Whilst birding the Jubail area recently I saw a few summer plumaged Dunlin, these birds are supposedly of the subspecies Calidris alpina centralis. I rarely see Dunlin in summer plumage, so took the opportunity to take a few photos and although the light was very poor but I did manage to obtain a few average […]
Category: Blogs
Rusty-tailed Flycatcher near Samarkand
This morning our Rockjumper tour went up to the mountains south of Samarkand. We had a fantastic morning around Takhta-Karacha mountain pass, at about 1700 m. We saw so many wonderful birds, including Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Irania, Upcher’s Warbler, Indian Paradise flycatcher, Red-headed and White-capped Buntings, ‘vittata’ Pied Wheatear, Lammergeier, Grey-headed Goldfinch, Hume’s Lesser Short-toed […]
Migrants – Jubail
A steady trickle of migrants have been passing through the Eastern Province in the last couple of weeks with several Red-backed Shrike appearing. Lesser Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Pied Wheatear, Tree Pipit and Western Siberian Stonechat were also seen in small numbers. Very few Yellow Wagtails have been around recently compared to recent years […]
Uzbekistan quick update
I am now in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Arrived in this fabulous country four days ago, leading a tour for Rockjumper. We have had many fantastic birding experiences up till now. Internet connection here is very problematic, so I will be very brief now and will expand when I can. Pander’s Ground Jay doing what it says […]
Whiskered Tern at Dungeness RSPB
Well I suppose I should land the pun now – one good Tern deserves another! We popped down to Dunge this afternoon hoping the reported Whiskered Tern would hang around and it did. We got straight on it seconds after arriving at an empty Dennis’s hide to give us all a Life tick. We watched […]
Butterflies
Mountain Marsh Runners aka Broad-billed Sandpipers have started passing through South East Norway the last couple of days. There are only a handful of sites with annual records of this scarce species and one of them is Årnestangen. So, I set off on the long walk with high hopes this morning. My hopes gradually became […]
Coal Tits
Coal Tits are common enough birds, often nipping in and taking seed from the feeders before nipping off again to eat its treat somewhere out of sight. I came across a pair locally which had nested in a hole at the base of a birch tree and were busy coming and going with food for […]
Chical Road and Awa Road (NW Ecuador)
We awoke at 05:30 and then headed the short distance from Casa de Eliza in Limonal, northwards, to the start of the Chical Road. After a wrong turn into a dead-end street we were on our way up the gravelled road, as the light increased we passed through small homesteads, banana and cassava plantations with […]