Plenty of Clamorous Reed Warblers – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I went ringing again at Alba Marsh on Friday morning. A very early start from Saudi Arabia to get across the causeway and to the Alba Marsh site in Bahrain by first light was undertaken and after setting the nets it became apparent there were a few ore birds about than the previous week.

As it turned out we caught a few more birds also, but almost all of them were Clamorous Reed Warblers with four re-traps from 2011 or 2012 amongst them all from the same site. I like Clamorous Reed Warblers more than almost any bird we catch and it was good to catch so many in a single session with the final total being nine birds.

We also caught a single Graceful Prinia, one Red-Backed Shrike (which was a new ringing species for me) and the first returning Common Chiffchaff of the year. A few birds were seen but not caught including two Purple Herons, two Eastern Marsh Harriers and lots of waders mainly Little Stint, Common Greenshank and Common Redshank.

We met a local hunter who had killed a Eurasian Teal and had a beautiful juvenile Gyr Falcon in his car which he said he was training to hunt. We also met Howard King, a birder from Bahrain who has lived and bird-watched the country for 28 years along with John Watson a visiting birder who may come ringing with us in early November as a helper. It will be great if John can come and help as we are a very small team at the moment and would welcome some support.

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Jem Babbington

Jem Babbington is a keen birder and amateur photographer located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia where he goes birding every day. Jem was born in England and is a serious local patch and local area birder who has been birding for almost forty years and has birded in more than fifty countries. Jem is learning to ring birds in Bahrain as a perfect way to learn more about the birds of the area. Saudi Arabia is a very much under-watched and under-recorded country.

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