Birding the local patch this
week has produced a few interesting birds. The small flock of Eurasian
Skylarks increased to six birds and were seen feeding along the edge of the spray fields and a very nice
northern Caspian Stonechat (NCT – Now called North Caspian Taxon) was in the
fields themselves. Neither of these two species are particularly common on the
camp but do occur every year in small numbers. Two Eurasian Sparrowhawks were
in and over the fields as was a single Western Marsh Harrier. An Isabelline
Wheatear and a Turkestan Shrike were seen in the shrubs between the spray
fields and the settling pond and the settling pond itself had 28 Western Cattle
Egrets coming in to roost in the reeds. All the birds mentioned above are winter
visitors to the region and it now looks like the autumn migration has ended in
the Eastern Province at least.
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| Isabelline Wheatear |
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| Turkestan Shrike |
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| Western Cattle Egrets |
