Plenty of Waders and ducks – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Birding at Sabkhat
Al Fasl was excellent on Saturday 16 November. I arrived early in the morning
and the light was only just starting to allow birds to be seen. As nearly always
in winter at this site the first bird I saw was a first calendar year Greater
Spotted Eagle and over the day I saw a minimum for four birds. Plenty of Western
Marsh Harriers were flying over the reeds and at least ten Squacco Herons were
in the reed beds. Good numbers of Water Pipit and White wagtails were present
as were plenty of Bluethroats, mainly female and immature birds. Terns were
also seen in good numbers with 50+ Caspian Terns, ten Gull-billed Terns and two
Whiskered Terns were also present.
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| Caspian Tern |
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| Squacco Heron |
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| Greater Spotted Eagle |
Birds seen along the
reed edge included three Daurian Shrikes and two Turkestan Shrikes as well as a
male Caspian Stonechat showing off its tail nicely. A Pharaoh Eagle Owl was
also seen very well near one of the water pumping stations and I will post
details of this record in the next few days. This may have been the same bird
as seen by Dave Kilminster two weeks before but was probably a different bird to the earlier individual, as my bird was in a different
location, had a sick left eye and was in a much better and healthier overall condition.
This could have happened in the two weeks between sightings but all three facts
make it likely to be a different bird, particularly as a number of birders have
been to the site and have failed to locate the first owl. As always a number of
Purple Swamphens were present feeding along the reedy edge and at least three Common
Snipe and a Jack Snipe were hiding in the wet reed margins and plenty of
Clamorous Reed Warblers were calling from the reed beds. Large numbers, maybe
as many as 700 Great Cormorants were flying around in a large flock and several
small groups of Greater Flamingos were doing likewise, numbers of which should
build up as winter progresses.
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| Greater Flamingo |
The flooded sabkha area held a lot of
waders, ducks and terns. Five Common Shelducks were the first ones of the
winter and 23 Eurasian Widgeon, six Northern Pintails and five Pochards were
also present. Waders were mainly made up of Dunlin, Little Stint and Common
Ringed Plover but plenty of Common Redshank, Common Greenshank and Black-winged
Stilts were also present. A large gathering of Pied Avocet was also located
with 144 birds scattered over the sabkha. Another interesting bird seen here was
a male Desert Wheatear, the first one I have seen for some time.
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| Common Ringed Plover |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Dunlin |
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| Desert Wheatear |
