My last ringing trip to
Sabkhat Al Fasl was almost cancelled due to the wind. The forecast all week had
been strong winds continuing until Friday, the only day I could go ringing. I
was very kken to go ringing though as I can only go once a week and due to the
lack of ringers sometimes the weekends are not possible if Nicole or I are away
or busy. As a result we set off the 135 kilometres to our ringing site (where
the Saudi Wildlife Authority have given me permission to ring) and got there
before first light. We had an extra pair of hands in form of the Harald the son
of a birdwatcher on camp who was visiting for the school holidays. It was quit
windy as expected but we set all our nets as usual with the exception of the
most exposed one as this would have been to windy. One net set in a thick reed
bed was the least exposed and as suspected caught the most birds most of which
were Bluethroats. Bluethroat is an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor
to Saudi Arabia where they prefer damp areas. Both Red-spotted and
White-spotted birds occur with Red-spotted being much the commoner of the two forms.
In winter it is difficult to differentiate between the forms as only adult
summer males can be told apart in the field. We do catch these sometimes but
more often in spring than autumn. The first Bluethroats were seen almost a
month ago but this ringing trip we managed to catch four birds and see and hear
many others indicating they are back on their wintering grounds in good
numbers. It will be interesting to see if we re-trap any of these birds over
the winter months at the site. Apart from the Bluethroats ringing was quite
difficult but we did manage to catch both Great Reed Warblers and Indian
(Clamorous) Reed Warblers as well as Graceful Prinia. All in all it was a
worthwhile exercise going ringing and we all returned home happy.
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| Bluethroat |
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| Bluethroat |
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| Bluethroat |
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| Great Reed Warbler |
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| Great Reed Warbler |
_Reed_Warbler.jpg) |
| Indian Reed Warbler |
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| Graceful Prinia |