Bahrain - Ringing at the Chicken Farm

The whole ringing team of Brendan, Abdulla, Nicole and I along with Howard King went ringing at the Chicken Farm on Friday and caught 19 Barn Swallows, one Graceful Prinia and one Steppe Grey Shrike. We set the nets up around a grass field on two different sides with the hope of catching all the birds that were in there but unfortunately we did not catch anything there. We also set up three 16 metre nets across a grass field where we hoped to catch a few Barn Swallows that were gathering before going to roost. We did manage to catch a few Barn Swallows although a few more used the net and poles as perches and did not go into the nets. Abdulla caught a Steppe Grey Shrike with the newly refurbished spring trap. We had seen this bird on the way into the ringing site along with a number of Isabelline Wheatear, two Northern Wheatear, one Desert Wheatear and a Pied Wheatear. There were also three Daurian Shrike, 10 Indian Silverbills and four Red Avadavat present. After we had finished ringing Brendan took us on a tour to look for Egyptian Nightjar and we managed to see at least two birds. One was very tame so we thought we would have a go and try and catch it, but it disappeared before we got all the tools ready - maybe next time for that species?

 Barn Swallow (juvenile)

 Barn Swallow (juvenile)

 Graceful Prinia

 Graceful Prinia

Graceful Prinia