327 : Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler - Dendroica palmerum

So back to the land of Mickey for another business trip but this time in the Winter months so you would expect a few things to drift down from the North seeking out walker clines. Here is one that could not have been there on my last trip. This little fellow and his or her mates down from the North to hide away at the Grande Lakes Marriot in Orlando.

It was a 16 hours each way Yo-Yo with literally 3/4 days in the middle - I even had to speak after dinner. I managed to escape I think for 3 hours before the thing kicked off properly and took a walk down the side of lake next to a golf course. A bit manicured - but here and there quite nice rough bits of meadow with flowers and butterflies. Rough equals food equals birds.

I lay down like a Dhillon to take this (Dhillon is my Obi One and only met him once for 2 days in India - see back !!). "Down be with bird" he might say. So there I lay prostrate - is that a gland or a posture - anyway it was humiliating as all these big lawyer types were jogging past to oxygenate themselves for the conference. Men and Women - running past what I guess is the equivalent of a Dunlin. But we know better. Some stopped and asked.

"Hey buddy what Ya photographing - Oh sorry just a Palm Warbler". "What you looking at ?" - "Oh nothing - Just a butterfly "

I felt justified a day or so later bouncing up on to the stage to Viva Las Vegas after dinner to do the entertainment. I should have switched the slides from films to birds and butterflies.

"What is this US species of blue butterfly - which insect larvae does it predate whilst in a pupae form using a special pheromone to infiltrate the nest. 100 m years of evolution folks ?"

I get it - we all have jobs and we all jog. I have walked on the edge of many many built up areas. I think people are just shy to stop and look - the popularity of wildlife programmes tells us otherwise.

I cannot believe that people can jog past this stuff. "This shit takes my breath away" in the words of the Divine Comedy.

This "Shit" is metres away. Its everywhere. Get prostrate xx

Palm Warbler, Dendroica Palmerum
Marrit, Grand Lakes, Orlando, Florida USA
7 November 2015

326 : Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked stilt - Himantopus mexicanus (as per the IOC)

This has to be a contender for one of the most graceful birds on the planet. Not so far off an Avocet  and of course in the same family as the Western Palearctic's Black-winged stilt. I have run into a controversy with myself today though - is this a different species or simply a subspecies of the European bird. It all depends on which global bird list you follow.

The European birds have no black markings on the neck at all - to my eye they look completely different. My Handbook of the Birds of the World in a very imperialistic tone merely categorises this as a sub-species of Black-winged Stilt. Sibley on the other hand the premier hand-held text book for the US states that this is a separate species. How far apart do populations have to drift before they classify as a separate species altogether. I think I have discussed this before with gulls - how around the world say a Lesser Black-backed gull will morph into 3 or 4 species with sub-sets as you circle the planet. We see the same thing with Herring Gull morphing into Yellow-legged Gull and then Caspian Gull. What's the scientific answer. I could just rely on Sibley or find a list that states that Mexicanus is a separate species. The debate is between the "splitters" and the "lumpers". One thing is for sure is that I have discovered that I haven't posted a Black-winged Stilt at all yet which could make for a very easy win with a 20 minute drive to the Creek in Dubai ! (August ticks being hot to come by but I know an air-conditioned hide).

It does appear that the AOU (American Ornithologist's Union) treat this bird as a separate species and really then I should relabel this page Black-winged Stilt and then describe this as a sub-species based on the Handbook. The classic scientific definition to actually answer my own question is that a species is the largest class of hybrids of a collection of animals capable of sexual reproduction resulting in viable offspring. That doesn't seem to be the end of it though with birds as every Tom Dick or Harriet (I hope) wants a species names after him or her so tries to split them out with voice, DNA, behaviour, and looks all being thrown into the mix. Someone declared a new owl species in Oman down the road based on a different song - now apparently they are doing it with some owls on every tiny Pacific island. Logically if you follow every variation you must end up with tens of thousands of different species. Are the Galapagos finches with different bills for each island species or sub-species.

When Darwin travelled on the Beagle he went not as a scientist but as the Gentleman companion to the captain. A bit like Maturin to Aubrey from the O'Brien novels but without leg-sawing duties. Darwin got interested in the question of why there were so many species when a man told him that he could tell which island a giant tortoise came from purely based on the shape of its shell. Tortoises from dryer islands had a raised shell at the front entrance which allowed them to crane for the higher branches of the vegetation something like a giraffe in the bush. On more irrigated islands the tortoises lacked this adaptation as they only needed to graze on the ground to survive. In times of drought on the drier islands only the tortoises with the adapted shell's survived as they had more opportunities to feed and so in time all non-adpated tortoises died out and all the offspring had the raised shell. I wonder why the american stilts have black-necks ? Accident or opportunity ? Fashion or utility ?

I am none the wiser just now for my research but it appears that for this Stilt grouping you can treat them as 1 species with 7 sub-species of 7 seperate species or even 2 species each with 3 or 4 sub-species - there are other permutations. I think we leave this debate for now - it doesn't impact on me tactically until I have to post up another stilt and come out as a splitter or a lumper. I did say in my "rules" which list I was following and jumping ship is probably not then appropriate. A shame but there you go.

How about just admiring the bird ?

By reference to the size of its body those have to be the longest legs that you can see on a bird. Disproportionate even beyond cranes and herons. When it flies the long trailing pink legs are ridiculous - somehow they don't snap when it lands.

I am torn back to the controversy - "most sources recognise 6 species in 2 genera" says Wikipedia. I think I need to go back to my rules and settle this before I post - Himantopus himantopus mexicanus (a tri-named sub-species) or Himantopus mexicanus (a species proper). We go by the rules of this site or we have to change the rules. Well the Task page of this site says (back on the day "1" when I set out on this journey or whenever I first stumbled into this issue) that I am going by the IOC list of birds - I think that's the International Ornithologists Committee or Converntion ...Do they have this much difficulty in Bake-Off - yes they do....do they vote ? They must vote after a scientific debate - can anyone go and wave a picture of  bird with a new coloured eye ? so I am off to the IOC list to see what the birdy gnomes who have got themselves elected to that body and get a vote er... have voted. What are the politics of it - is it a self perpetuating oligarchy or is it elected ? Can any numpty get on it or do you have to have a degree in birdology ? - is it riven by great schisms between lumpers and splitters. It must be the fault line of the battle but in general a splitting body if it has made it to  6 species for stilts whereas the Handbook of the Birds of the World is stuck at 1 - a bit conservative and European me thinks.

So for the record its the IOC list (sounds nice and official like IMF or IWB or WWF) and I won't get thrown or debate this publicly anymore. If my Handbook lists something as a sub-species I will check the IOC list and that will be that. It looks very different to me and I had to fly across an ocean to get it   ! Whichever pair of stilts made that crossing and had descendants with lovely bi-coloured heads deserve separate species status on Neil's Daily Bird. Hallas.

It is a separate species according to the IOC. Marvellous. Looks like a trip to the creek then and we can  do a compare view ! Or is it marvellous - that means I have to go chasing 5 other species of stilt rather than relying on this one picture from Christmas, Florida (thats the town not the season).

Lets have a butterfly to close the issues. Some sort of swallowtail - haven't a clue - next to the car park when I realised I hadn't brought any lunch and was starving and was in Hicksville USA on a Sunday with nothing but Wolf FM the sound of country for company...howling out to you !

Black-necked stilt, Himantopus mexicanus
Orlando Wetlands Park, Florida, USA
July 2015

325 : Anhinga

Anhinga - Anhinga anhinga

Perhaps the strangest bird encountered for a long time. A reptilian monster that for much of the time struggles to take on the form of a bird. Part of the global family of "Darters" of which there are 4. They do look related to "Cormorants" and they certainly hunt and eat fish below the surface but the comparison ends there. Take a look at an Anhinga grabbing a quick breath while hunting underwater.

The  whole body of the bird is submerged and just the snake-like head is visible as it catches a breath. Sinewy and rope like the bird can twist around underwater to chase and spear its fishy prey. The other views of Anhinga you are likely to get are of them drying out their feathers onshore for an age which must be an important process. Typically a duck or other water bird has strong waterproofing provided by oils and preening. My understanding is that Anhingas who have to swim for a living dispense with this to allow themselves to sink and in order to keep the feathers in working order for flight long hours are spent drying out after each dive.

So not the most attractive of birds but in many respects you have to admire the year's of evolution that turns a perfectly good bird into a snake-necked submarine hunter. Whilst I caught up with this species in Florida they are a bird typically of South America and the waterways and rivers of the tropics. Straight from Jurassic Park.

Anhinga,  Anhinga anhinga
Florida, Orlando Wetland Park
May 2015

324 : Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis

I have heard americans refer to these as "redbirds" and you can see why. They are resident in the Eastern and mid-West but do not seem to have a range that extends to across the Rockies to the West. They are ask resident in Mexico.

The red colour seems to be quite hard for the the camera to cope with in terms of picking out feathers.  They remind me of  Hawfinch in the UK in terms of bill structure, size of head etc. but of course I never have and never will see a Hawfinch because they don't exist !!

Its a while since I was in Florida but I guess something else to report from the trip was my bemused discovery of country music. The only genre where people just drink, have failed relationships and drive around in trucks all day. I am not sure it is my music !

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis
Orlando Wetland Park, Florida
May 2015

323 : Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoenicus

It has taken me several weeks to put fingertips to laptop again to start to complete my Florida bird set. So long in fact that I find myself in the Lake District on my next trip - the annual family holiday. But back to Florida first and a staple American bird.

The red epaulettes on this bird take it beyond the ordinary even if it is common. These birds were abundant around the hotel and at the Orlando Wetland Park. So abundant in fact that it is considered an agricultural pest and is shot, poisoned and trapped. Despite this there remain 200 m individual birds across the States, Canada and down into Mexico and Central America.

The photo above was taken on the scrubland around the hotel.

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoenicus
Scrub near Hilton, Orlando, Florida
May 2015

322 : Eastern Meadlowlark

Eastern Meadowlark - Sturnella magna

A nice dashing lark of open grasslands. I got very excited on the drive into the Disney Wildlife Preservation. My first views of a low flying bird with down curved fast beating wings  had me convinced that I was looking at some form of grouse, quail or partridge. The bird then sat up on a bush singing and I pounded out 30 or 40 shots to try and get a good one. Reminded me a bit of the Longspur from the Serengetti. Similar yellow colouring and so on and size and habitat. This reserve certainly had the feel of some type of savannah at its entrance.

Typically then there was a pair of them sat on the lawn at the education centre (shot above) that I could just walk up to and snap. It is always the way !

Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna
Disney Wilderness Preservation, Kissamee, Florida, USA
26 May 2015

321 : Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker - Melanerpes erythrocephalus

A poor picture of a great looking bird. This was perhaps 400 m away and taken on the hoof with a 400 mm lens - I got two poor frames off before it flew on into the stand of trees behind.

I spent the day afternoon yesterday at the Disney Wilderness Preserve South of Kissamee. 9,000 acres of offset land purchased by Disney as part of their park expansion. It is managed by the Nature Conservancy in the US.

I had  a good 2 mile stroll around the place on a big loop - decided not to tack on an additional 3 miles with another loop as the car thermometer was topping 95 degrees. The terrain was mostly cyprus and palmetto. The park is dotted with smaller lakes and wetland areas. Some beautiful ponds with water lilys in flower.

I made my way down to the edge of Lake Russell and stopped for water.

A strange shore of sunken trees - many draped with Spanish "Moss".

The wood was a welcome change from being exposed to the full sun. Hard to bird though under a dark canopy and get any decent shots - even if you could see a bird in the first place. The general technique is to listen and then look - the little critters usually have to move though to give you half a chance. I am getting my eye back in slowly.

Biting insects were a real problem. There is some sort of giant fly about an inch long that just lands on you and sinks in its teeth. Really painful and I have a big welt this morning on one ankle - the bloody thing actually bit me through my socks ! Overall though I have got away quite lightly remembering to use the jungle juice in nice lethal doses.

How about this fine fellow. When agitated he raised a flap under his throat to warn me off. My younger son Sam has already identified this for me as a Brown Anole Lizard from the wild Florida website. Its good have technical backup like on Spring Watch or indeed the moon landings. Its a great site and you can read about this Lizard here.

The woodpecker is sadly decreasing in its numbers in North America. It is a bird of the South and East. Habitat loss is the main threat. What is needed is for 9000 acres to be set aside not because another 9000 acres is being trashed but just for the hell of it.

Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus
Disney Wildlife Preservation, Kissamee, Florida US
26 May 2015

320 : Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike - Lanius ludovicianus

The picture above was taken at the Disney Wilderness Preserve and is the best picture I have got of these birds all week.

I had to catch up with some work on Monday so I just headed over to some wasteland at about 3 pm with little expectation of getting onto any decent birds. It turned out to be a great mini-safari with birds up for offer including this Loggerhead Shrike. I'd seen a couple of these from the car on wires while driving but without being able to stop. Having this just on the doorstep was a result.

The stand out stars of the show though were the dragonflies. I don't have a clue what they are but one, a gold creature was possible the most beautiful thing I have ever photographed.

I am going head out to the Disney Wildlife Preserve this morning.

Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus
Wasteland by Hilton Hotel, Destination Parkway, Orlando
25 May 2017

319 : Mottled Duck

Mottled Duck - Anas fulvigula

This is a long ranged shot but again its the range and a few identification markings from my Sibley that confirms the identification for me. Again there seems to be Mallards, Mexican Mallards (a sub-species), American Black Duck (a darker brown !) and these fellows all slightly overlapping in range and hybridising and so on. I know this is a mottled duck because when you look at the bill blown up on the photo below it is a brighter yellow - not drab like a female but a male bill but on this occasion without the Mallard male plumage of a shiny green head and so on. If you look at the bird above it has a black spot on the "gape" (the corner of the bill/edge of underside of neck. I love identification - it is a nice jigsaw puzzle that tells me that the Daily Bird clicked on a notch. You can click on the photo and then blow up ourself if on an iPad - black spot on the gape.

Mottled Duck, Anas fulvigula
Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida
24 May 2015

318 : Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher - Myiarchus crinitus

When you are in the field after a couple hours you often wonder what more could turn up. Keep going as around that corner in my experience anything can and will happen. There is a direct correlation between looking and seeing or exploring and learning. Time invested is time well spent.

I think I just stopped round a corner and immediately saw this bird fluttering between  perches - always returning to this branch and on this occasion with what looks like a big Cicada. I knew it was a "tyrant flycatcher" type family bird. A purchase of a big new Sibley from Barnes and Noble sorted it out later. Each US type bird seems to have 3 or 4 geographic varieties of species. So from West to East this was either Dusky-capped, Ash-throated, Brown-Crested, Great-Crested or Nutting's flycatcher. The Great-Crested seems to tally up with identification marks and range. Its is a Summer visitor to this part of Florida but seems to over-Winter in the very South. It had quite a fluttery week flight.

I promised some other characters. The butterflies in this part of the world are stupendous. I will start with this Gulf Fritillary. Firstly the handsome orange overwing.

But just look at this for a stunning butterfly - perched and the underwing view. I am happy with this photo !

I now have a book which is helpful - I think that when in the US in the warmer months I am going to double up with butterflies. Perhaps I can use them with poorly shot brown birds to brighten up a post. There are hundreds of US species and most of the parks in Florida claim about 50.

Great Crested Flycatcher, Myiarchus crinitus 
Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida
24 May 2015

317 : Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus

I took walk into a big stand of trees yesterday at the Orlando Wetlands Reserve to see what was going on away from the sunlight. A whole different jurassic humid world of palms, cyprus trees, hardwoods and dozens of different plants draped all over them and making up the under-story. I managed to get sidetracked by the plants and butterflies which were beautiful but remembered that I am birdwatcher and ticked off the most common South and Eastern US woodpecker - the Red-bellied. I watched a pair for a good while foraging across a number of trees. Woodpeckers are fun to photograph. They know (I swear it) that you have a camera and like to shimmy around to the other side of the trunk. Every so often they peep back round and after a while get used to you if you stand still. This bird just kept coming closer and closer until he was on a tree directly in front of me. I still managed to focus on the tree and not the bird in a bunch of pictures. There is a lot going on with the camera as you have to crank up the ISO and use your tripod otherwise in the gloom its a bust. Flash photography doesn't work with woodpeckers.

These birds are common in their South and East range nesting in any suitable wooded and preferably wet habitat each Spring. They are resident and each pair can take up a territory of about a hectare. Thats 100 m2 so a bigger than a football pitch on all sides. A little over 2 acres I beleive. They seemed to be feeding on anything with legs or wings of a lower order that moved as I watched these two birds. Below a big juicy spider is picked off.

At other times they drill into the bark to get at grubs.

I mentioned getting distracted by the other flora and fauna. Yesterday was a bumper day for side characters. Firstly "Epiphytes". These are classified as any organism (plant/lichen/moss) that lives on another plant but without actually feeding on it in a parasitic manner. Orchids can be Epiphytes and make their home in hollows and nooks in trees using leaf litter and the moisture from the air for sustenance. Another good example are Bromeliads. Once I had woken up to them I started to notice them everywhere. These clinging on to the bark of this hardwood (A nice background for my woodpecker and perhaps a home for lots of insects).

I think you generally encounter this type of plant in people's bathrooms ! I will get some pictures of Spanish moss later today when I venture out (working this morning to keep up with emails). Spanish moss is not moss but actually a very fine bromeliad plant. In all those films of the deep South its the fluffy stuff that hangs from the trees in great long clouds of streamers. The mossy drifts are actually a net of very fine stems. It gives a wood that ancient and tired look - they used it in the set for Fanghorn  (home of Treebeard) in Lord of the Rings. Lichens are also epiphytes and proper moss. I guess the distinction would be with fungus that feeds on the host itself. A big mushroom is not an epiphyte - a lichen growing across some bark is.

So thats a wood for Forest Gump to wander about in - Spanish Moss, Bromeliads, Picture Plants, Palms, Conifers, other hardwood trees and lots of bugs and birds. We are as far away from Mickey Mouse as you can get in there although  this afternoon I am going to try the Disney Wildlife Preserve - thats the closest I am getting mainstream to Orlando this week when I venture out from forwarded holiday weaken hotel. I will bring the kids back for the amusement parks but need a plan to avoid the giant people stacking high the bread goods and spooning the cream cheese by the bucket load. I had a forest "glade" all to myself with wild flowers and butterflies. I guess I have to pay for those moments somehow.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus
Orlando Wetland Park, Christmas, Florida
24 May 2015

316 : Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black-bellied Whistling Duck - Dendrocygna autumnalis

The Daily Bird has been resting in a corner of my to-do list pretty much for a whole year. I think I am just a bit tired of the birds I am likely to see in the UAE and haven't been back to the UK as much of recent - and not with time to just kick back with a camera. So I am somewhere different and the call of the wild (whistles in this case) has pulled me on for a few more birds.

I find myself in Florida - the Hilton in Orlando with 4 days to use wisely. I have a conference starting on Wednesday for work. Its a long story but flights I booked to time with a longer trip involving two conferences back to back lent themselves to not being changed due their cheapness. I will be fully on the correct time for the partner conference by Wednesday which is a good thing. In the meantime room 1985 ("a jolly good year" got a laugh from one member of staff possibly not born then) looks something like the back room of a mad inventor/naturalist. Lenses, wires, laptops, bins, scopes, tripods - just a shame I forgot a bird book. Luckily Handbook of the Birds of the World online is a super resource and coupled with a pencil, paper and a camera I can back fill identification.

So lets forget about Mickey and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and understand where Florida is. Florida is sitting between 24 and 31 degrees latitude. The Tropic of Cancer is at latitude 23.43 degrees so by mid June the sun is almost directly overhead in the Florida Keys (or there abouts) or 4 degrees off the vertical in Orlando half-way up the Florida pan-handle. The tropics are situated at the axial tilt of the earth such that twice a year the sun is directly overhead either tropic after making half of its seasonal  journey. Anyway this explains why it was 96 degrees celsius on the car thermometer as I navigated myself to the Orlando Wetland's Park and why it looked liked something out of Forest Gump's trip to Nam.

I was joking to myself that this looked pretty "Good morning Vietnam" but then when I was doing my geographical trick of putting myself in context with the sun I worked out that I am pretty much on the same latitude as the "Delta to the DMZ". Dubai, Northern India and Bangladesh and Vietnam and Florida - Ah I recognise this humidity !

So its warm and that means that lots of the birds are actually shared more with the tropics and South America including these fine ducks who put on decent breeding season squabbling show for me after I had found the place using my heath robinson alternative to sat-nav (a pair of eyes, sign posts and a sense of direction and a google map). Hertz managed to supply a car without sat-nav the so-called "Never Lost" system at US 36.99 or whatever it was. Well the system itself got lost and was not installed and a Ford Focus became an SUV due to the holiday weekend demands. I am not sure whey they had a booking system as I found the Hertz lady about to give away my car to shouting family. Anyway I managed to jury rig up a system with a google map on the laptop on the front seat with directions and my blackberry. Only got lost about 3 times. Driving is expensive here - every 5 or 10 miles you have to give someone a dollar to use the next road section. I think you get somewhere in 40 minutes if they had one toll day for 10 dollars rather than 10 for 1 dollar.

40-50 minutes was a bit optimistic. The place itself is located in the small town of Christmas - I had to pass the year round Christmas tree complete with nativity scene. Its actually a giant eco-friendly water treatment facility using a large number of parcels of land and berms to filter water naturally for reusage. Home to Otters, deer and these fellows (who were not really in evidence apart from one specimen half submerged which I took to be a log a long way off).

So as well as tropical birds there are alligators and I am hoping to see West Indian Manatees at some point if I can make the drive out to Merrick Island.

Back to the ducks. I hiked round a loop trail for about 3 miles judging it perfectly for the hottest time of the day !?! I also managed not to take any water and select my heaviest equipment. The good old Bubba Gump Shrimp Company hat soaked up a litre of head juice and kept the sweat out of my eyes. The place is stunning. You could be forgiven for thinking that it is a wilderness rather than a working water treatment plant. I shall have to learn something about the flora before I go but stands of palms and pine - tracks of reeds and open water interspersed with dead forest and grassland. A patchwork quilt teaming with birds. I stumbled on a large group of what I knew were Whistling Ducks but not what kind. They were good enough to put on a squabble for me. Ever changing  gangs and pairs of thugs taking on the next set of pretenders. Perhaps establishing this year's pecking order. While the squabble continued I could get my eye back in with a new camera body. I managed to under expose everything though due to a slip of a button. Note to self - check camera settings before the action starts.

I'm coming mate !

Goose stepping ? More like the Duck-Step.

Be gone young pretender !

Three make a concerted challenge.

Don't mess with us ! This of course though was all accompanied by a racket of cute whistles as they are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks after all.

So its Sunday and whilst I will have to be watching the blackberry I think I should be able to take in perhaps 4 new places each day and maybe even return this Wetland but with a functioning camera and some water. I hardly touched the place really and its always whats just around the bend. There is a list of 50 florida endemics I am fairly keen to see - including a special squirrel !

Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Dendrocygna autumnalis
Orlando Wetlands Park, Florida, USA
23 May 2015

315 : Blue Rock Thrush

Blue Rock-thrush - Monticola solitarius

I haven't been out birding for months and the Daily Bird has been lying in a state of abandoned deep freeze for just as long. I have been spending time at the weekend on the Under 11's rugby and then just veging on a Saturday. The eldest has gone off to boarding school since I last posted - perhaps I felt that I should be at home more to keep the smaller one company (hardly small - he is at 11).

The rugby season has finished and a comment at a drinks evening months ago with work winded me up taking the mother and partner of an old work colleague (Graham and Ruth) for a stomp around some birding spots. I offered to host a day's birdwatching but hadn't realised it was the Easter weekend. I  picked them up at 7 am from Downtown and drove them  around the Pivot Fields, Warsan secret lake and then did a mercy dash to Al Ain and Jebil Hafite in search of some mountain birds. It was nice to have some company - they have birded in Texas, Costa Rica, Nepal - they are way ahead of me on their birding journey but are not camera people.

The day did not disappoint I hope - I don't know what we didn't see, Griffin Vulture, Purple Herons, Glossy Ibis, Lesser Kestrel (Camera Neil !!!), Gull-billed Tern (Camera !!!). I seem to have lost the hunger and desperation to get the shot.

The good old Hotel Mercure on Jebil Hafite turned up a new thrush for this website - Blue Rock-thrush - not to be confused with a Rock Thrush seen in the same car park in 2012 here. I was expecting to see the Rock Thrush with its orange body and blue head as it is a showstopper. This though is an overwintering different but related bird. The Blue Rock-thrush in Europe is much more blue - these are a sub-species longirostris which fly off I think to Turkey to breed a little later in the year. Anyway Graham thought they were a bit dull in comparison. In fairness they barely look blue.

There were also a couple of Humes Wheatears which are a fabulous bird if you haven't seen one before - pristine black and white - first recorded on a desert trip in 2011 here.

So an hour and half there and back for perhaps an hour's birding on the mountain but for me worth it to kick off the Daily Bird for the non-rugby season. I have a business trip to Florida in a few weeks so good to get back in the habit of posting. On my return I learnt that some friend's (Major Tom and the Bradys) had broken down in Fujairah so Easter lunch was delayed somewhat. We had lamb, peas, new potatoes, redcurrant jelly and homemade mint sauce. There was a lemon tart for pudding and cheese. We retired to the Brady's yard for a projected showing of Empire of the Sun. Very moving.

I am taking Easter Sunday off - it feels "right" still even though it is a working day here.

Blue Rock-thrush, Monticola Solitarius