more eggs to complete the clutch of 4 - worth keeping an eye on the progress. I can say that Laurie was spot on in this regard and there are now four eggs in the nest. He also mentioned that he had seen a family of Stilts in the Camargue many years ago that had nested on a large island. After the young had wandered around and fed for a few days they entered the water and swam to another sandy island a couple of hundred yards away, so, hopefully, this is what these birds will do as they are about the same distance from land as the birds Laurie saw in France. There is a Grey Heron that often uses this platform for resting but the bird is now using the other platform and is being kept at bay by the male bird who is on constant watch for trouble. Black-winged Stilts are great parents so lets hope all works out for the best with these birds. Again apologies for the poor photo but you can make out the four eggs now.