A recent study confirms alarming declines in raptor populations in Kenya. Incidental poisoning is a major problem for vultures in particular, depriving ecosystems of the birds’ vital role as scavengers. Conservationists are working with communities to help species recover. “The population of raptors today bears no resemblance to those numbers we saw a half century […]
Tag: Black-winged Kite
Two days too late
I arrived for a short family visit in Israel yesterday afternoon. This morning, completely knackered after yesterday exhausting day of travel, I did the obvious thing – I went in the early morning to Ma’agan Michael to see the putative Asian House Martin – potentially the first for WP. Since it was found by Barak, […]
I love my new camera
A few days ago I said goodbye to my old Canon 7D mk1. My followers know how much I have been complaining about it in recent months – it certainly took me far too much time to scrap it and get a new camera. I contemplated making a big move to a mirrorless Olympus system, […]
Elanus caeruleus – Black-winged kite, the parade
Accipitriformes – Accipitridae With the Nikon 500 mm at arms length from the car. On the first pictures, the bird is hunting. Most of the time it positions itself back to the sun to see its prey better. At the same time, it surveys its territory for intruders such as other birds of prey and […]
Rare and unusual birds seen in Saudi Arabia in second half of 2015
Two new species for Saudi Arabia Fulvous Whistling Duck Dendrocygna bicolor & Lesser Whistling Duck Dendrocygna javanica were found together on Malaki Dam Lake 3 September. Eight Harlequin Quail Coturnix delegorguei were in a large field near Jizan 30 June including at least two males, a species that has not been recorded in Saudi Arabia […]
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier and other Raptors
Here are some of the raptor photos we managed to see with my Swiss group from Arcatour last week. The wind direction swung around to give us moderate to strong Levante (easterlies) for five days and only died down on our last two days. Still, knowing what the migrating raptors do and where they will […]
Migrating Raptors on The Strait of Gibraltar
It’s been a busy six weeks with almost non-stop birding here on The Strait and across Europe. I thought I’d quickly post some of the raptor shots I have managed to edit so far on the blog to show at least some of the autumn delights… Black-winged Kites (old name is Black shouldered Kite) have […]
Early Autumn Migration in Kuwait
Early August is the anticipated start of the annual Autumn migration when birds have completed their breeding season in Europe and both adult and juvenile birds start moving south to various parts of Africa for the second part of their endless summer. Kuwait is fortunate to be situated on two of the key migration flyways; […]