Sabkhat Al Fasl

Yesterday at Sabkhat Al Fasl Phil Roberts and I saw a good number of species including some passage migrants as well as returning wintering species. We saw nine Greater Spotted Eagles including five adults and four 1st Calendar Year birds as well as about ten Marsh Harrier and a single Western Osprey. A huge flock of over 60 Western Great Egret were seen in flight along with about ten Grey Heron. This site is an excellent place to see Western Great Egret in the Eastern Province and birds have only just started to build up in numbers. Water birds included six Little Grebe, 100+ Common Moorhen, three Eurasian Coot, 14 Purple Swamphen, 500+ Greater Flamingo including 55 young birds all of which were congregated at one edge of the flock of otherwise adult birds. Six Barn Swallows were flying about and two Common Kingfisher were seen in flight. Two Gull-billed Terns and 30+ Caspian Tern were seen in flight as well as on the ground in the flooded Sabkhat area where at least 15 Steppe Gull were also present. Duck included two Eurasian Teal and 36 Northern Shoveller. Four Siberian Stonechat, one Red-backed Shrike and three Daurian Shrike along with at least 30 Water Pipit were seen along the edge of the Reed beds. Waders included 12 Pied Avocet, four Grey Plover, 500+ Little Stint, 100+ Dunlin, five Common Redshank, five Common Ringed Plover, three Common Snipe and 30+ Black-winged Stilt. Other good birds included three Squacco Heron, 50+ Little Egret and ten Indian Reef Heron.

 Little Grebe

 Black-winged Stilt

 Red-backed Shrike

 Red-backed Shrike

 Red-backed Shrike

 Daurian Shrike

 Daurian Shrike

Western Osprey