Re-trapped Red-spotted Bluethroat - Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

An early morning trip to Bahrain to go ringing proved quite successful for us with 22 birds caught of eight species. Quite a few re-traps were processes all of which had been ringed at the same site by us. The most interesting one was an adult male Red-spotted Bluethroat that was originally caught in November 2012 and again in January 2013 showing the bird was using Alba Marsh as a wintering site. The fact we then re-caught the bird in November 2013 shows it is probably going to use the same site to winter again after having moved off north to breed. Bluethroats are difficult to assign to race unless an adult male is seen or caught, but this one looks like a svecica that breed in Scandinavia and north Asia as well as north-west North America and Canada and winter in southern Europe, North and North tropical Africa, Arabia and south and east Asia.

Red-spotted Bluethroat - adult male

Red-spotted Bluethroat - adult male

Red-spotted Bluethroat - first year male

We also re-caught a Common Kingfisher that we had caught originally at the same site a few weeks earlier suggesting this bird is also going to use the site as a wintering location. Other re-traps were Clamorous Reed Warblers that are resident at the site. A few Graceful Prinias were also caught, a species we have not caught for almost a year. They are really beautiful as well as small birds weighing only 6-7 grams and are resident at the marsh.

Common Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

Common Chiffchaff

European Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia 

Water Pipit

Some good birds ringing at Alba Marsh – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

An early morning ringing trip to Alba Marsh in Bahrain produced a few good birds for us. We caught slowly but steadily and ended up with 15 species of bird which is quite good for us. I know this is a laughably small amount for most ringers but we have limited places with permission to ring so beggers cannot be choosers as they say. We do catch good number of species, however, and out of the 15 birds we caught ten different species. Birds included Common Kingfisher, which was a new ringing species for Bahrain last autumn but which we have caught ten birds now. We re-caught a Clamorous Reed Warbler from two years ago (25/11/2011), ringed at the same site, and the Eurasian Wryneck ringed on 28 September. The Wryneck was caught in exactly the same net and had increased in weight from 36.2 grams to 45.1 grams an encouraging sign for the bird.

Common Kingfisher

Eurasian Wryneck

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Other birds caught included several more Clamorous Reed Warblers, Eurasian Reed Warbler, two Bluethroats including one Red-spotted male and a first year female, Great Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Savi’s Warbler and two Turkestan Shrikes the first shrikes we have caught this autumn. The shrikes were side by side in the same net so I suspect they had been chasing each other and both ended up in the net at the same time.

European Reed Warbler

Red-spotted Bluethroat

Sedge Warbler

Savi’s Warbler and more - Ringing at Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I went ringing last weekend for the first time since last spring. The temperature is now low enough to get back to ringing and as a result we got to the site early. We had to cut a few new net rides and it took a little longer to set the nets than normal as we were out of practice but by 06:30 everything was up and running. We caught ten birds in total including a Common Moorhen, Clamorous Reed Warbler re-trapped at the same site from 2 November 2012, six European Reed Warblers and a Wryneck.

European Reed Warbler

European Reed Warbler

Common Moorhen - juvenile

 The best birds for us were the Wryneck but especially the Savi’s Warbler which is the third we have caught at the same site. It is a good bird for Bahrain where it is currently classed as a vagrant with birds seen in both spring and autumn migration periods. The fact we have caught three different birds in two years at the same site indicate they are a scarce passage migrant rather than a vagrant and this will need to be updated by the relevant authorities over time. The subspecies of Savi’s Warbler that occurs in the region is Locustella luscinoides fusca which is more olive brown with paler under-parts and more obvious white tips to the under-tail coverts than the nominate European form L l luscinodes making it look slightly different. They are certainly dark looking birds compared to the Reed Warblers we were catching.

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler