On Friday I took my girls
out for an afternoons birding and we had a great time and saw a few good birds.
We have started taking out the new Collins bird guide on the I-Pad, which is
great as the girls can find and see the birds that we are looking at. We went
to the percolation pond as this is a good area for seeing birds through the
telescope but before we got there a group of noisy motocross bikes scared all
the birds into flight. This included an amazing 19 Purple Herons, easily the
highest count I have had on the ‘patch’ for this species with the previous
highest being 13. Also flushed were a few ducks including at least six Ferruginous
Ducks, two Garganey and ten Northern Shovellers. Whilst walking around the pond
we found four Ortolan Buntings including a really smart male and a 1st
year (Eastern) Black-eared Wheatear, that allowed very close approach and full
frame photos. This species is seen each year on the camp but in very small
numbers so this was a good experience. Other
migrants included a Squacco Heron and a juvenile white morph Indian Reef Heron
along with a large group of 30+ Sand Martins. A Blue-cheeked Bee-eater added
some colour and a Southern Grey Shrike eating some sort of prey in a thorn bush
was educational for the girls. Waders included a few Ruff, Kentish Plovers,
Common Ringed Plovers, Little Ringed Plovers, Little Stints, Wood Sandpipers
and Black-winged Stilts and a single Temminck’s Stint and Green Sandpiper.
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| Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1st Year |
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| Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1st Year |
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| Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1st Year |
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
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| Ortolan Bunting |
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| Green Sandpiper |
