100 : Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover - Chaladrius alexandrinus

I have put this is as my 100th bird to take me over the 1 % mark for two reasons.

Firstly this is a bird that I only saw for the first time when I took my birding overseas. I was staying in the Sierra Nevada near Ronda with my wife a few months before our first child arrived. We took a trip down out of the mountains to the Cota Donana. A vast Spanish wetland. I saw dozens of birds I had never seen before and some strange little plovers that seemed to be washed out Ringed Plovers. They were of course Kentish Plovers. So they remind me of the first time I really birded overseas and everything was strange and new.

The second reason is the jigsaw puzzle of birding. I have to say I thought this was some form of sandplover. I am pretty sure after 20 minutes with the books that it isn't. It has black legs and a white collar and partial neck band whereas the sandplovers have a full neckband.

I am already studying some strange photos for bird 101 - I have a real mystery to solve for a bird I flushed off a puddle on a building site. So there we are 100 birds logged - 1 % of the worlds birds collected like beautiful stamps on my silly little site.

Kentish Plover, Chaladrius alexandrinus
Warsan, "the puddle", Dubai, UAE
31 March 2012

99 : Purple Heron

Purple Heron - Ardea purpera

I specifically went out in search of purple today. So did I see one ? I watched a heron dive into the reeds and then fired off a number of shots.

In the bag - probably a juvenile but certainly a Purple Heron

Warsan Pits, Dubai, UAE
31 March 2012

98 : Grey Heron

Grey Heron - Ardea cinera

I am getting a bit cocky with my in-flight shots using a manual focus, sports mode and setting 2 for sideways panning anti camera shake. That's what a manual is for.

Gestaldt - good word - it means I will hit 100 this weekend after focusing on it a few weeks ago - 1% of the world's birds logged on my site. There was a time when the list of birds I had actually seen as a born-again birder was only 100. I started again in I think 1998 in earnest after a long break. If I had started this site then, or something like it, going at a bird a day I would still only have 5000 birds logged up. Man o man its takes a serious chunk of time to fulfil this Task. Absolute glacial pace. I would probably though have not got where I was with work or had children or indeed ever grown a carrot. It takes a day to find photograph and log up just 5 birds pretty much so I think it will be in fits and starts according to mood.

I am looking foward to Tanzania in July. I think with a following wind I should be able to get 200 or so species in the camera bag as it were in a week. I am sure that will make my family delighted - Mummy why has dad not spoken to us for 7 days. Because he's off the deep end again. Why is he ignoring that leopard (panthus panthus) - because there is a Kori's bustard behind it. I have actually been sneakily practicing by watching the equivalent of big cat diaries and ticking off birds in the background. Look theres a Courser - why on earth don't they tell people about that instead of the flipping meercat again !

I am about to restore balance to the world of safari with proper attention being paid to the things sat on the back of the black rhino - I am going to try themed pairs - Lion with...Elephant with...Crododile with...Jacana flying over Hippo...multitasking.

Warsan Pits, Dubai UAE
31 March 2012

97 - Little Grebe

Little Grebe - Tachybaptus ruficollis

Not a good shot but nice to see these bird with I think a chick. Warsan pits as ever - a nice reminder of home.

Warsan Pits, Dubai UAE

31 March 2012

96 : Richard's Pipit

Richards Pipit - Anthus richardi

This was a hard call for me because Pipits are a nightmare. This bird is clearly very upright which is quite diagnostic cf a Tawny Pipit which is the other regular Pipit at the Pivots which is much more horizontal in aspect and bleached out and sandy. The legs look a fuller pink to me and the sides are a much warmer buff. So its going up as a Richard's for now. I cannot make out the outer tail feathers and in any event Blyth's is a rarer bird in these parts.

Some birds will have to be posted with my best guess and in years to come no doubt some pedant can pull down a few identifications and I will be back on the road again with an automatic bird like robot that will shuffle up and grab a feather and perform an instant DNA test. This bird does look spookily just like the picture in Birds of the Middle East - posed perfectly.

Pivot Fields, Dubai, UAE
31 March 2012

95 : Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike - Lanius exubiter

Just celebrating this bird with a brie, rocket and Mrs Balls Peach Chutney sandwich. Sandwich comes a close second. I do like shrikes - they perform for an audience. Car got dumped and I went into sneeking mode on a roadside patch of wasteland as Pakistani lorry drivers stared in amazement. What is this mad Inglezi doing ? Earning my sandwich.

The last time I saw one of these I was cameraless. Someone left the cake out in the rain. Not today. In the bag - number 95 come on down.

Wire at Warsan, Dubai UAE
31 March 2012

94 : Grey Francolin

Grey Francolin - Francolinus pondericerianus

Caught one of these comical little partridges skulking in some roadside vegetation today when I was looking for a Bluethroat without any success. There you go - every birding cloud has silver lining. These take over where pheasants leave off in these parts. They can really motor on two legs when startled.

I was out birding with my mate Spencer and his Dad last week and I got the impression that in Africa this is one for the pot. They do look tasty.

Warsan Roadside, UAE
31 March 2012

93 : Indian Roller

Indian Roller - Coracias benghalensis

Whenever someone says "ooh I saw a bird in the park the other day - amazing colours", I can guarantee it will turn out to be either a Hoopoe, Litte Green Bea-Eater or this fellow. The Indian Roller. If they say "amazing blue when it flew'' I know exactly what they saw.

Now I think I had the camera on the wrong setting but its the colours in flight with the irridescent blues and purples that catch peoples' eyes.

You can pretty much guarantee to see one in any of Dubai's parks if you keep a look out.

This bird sits on the bug pivot arm of the irrigation wheel at the Pivot Fields and picks up the worms and bugs forced to the surface by the water.

I will try again now that the camera is getting more familiar but for now I leave you with the kind of shots that remind me of the views you always get of these birds. Flashes of the most brilliant blues - electric, pulsing, shiny.

I have no idea what advantage they get from being these colours - I am glad they are though as they always brighten up a morning.

Indian Roller, Coracias benghalensis
Pivot Fields, Dubai
31 March 2012

92 : Greater Spotted Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle - Aquila clanger

After a good check of the plumage I think this long range shot is a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle. The picture was taken at Rhas Khor this afternnoon. There were perhaps four or five of these impressive birds gathered. They overwinter because of the easy supply of food - in this case our beloved Dubai flamingoes !

These birds normally associate themselves with water, marshes etc. 5 minutes drive from the Dubai Mall - birds the size of doors on tap !!

Greater Spotted Eagle, Aquila clanger
Rhas Al Khor, Dubai, UAE
24 April 2012

91 : Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper - Tringa glareola

This is one of my favourite waders, It would lift a whole days birding in the UK for me. They were not widespread on passage and a real birder's bird. I love the plumage - the crisp white underparts and the beaded back. They are on their way up to the taiga forests of central Asia where they breed.

There were two of these birds at the Pivot fields today when I took my friend Spencer and his Dad who was visiting on a mini-birding safari. Very exciting to connect with these birds again. This is a literally a big puddle caused by overpsraying this corner of the field. We also saw snipe in the same spot but did not manage a picture. I am utilising the "stood next to mate'' rule for this shot as I was driving the hide and Spencer took up my camera on request to get this picture.

Not one but two - top drawer !

Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola
Pivot Fields, Dubai, UAE
24 March 2012

90 : Laughing Dove

Laughing Dove - Streptopelia senegalensis

This is our resident dove in the UAE. I will get some better shots but the males in breeding plumage are beautiful. I am off out with my camera today and my aim is to get 10 birds to take me to the 100 mark. I want the RBR under 1 by the end of this weekend !! Take the pressure off the birdsmen.

Laughing Dove, Streptopelia senegalensis
Al Barsha Compouns, UAE
24 March 2012

89 : Collared Dove

Collared Dove - Streptopelia decaocto

The collared is a successful bird that has colonised Europe from the near East faster than any other recorded bird species. It is really at home in the Middle East but a relatively new arrival across Europe, breeding in the UK for the first time in 1956. The reason for the rapid spread is not known but they are prolific breeders.

The sound of a calling collared dove is probably now considered to be a quintessential Summer English sound - just 70 years ago their only foothold in Europe was the Balkans.

Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaoto
Al Barsha Compound
23 March 2012

88 : Red-wattled Plover

Red-wattled Plover - Hoplopterus indicus

This is a real Dubai bird. Every piece of waste ground seems to have a breeding pair. Their alarm call when disturbed is picked out at night quite often. I took a few action shots of this one running across a small dune on some wasteground near Warsan. These are so common I had assumed that I had already posted up a shot ! I am in a real hurry to make it to 100 now !

Red-wattled Plover - Hoplopterus indicus
Warsan
22 March 2012

87 : Great White Egret

Great White Egret - Egretta alba

These huge egrets over-winter in the UAE. They really are impressive and told apart from other Egrets by the snake like neck.

Rhas Al Khor
22 March 2012

86 : Isabelline Shrike

Isabelline Shrike - Lanius Isabellinus

The first point to note is that the picture below was taken with the old camera. The picture above was added to the page more recently.  This is big crop job on a ling range photo taken at the Pivot Fields with the old Lumix. I still have quite a few images floating around that will work there way through into the daily bird - especially while I am trying to work out how to use the new camera !

Hopefully you can see how far away this bird was from the below :

I am sure this is an Isabelline because of its rufous tail. This is a bird that Summers in Iran and northwards into Central Asia. It will be on the way through as ever on passage. Its usual habitat is dry steppe with bushes, and scattered acacias, semi-desert or barren mountains. Well there is a lot of that around this part of the world. 1% day is getting closer.

I think it will be an anti-climax. I am planning on having 20 new images under my belt and sitting up one night with a comfortable bottle and taking the site right through to about 120 - break the back on that second 100 and get some momentum. Its funny but targets are interesting things - if you miss a target by a mile it was the wrong one in the first place so thats bad target setting e.g. One bird a day was just impossible to maintain at my age and stage. I notice how often I will exceed targets by less or more than say 2-3%. That suggests to me the old adage that if you set a stretching target you will achieve it if you want to.

Its March now. It would be fun to see if (without Tanzania) I could get to 200 before mid July. I probably still have the odd image tucked away and I need a driver to get me using the new camera and comfortable before Safarigeddon ! I know what it was like in the Yala - a new bird every 5 yards. I already have multiple bird anxiety. Not only am I trying to see birds but also photograph them and thats a tall order at times. I can start some one that got away stories like some old seaman. I was watching my son play rugby last week for example - semi final of UAE under 11's - a Lesser Grey Shrike pops up on the floodlight scaffold - no camera !

All things to muse about anyhow. 86 - the centenary is coming - 1% of the worlds birds collected. Of all the things I have done in the last few years that will be something I am quite chuffed about. The corolary of that acheivement is that I will be at least 142 before I finish at the current bird rate. I watch cricket on occasion - the last game I saw was a Pakistan vs England 20/20 match - run rate is everything in that game. We already established that in order to see every bird before I was 67 the bird rate needed to be at least 1 per day. The rate is currently at 0.27 so the finishing day slips until I am 142 !

I may well work out my bird rate required in order to finish before I am 70 and capture the impossible Task as an audited statistic !! Boys and numbers. The funny thing is that as at today date "Neils Daily Bird" is a self prophesising statistical tool - I do literally need a bird a day to finish before I am 70 - then I am starting the butterflys.

Isabelline Shrike - Lanius Isabellinus
Pivot Fields, Dubai
March 2012

85 : Pied Myna

Pied Myna - Sturnus contra

One of the first birds that I saw when I moved to Dubai - on this occasion feeding on lawn at the Greens where my serviced apartment was. The family were still in the UK and one amusement was to walk around with my bins, somewhat  aimlessly, marvelling at life ticks from garden birds.

I have since learned that this is an Indian bird which has shown up in the UAE, either by way of escapes and subsequent breeding or under its own steam. In the UK there are many "C" list ticks. Those are non-endemic birds that are now breeding under their own steam in the wild. Rose Ringed Parakete, Canada Goose, Pheasant, Egyptian Goose, Mandarin - you get the idea. However they have come to Dubai they are definately here to stay.

This bird C list ? Maybe. I prefer them to the Common Mynas plumage wise though and they are far far rarer. I see 1 of these for every 100 Common Myna and they are definately less "off the boat''.

15 more ticks and we hit the 1% mark. 1% of the world's bird collected on my site with a bad camera (now replaced). I was wondering what I should do to celebrate. I think an especially good picture or an especially decent bird will be needed. Perhaps an alltime top 100 to fit its 100th bird status. I need put to my mind to it. The first "centenary bird".  A bird that will stand the test of all the other world's birds.  Sorry Pied Myna its not going to be you or any other Myna. Plans will need to be made. Perhaps I will skip the significance of each centenary bird and just start my Top of the Pops list - a top ten all time from the site ?

Pied Myna is still not going to make the cut on that. I feel that it may be a little early to begin a nostalgic list on this particular outing however I do manage to keep a top 20 on my Ipod that changes every so often (5 star songs - I could listen to them all forever - and there can be only 20). I think I will crown a Top 100 at some point. To start that off  I will arrange my first top 10 on the site. That will be fun - just in time for Tanzania to throw an almighy spanner in the works. I started this blog applying marks out of 100 and that soon went as a tool. I think a loose top 10 at least until we are over the 1000 mark should work well then I can think about increasing it to a Top 20. 1000 ?? I think I will feel that this is really going to happen in some monumental form when I hit the 1000. And here I am just dreaming about hitting 100. Interesting though that out of those first 100 many are birds I have never seen before. The discipline - if you can call it a discipline is driving me out to find new birds. This site is like a hungry monster in the back of my mind - "Feed me birds". Well all right then on to bird number 86....  

Birds of East Africa waits for me upstairs. Lots of preperation needed.

Pied Myna, Sturnus Contra
Al Barsha Park
March 2012

84 : Bluethroat

Bluethroat - Luscinia svecia

I went to the Pivot Fields today after work but they would not let me in as the commercial enterprise shuts at 6pm. I decided to park up and walk along the wire fence on the outside. You will forgive the poor pictures but Bluethroat is a skulking bird and this is the second one I have seen in a lifetime. I set the camera on sports mode and hammered away. It was dark and there is probably a lot of camera shake.

Above : He bounced across from one piece of cover toward another

The first time I saw a Bluethroat it posed for me for 10 seconds showing off its brilliant chest before bouncing back into the reeds. These birds overwinter in Africa and the Middle East close to swampy ground where they can find it. In the Spring they head on up to arborial Asia - wooded trundra, marshy glades of spruce, willow and birch and shrubby wetlands. A far cry from this "turf"' farm in the United Arab Emirates that was home this Winter

Hopefully despite the blur you can make out the delightful sky blue, russet/peach, white and black bands and rings that make up the throat patterning.

What a peach indeed.

Bluethroat, Luscinia svecia
Warsan roadside, Dubai UAE
19 March 2012

83 : Graceful Prinia

Garceful Prinia - Prinia Gracilis

Another Lawn shot to test out my new camera. Very pleased that the red eye shows up on this bird, and the colour of the legs. These tiny birds are like a ball of fluff on a stick - if a cat shows they make more noise than for their size seems possible. They will hover and scald the cat who generally looks bemused and slopes off defeated. Second bird shot with the new camera. Absolutely loving it and do not want to go to work - roll in the weekend.

Graceful Prinia, Prinia Gracilis
Al Barsha, Dubai
19 march 2012

82 : Red-vented Bulbul

Red-Vented Bulbul - Pycnonotus cafer

The new camera has arrived. It is a Canon EOS 550 D to which I have added a 100-400mm image stablising fast lens. I have a x2 extender to fit into that (which would take it from x8 up to x16 magnification) but the disadvantage is that the auto-focus does not work with that piece of kit included.  The results should be immediate.  The major advanatge is another whole bunch of megapixels which means that when I crop a photo of a bird taken through the lens it should come out as good as the best little pictures I was taking on my hand held Panasonic Lumix thing.

Please do click on him to enjoy a slightly better view.

More exciting news is that I have booked a week's safari to Tanzania for the whole family this coming July. I have purchased a copy of Birds of East Africa and I am all set to go - yesterday !

This bird - I like the Red-vented Bulbuls - they are common bird around the compound. The smoky grey and charcoal plumage with the bright crimson vent is a striking combination.

So hopefully  my bird photography can take a step up now. Lets see.

Red-vented Bulbul, Pycnonotus cafer
API Villas, Al Barsha 1, Dubai, UAE
19 March 2012

81 : Shovelor

Shovelor - Anas Clypeata

I remember seeing my first Shovelor at Welney WWT when I was perhaps 8 or 9 - gliding through the gloom. The giant paddle shaped beak remains a source of fun. They are handsome - almost a metalic British Racing Green to the head and a neat white and chestnut side. I'd quite happily decorate my front room the colours of a Shovelor.

I picked this bird up at Rhas Al Khor on March 10 2012

80 : Water Pipit

Water Pipit - Anthus spinoletta

Pesky Pipits ! I believe this long range snap is a water pipit as the front is less marked than other pipits, it has a quite distinct supercilium and a peachy wash to its front parts as it comes into breeding plumage. This was a tiny pipit like a mouse crawling around the feet of the bigger egrets and gulls is the margins created by the Pivot Fields sprayers.

(I have added some additional photos here taken in April 2013 just to give some better views. The pale supercilious is a give away).

This would be a top bird for me back in the UK, usually seen during passage and resting on the edge of a gravel pit somewhere in April or May. I am quite pleased to have found my own - helps your birding confidence.

Water Pipit, Anthus spinoletta
Pivot Fields, Dubai

10 March 2012

79 : Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo - Phoenicopterus ruber

You can always wait for a better picture but at some point you have to post to keep the Task going. When I get the new camera I will do some head shots and try and do these elegant birds justice. The constant companions of mediterranean holidays I was pleased to find a large overwintering population at Rhas Al Khor ("the head of the creek") when I came to Dubai. Populations breed around estuaries further up the coast in Abu Dhabi. A large proportion of the birds that overwinter in the UAE fly North to the Caspian sea each year to breed.

The wetland at Rhas Al Khor is a globally important wetland for birds on migration and overwintering and has been declared a RAMSI site (a world protected wetland). It holds a decent tract of mature mangrove and it is always worth a stop-off if you are passing to see what's about at any time of year. At the moment the elegant pink flamingos dot the whole thing with the towering relief of the Dubai skyline and the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building,  in the background. Its a favourite picture in Dubai but people would do well to remember that one false move with the local developments and the site could be degraded. Dubai without flamingos would be a very sad place. At one point they were going to build an opera house and a luxury villas - of course the flamingos would stay being opera lovers themselves.

If there is one thing that's slightly more ridiculous than a wading flamingo it has to be a flamingo in flight. I will update this page through time with some better pictures.

Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber
Rhas Al Khor, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
12 March 2012

78 : Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret - Bulbulcus ibis

Came across a sizeable group of these egrets in breeding plumage at the Pivot Fields today.

The pivot was in full spray - turn it off and this would be desert. Dubai is an artficial home for birds in many respects but it makes for some interesting visitors !

A small group of these birds has taken up residence in the very South of the UK doing what they do - hanging around with some italian bison imported for cheese production.

Cattle Egret, Bulbulcus ibis
Pivot Fields, Dubai
10 March 2012

77 : Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike - Lanius senator

I was inspired today to go crawling in the desert. I have been reading a book called the Jewel Hunter by a chap called Chris Goodie. This is Chris Site .Chris gave up everything to go crawling through the jungle (literally) looking for very rare and elusive ground dwelling birds called Pittas. There are 32 species of them and they all live primary rain forest from Africa through the Indian subcontinent and right down into the muckiest parts of South East Asia and on into the Pacific. Chris decided he wanted to see all 32 species in a year. Some people spend 20 years looking and never see some Pitta species. Parts of the book are interesting in respect of the lengths you have to go to to see a Pitta and the techniques. Chris view is that you get down on the floor, make yourself small and look like a non-threatening tree or bush if you can. Hours of being bitten by leaches, insects, avoiding snakes, getting cut by rattan in the steamy dirty jungles of the world. All to see some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet.

A bit like a child who has just seen a war film I went out playing at jungle birding this morning. I went to an abandoned dusty building site which is now fairly overgrown and that I know has a few good birds on it. I slipped past the security guards (got thrown out later by a bloke in an official looking 4x4 who just smiled and pointed to the exit). I got down and dusty all morning. If I could see or hear a bird I got down and crawled a few paces at a time taking shots as I went in to see how close I could get. I think I pretty much got to within 4 or 5 feet of the shrub that this Shrike was perched on. Generally Shrikes are pretty hardy individuals anyway but I felt it worked better than walking toward one bolt upright looking like a man pointing a shooty thing (even if it was a camera). Of course I could get a better camera and a longer lens to save my knees but given that field craft will win the day when I go out for my Pittas I may as well learn some animal cunning now. I am jungle training. My wife laughed and said that I had worn my kaki shorts for the first time in years. The more I read the more I know that seeing every bird in the world and taking a picture of it is impossible.  I am going to get dirty trying though and it is more fun than the day job.

More about this bird. I think this is a male bird on the way through north on migration and stopping for a refuel. Woodchat Shrike do overwinter in Dubai from what I can gather but this is the first bird  I have seen. I think this is the second species of Shrike I have posted up so far (see post 13 Brown Shrike for a fuller description of this pugnacious little family of birds). They are real favouries with me. They are always munching dragon flies or carting off little lizards. The last one I saw was in July 2000 on honeymoon in Umbria.

I popped into the Pivot Fields later and saw another shrike propped up on one of the big pivots themselves. The water sprayers were on and it was a buffet for birds as all the insects must have been driven out of the turf to the surface. I attach my distant view from my "'car hide" - I was not going to go crawling through a puddle in front of 30 Pakistani workmen. I have limits - crawling strictly on my tod I think.

From the eye mask this second bird is a male. I think it may be Isabelline as it lacks the pied white markings. If it is an Isabelline that will be a life tick for me. I need to hit the books.

Some days the birds are just flowing like a river through Dubai - passage is most certainly on. I am now celebrating two Shrikes (and a possible Isabelline which is a life tick for me) with cold beer and happily editing all the sneaky new pictures I took this morning. Birding life doesn't get any better.

Woodchat Shrike, Lanius senator
Warsan Pits/abandoned villas, Dubai UAE
10 March 2012

76 : Marsh Harrier

Marsh Harrier - Circus aeruginosus

Picture above added to post 31 March 2012 courtesy of camera upgrade.

I am going to call this place the Warsan pits. It is a development project gone awry in Dubai. The pits will deterioate over time which is a shame as salty water will leach into what has been created with fresh water. The developer Nakhheel was going to build a number of luxury villas but shelved it - helpfully they built the accompanying nature reserve designed to attract your investment. It will however slowly take back to desert as it is now left to fend for itself. I may be wrong but I cannot see any incentive for them to spend good money to keep up this little honey pot for birds. A good thing I guess - nature did not intend a  green oasis for this particular spot. But then again what is Barn Elms in London - its controlled by electronic slooze gates - clearings are felled for birds in the Breckons - we cultivate for wildlife all over the world. So why not here - give something back as we have taken enough away.

Up to 30 or 40 Marsh Harriers will roost in this reed bed according to a contact I made recently - today I watched 3 quartering the site and playing on the wind. I also saw Little Ringed Plover, Purple Heron, Great White Egret, dozens of Great Comorants, Black Necked Grebe - in the desert - go figure. I leave you with my (blurred and snapped) shots of the Dubai Marsh Harriers of Warsan Pits.

Marsh Harrier - Circus aeruginosus
Warsan Pits, Dubai, UAE
March 4 2012