Birds of Saudi Arabia: Bahrain

Showing posts with label Bahrain - Little Stint. Show all posts

09 December 2011

Clamorous Reed Warbler & Little Stint re-traps

At the weekend we had two re-traps at Alba Marshes. One was a juvenile Little Stint ringed by me the previous week (2646742) which weighed 17.5 grams this week compared to 19.7 grams the week before. The bird looked in good health, even if it had lost a bit of weight, and was trapped at the same site as last weekend. The second bird was a Clamorous Reed Warbler that was ringed in April 2011 at Alba Marsh as a first year female (it had a brood patch). This is the first Clamorous Reed Warbler re-trap from Alba Marshes, where about 16 birds have been ringed this year and indicates that birds are site faithful, at least for breeding, but may move small distances in post breeding dispersal as bird numbers fall at Alba Marshes in the late summer. It will be interesting to see what other re-traps we get from this site during the winter an spring as this is the peak breeding season for Clamorous Reed Warbler in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Clamorous Reed Warbler (adult female)

Little Stint (juvenile)

06 December 2011

Very Windy - Ringing at Alba Marshes

Weather conditions were not really conducive to ringing this weekend, but the sheltered nature of at Alba Marshes allowed us to at least put up some nets. Brendan and I erected two 18 meter, four panel, nets in the main reed bed and four, single or double panel, nets of various lengths in the low Tamarisk scrub and wet pool area with scattered reeds. These low nets were not really hampered by the wind but the large nets were not looking so good. In the end we caught nine birds, One Daurian Shrike, one Bluethroat, two Clamorous Reed Warblers and five Little Stints. I extracted a Little Stint and Clamorous Reed Warbler with Brendan looking on and putting up and taking down the nets in less than ideal conditions was also good practice. All the nets caught at least one bird in the end. The site itself also had at least three Jack Snipes, one Western Great Egret, 10+ Bluethroats, 15+ Water Pipits and 15+ Black-crowned Night Herons. Abdulla and Mubarak came to help with Abdulla ringing a Little stint, which was a new species for him as well as the Daurian Shrike. I ringed one Bluethroat, one Clamorous Reed Warbler and four Little Stints and processed two re-traps that I will add details of tomorrow when I have more time. As can be seen from the photographs of the Clamorous Reed Warbler, it was in heavy tail moult.

Bluethroat (adult female)

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Daurian Shrike (first calendar year)

30 November 2011

Bahrain - Ringing Waders at Alba Marshes

A lot of waders were present at Alba Marshes when we went ringing there last weekend and as a result we decided to put up a single 15 metre mist net across a small area of water to try to catch some of these birds. The tide was high and had probably pushed a number of these birds onto the marsh with Common Redshank, Little Stint and Black-winged Stilt being the most common birds. We set the net just before dark to catch the waders and immediately caught a Grey Plover and a Little Stint. We later also caught eight further Little Stint and a Jack Snipe making a good total for a single net. I had not ringed Little Stint before and Brendan had not ringed Grey Plover or Jack Snipe with Nicole ringing four Little Stint and me the remaining five.