297 : White-throated Robin

White-throated Robin - Irania gutturalis

I am not a good birder because I don't get my backside out of bed to walk a local patch for 20 minutes each morning just to see what is about. I am reading a book called "A Patch Made in Heaven" by Dominic Cousins about the joy of birding a single small, say square kilometre, and recording what turns up, moves through, breeds and so on. That level of focus on a single space forces you to concentrate on detail to stay interested - behaviour, numbers, oddities, patterns. Its time as ever. My routine involves getting up at 6 am - or not ! -  bit of news and facebook catch up - 6.30 am we have a new commitment to sit at the table together for breakfast - 7 am I do the school run for one of our boys to Dubai College -  I get back about 7.20 am and then write this blog - then its the gym for 30-40 minutes to try and lose some weight and then its work - trying to arrive before 9 am and then I am straight through until perhaps 7 pm on most days. I could I guess write this blog in the evening and perhaps try and stop at a patch on the way back from school drop for say 20 minutes ? Its a plan - but I am not sure I could get wedded to a patch of scrub in Dubai - a local park ? a desert edge. There might be a compromise in there with a patch watch 2 or 3 times a week. Its a thought for the New Year as I run out of bird pictures to post !

Back to Oman - my patch is the World for The Task ! For 2 mornings my local patch was a series of dry valleys (with evidence of running water at times) up from our camp site nestled in the Hajar mountains. Some robin like birds were defying any identification - flitting between bushes and boulders and feeding on the ground mostly. They were localised to a small valley and seem to operate as a small flock.

I have never had to share a patch with a camel before - the chomping noise at times was off-putting. I don't understand whether camels are entirely benign or perhaps a bit risky to be around so I tried to give this one a wide berth !

I have worked hard at the identification since the New Year and I think this is the Winter plumage or Juvenile (first Winter) plumage for White-throated Robin. Other likely candidates fall short so it is as much a process of elimination as anything. The throat, eye pattern and general shape and behaviour put this as a "robin" for me. I reserve the right to amend the identification if it is pulled up but it is the result of a good 2 hours of bookwork.

A lot can depend on how a bird is sitting, in shade or catching the sun. The warmth or otherwise of plumage varies considerably (this is the same bird and all of the warmer reddy brown tones are missing because of the light).

The same light that played on the mountains right through the day producing a fabulous backdrop to these small birds.

Now with an interlude for work emails, a longer blog, no visit to the gym my daily boot up has gone right off schedule ! Still its January 7th and I have logged up 6 birds so the Daily Bird is almost living up to its name.

White-throated Robin, Irania gutturalis
Oman, Hajar Mountains
30 December 2013 -1 January 2014