ANTSAHADINTA, Madagascar — Marcel Rakotonary, 75, gives a sharp warning to visitors before they enter Antsahadinta, or the “valley of the leeches.” Located 20 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of the capital city of Antananarivo, the sacred hill of Antsahadinta is the site of royal tombs and ancient dwellings. Its forest has been protected from clearing […]
Tag: Greater Flamingo
Greater Flamingo flocks – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area recently I recorded plenty of Greater Flamingos in several large groups. Numbers possibly amounted to over three thousand birds, a good count to the location. I also saw Grey-headed Swamphen a species that breed in the area as well as the less common Purple Heron and Spanish Sparrow. Wintering Daurian […]
Greater Flamingo – Jubail
Whilst at Jubail this winter I have seen good numbers of Greater Flamingo with numbers exceeding two-thousand birds. Occasionally the birds were close to the shore, whch is unusual at this location, allowing good views. I spent quite some time looking to see if I could locate any birds with plastic Darvic rings on them […]
Rare and unusual birds seen in Saudi Arabia in second half of 2016
A pair of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus with two recently hatch young, 12 August, were the first record of breeding for the species in the Kingdom. An unprecedented influx of Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris were seen with fifteen 30 kilometers east of Zulfi 8 November, six together 40 kilometers north of Zulfi 11 November and […]
Saudi Arabia’s largest flock of Lesser Flamingo – Jizan
Whilst birding the coast just south of Jizan with Phil Roberts we came across a large group of Flamingo’s. There were at least 500 Greater Flamingo and a minimum of 100 Lesser Flamingo. As the birds were continually on the move it was difficult to get an accurate count but the highest we achieved was […]
Summertime birding – Jubail
Birding the Jubail area in June gave a few surprising migrants including Whinchat, European Bee-eater, Red-backed Shrike, Barn Swallow and Sand Martin. A Western Cattle Egret was also a surprise as they are a winter species that has normally departed by this time of year. A few summer plumage Squacco Herons were also present showing […]
The Levante winds of Spring – Spain 2017
I lead a tour group from the the US Audubon Naturalist Society in April to southern Spain. We had a great time apart from the awful windy weather. The famous Levante wind just would not stop for almost the whole eight days. We did however have a great time, saw lots of birds and other […]
Winter is here – Jubail
I went birding to Jubail in mid-November and came across a number of winter visitors most of which I failed to photograph. I saw hundreds of Greater Cormorants of a flood sabkha area. This species was previously uncommon in Jubail but the last few years thousands of birds winter here and on the coast. Other […]