20 June 2014

Female Little Bittern – Dhahran Hills

There is now just the regular breeding birds to see on my local ‘patch’ where I go birding almost every day. Even though things are very quiet it is still worth going out as any unusual occurrence is worth note if you have a local birdwatching area. The last month or so I have been seeing an adult male little Bittern at various times and places. Firstly I saw it in the unusual place of the spray fields but then it made its home on the percolaton pond where it could occasionally be seen along the pond edges. This is a place where birds bred in 2011 but there have been no further signs of this happening. On 15 June I found an adult female on the edge of the pond in the same place where the male usually fishes. This may mean that they are a pair so I will be keeping an eye out for any juveniles in the next couple of weeks. Apart from the Little Bittern the only interesting thing to not is the number of Black-winged Stilts are building up with plenty of juveniles amongst the adults. Numbers now are 37 and they should continue building up over the next month.