Common Kingfisher - Ringing at Alba Marshes (Bahrain)

As mentioned in a previous post Nicole and I went to Alba Marsh at the weekend ringing without Brendan for the first time since he left to return home to Ireland. The first two birds we caught were two male Kingfishers (dark lower mandibles) which must have been chasing each other and ended up in the net. We had seen two birds whilst setting up the nets and assumed the two we caught to be these birds. This may not have been the case however as we later caught two more birds one of which was a female (red base to lower mandible). This was a new ringing species for me and I had only seen one bird previously at the site so it was a welcome catch. Nicole had ringed Common Kingfisher before in Turkey but it was a new site ringing bird for her as well. One comical thing about Common Kingfisher is when you come to weigh them if you place them on their backs they stay on the scales without flying off.