After a
good mornings ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl one of the last birds we caught was a
Grey-headed Swamphen. They are common at the location but this is the only site
in all of Saudi Arabia where they can be seen easily and only one of two where
they breed. In a mornings bird-watching here it is easy to see up to 30 birds
and they are always around the nets but they are a very big bird and were
unlikely to be caught. If they ever did venture into the net they would almost
certainly pull them down so although I was hoping to catch one somehow I was
not holding out much hope. Nicole, however, managed to flush one from a small
tree near one of our nets and it flew into the net where she was able to get to
the bird before it escaped or damaged the net. They look big in the field but
in the hand they are extremely large and easily the largest bird I have ringed. Grey-headed Swamphen is a
sub-species of Purple Swamphen although there is some talk of splitting in out
as a separate species and was a new bird ringed by me as well as a new ringing
species for Saudi Arabia.
