Last weekend there were a few more signs of
migration occurring and one of the signs were the few shrikes that had started
to appear. A nice male Woodchat Shrike was my first one of the autumn and I
also saw a Lesser Grey Shrike, a male Red-backed Shrike and a Daurian Shrike.
Great Reed Warblers were seen in a few places, as were the resident Indian Reed
Warblers but apart from this the only other warbler seen was a Common
Whitethroat. Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Yellow Wagtails, Greater Short-toed
Larks, Spotted Flycatchers, Barn Swallows, Sand Martins were also seen as was
my first Western Marsh Harrier of the year, with both males and females seen
and a total of at least five birds. A dark raptor flew over and away but my
views were poor, although it may have been a Booted Eagle, but I am not
claiming it. A Tree Pipit was also seen along the edge of the reed-beds and was
my first one of the autumn. Wader numbers were still quite high with good
numbers of Common Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Ruff and Lesser
Sand Plover and lesser numbers of Pied Avocet, Greater Sand Plover, Ruddy
Turnstones, Common Redshank and Marsh Sandpiper. Good numbers of herons were
also about with lots of Squacco Herons instead of the one or two the week
before and plenty of Purple Herons and Grey Herons. There were hundreds of
Indian Reef Herons on the sabkha and good numbers of Greater Flamingo have
returned for the winter.
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
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| Indian Reed Warbler |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
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| Little Grebes |
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| Common Ringed Plover |
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| Ruff |
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| Indian Reef Herons |
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| Squacco Heron |
_Swamphen.jpg "Purple Swamphen")
