A good catch – Jasaer (Bahrain)

An early trip to Jasaer in Bahrain meant we had our five nets up by 06:00 hrs. We caught steadily all morning and ended up with 31 birds of eleven species. These included two Common Chiffchaffs, 10 Willow Warblers, three Common Redstarts, Upcher’s Warbler, four House Sparrows, two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins, two Desert Lesser Whitethroats, Laughing Dove, three Turkestan Shrikes, two Common Whitethroats and a Menetries’s Warbler. Willow Warblers have now replaced Common Chiffchaff as the most common species caught. The Lesser Whitethroats appear to be Desert Whitethroat from measurements and tail pattern and I will try to get some DNA work done on loose feathers from the birds to try to ascertain if this is a correct identification.

Common Redstart - immature male

Common Redstart - female

Common Whitethroat

Desert Whitethroat

Desert Whitethroat - tail pattern

Menetries's Warbler - female

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler - wing

Turkestan Shrike - adult male

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Ringing at Alba Marsh – Bahrain

I went ringing again to Bahrain at the weekend and spent the whole day with Brendan and Nicole. We went to Alba Marsh again early in the morning and set up our normal four nets. There did not appear to be so many birds about as the last couple of weeks although a couple of shrikes, one Daurian and one Turkestan were in the bushes by the ringing site. A spotted Crake and Little Bittern were seen whilst erecting the nets and a few Red-throated Pipits and Yellow Wagtails were flushed from the short cut reeds. As it turned out we caught quite a few birds for our standards and Sedge Warbler was a new ringing species for me and Whinchat was a new ringing species for Nicole so we were very happy with our mornings work.

Sedge Warbler



Sedge Warbler



Whinchat



Whinchat


We caught 31 birds of which I ringed 19 and Nicole ringed 12. These include ten different species, 12 Willow Warblers, five House Sparrows, three Calmorous Reed Warblers, two Red-throated Pipits, two Caspian Reed Warblers, one Daurian Shrike, one Chiffchaff, one Whinchat, one Sedge Warbler and one Common Whitethroat. One Clamorous Reed Warbler was a re-trap ringed at the same site the week before. We ringed from 06:00 hrs until 10:30 hrs when the temperature became too hot and the birds stopped moving. This weekend has been the first time the weather has returned to normal temperatures since the summer with daytime highs of 36 degrees Celsius.

Common Whitethroat



Common Whitethroat



Daurian Shrike



Daurian Shrike