Birds of Saudi Arabia: Bahrain - Ringing at Alba Marshes

On Friday 19th August I went ringing in Bahrain with Brendan Kavanagh and Nicole Proven. We got to the site quite late, deliberately, as the temperature had been very hot and Nicole and Brendan set up the nets in a reed bed area called Alba Marshes. By the time the three 18 meter nets were up it was getting quite late. We set two nets in the reed beds hoping for Clamorous Reed Warbler, Caspian Reed Warbler and Graceful Prinia amongst others and one net over an area of water hoping for waders. We started catching a small number of birds straight away and after an hour shut the nets as it was getting late and as I am a new trainee it was taking me some time to ring and get all the measurements we wanted from the birds. I was also keen to see what Clamorous Reed Warbler looked like at very close quarters so took extra time checking the wing formula amongst other things. In the end we caught eight birds before it got dark and I ringed four of them and Nicole who is a much more experienced and proficient trainee ringer than me ringed four also. I ringed two Juvenile Clamorous Reed Warbler, one juvenile Caspian Reed Warbler and an adult Kentish Plover. One juvenile Clamorous Reed Warbler I ringed was the smallest bird of this species that has been recorded in Bahrain and was considerably smaller than the previous bird had just ringed (see photographs below). We saw nine Black-crowned Night Heron and heard quite a few Water Rail as it got dark.