9 Jun 22 - #30DaysWild Day 9 - A Purbeck Rose-coloured Starling

I said in the previous Blog Post I was glad I only had two full days in Ireland & hadn’t stayed longer. That wasn't a reflection on the Irish Birding, but was related to breaking news in Dorset. This year I am trying to see 200 species in the historic Isle of Purbeck. To my knowledge the record is the 191 species I saw last year, when I was impacted by lockdown rules and work. This year neither are a problem following my decision last Christmas not to extend my contract with the company I was working for & to take early retirement.

Earlier in the morning, I had returned on the Irish Ferries crossing from Rosslare to Pembroke & was driving home. As I got close to Shaftesbury, I had a call from my friend & local Birder, Phyl England, asking what I knew about a Rose-coloured Starling photo that had appeared on a local Swanage Facebook group. I had heard nothing & do not have a Facebook account. All Phyl knew was it had been posted for identification of an odd bird taken that morning & it had identified it as an adult Rose-coloured Starling. There was no location posted. Phyl's friend who had spotted the original sighting was asking for a location. This immediately prompted a response of "don't say as hundreds of people will descend on your house" from somebody else in the group. In this case, it was an uneducated statement from a member of the public who had no knowledge of the status of Rose-coloured Starlings in the UK. The reality is a few locals will be keen to see it, but while it is a good bird for Swanage & the Isle of Purbeck, there are several records every year these days on Portland.

I was over an hour away from Swanage, so all I could do was ring a few locals to alert them & hope some more details emerged. Phyl was quickly back on the phone with a street location. I mentioned that to one of the Swanage Birders, Rob & he said that street name was familiar, but he couldn't place it. His wife said it was the street their daughter lived in. A typical Birder, who could remember locations of good birds with ease, but not close family. Rob rang his daughter & was given a description of the funny pink & black bird they had seen in their garden that morning, that she hadn't thought to ring her dad about. I was now half an hour away. Rob headed off to look for it.

By the time I arrived, he had been joined by locals Phyl, James & Garry and they had found a good viewing spot. A few minutes later, it was spooked & flew up to the tops of some local Leylandii, before dropping back into the gardens & out of sight. In the course of about 75 minutes, it had gone from a probable Rose-coloured Starling somewhere in the Swanage area to me having got to Swanage & seen it. It's great when one of these vague reports quickly drops into place. My first pink Rose-coloured Starling in the Isle of Purbeck, although I have found a couple of late Autumn juveniles locally.

Rose-coloured Starling: Adult. Been wanting to see an adult locally for a number of years

Rose-coloured Starling: Adult. A brief appearance on this roof before dropping back into the gardens. I didn't see it again that evening & the Starling flock appeared to head off to roost soon after

30 Jun 15 - Turkey - Exploring Some Turkish Wetlands

After a twenty minute drive from the hotel in Eregli, we stopped at the nearby Lake Ivriz Baraji. This is actually a reservoir, that was built in 1984. The initial plan was to visit some local marshes, but these were largely dried up, so we ended up at the reservoir instead. It wasn't the best of locations that we visited. However, it was the only site we saw Greater Flamingos and Rose-coloured Starlings.

Black Kite: We stopped briefly for this Black Kite on the way to the lake, which surprisingly was the only one we saw in the trip

Black Kite: This is the nominate migrans subspecies which occurs from North West Africa & Europe to South-central Asia. They winters as far South as South Africa

Lake Ivriz Baraji

Lake Ivriz Baraji: It was a long, thin lake and the Greater Flamingos were at the far end. We had to get the telescopes out to see them properly

Another habitat photo from Lake Ivriz Baraji

It's pretty common to see Goats and Sheep being looked after by a local herder, as they graze in open countryside

Lesser Short-toed Lark: This is the minor subspecies which occurs from Morocco to North Egypt, South Turkey to West Saudi Arabia & West Iraq

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

There were a couple of Rose-coloured Starlings where we parked the coach: They were the only individuals we saw

Long-legged Buzzard: We stopped for a quick look at this Long-legged Buzzard on its nest on a high crag next to the road

An uninspiring bit of Turkish architecture

After an hour or so at Lake Ivriz Baraji, we departed for the two and a half hour drive to the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi wetlands. Unfortunately, a lot of the wetlands in this part of Turkey have drained in the last few decades.

A lot of the journey was across these dull-looking grasslands

By late morning we arrived at the excellent Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands. There was a long boardwalk through the reedbeds.

The boardwalk at the Kayseri Sultan Sazligi Wetlands

Bearded Tit: This is the russicus subspecies which occurs from Austria, the North Balkans & Turkey East through central Asia to North China

Moustached Warbler: This is the mimicus subspecies which occurs from West Turkey to South Russia, Iraq, Iran & Afghanistan

Moustached Warbler

Moustached Warbler: This must be a potential species to occur in the UK in the future. It used to be on the UK List, but it was removed many years ago. If I remember correct some of the first Cetti's Warblers were misidentified as Moustached Warblers and the evidence of earlier records wasn't sufficient to retain it on the British List

Reed Warbler: This is the fuscus subspecies, which is also known as Caspian Reed Warbler. This subspecies ranges from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Caspian & Kazakhstan. They winters as far South as South Africa

The boardwalk ended up at this good hide which overlooked a decent reed-fringed lake.

The Reedbed Hide

There was a Ferruginous Duck and a few White-headed Ducks at the far edge of the lake

Ferruginous Duck: This monotypic species occurs from West Europe & North West Africa to central Asia

White-headed Duck: Male. This monotypic species occurs from Southern Europe & North Africa to central Asia & North West China

White-headed Duck: Male

Water Rail: This is the nominate aquaticus subspecies which occurs throughout the Western Palearctic

Marsh Frog: This looks like the widespread Marsh Frog. There is a larger and similar-looking Anatolian Marsh Frog that occurs at Sugla Lake, but we were now too far East to be in range of that species

Marsh Frog

Marsh Frog: They appear to be a variable species

Scarlet Darter

I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.

15 Jan 14 - Wetland Birds Overload

After a dawn coffee, we were out on an early morning ride on the jeep. The plan was Bill, Shiva (Bill's driver) & myself were sharing the jeep for the day with 3 young Indian professionals who wanted to see some birds & mammals. I'm always wary about having to share transport with non birders as there is usually the likelyhood that at least one of the groups will get frustrated about not being able to stop or having to stop for every bird. But we had really good jeep companions for the day, as they were just as enthusiastic as Bill & myself at wanting to see & photograph the birds & mammals. They were also quiet & showed a lot of patience & fieldcraft when trying to get close with the camera, given they didn't have a strong wildlife background.

Breakfast appeared after a few hours of birding: Not that was going to stop Bill from birding

Desert Coursers is near the Little Rann of Kutch which a large, flat, arid area of bushes, grassland & wetlands. In the monsoon season, the Little Rann floods over a large area with a combination of rain assisted with high tides, causing sea water to also flood into the area. As the autumn & winter progresses this dries out to leave a lot of lakes & baked lake foreshores surrounded by arid Mesquite thorn bush, grassland & farmland. Nearly, all the sites are visited by driving over rough tracks & the lake foreshores, but fortunately, the drivers have a good sense of navigation as they visit these areas daily in the dry season. Access is much harder in the wet season & I believe Desert Coursers closes during this period. It took about 30 minutes of driving over dirt tracks from Desert Coursers to get to our birding location for the morning which was a local lake, not helped by a number of short stops as we saw birds on the way.

 Black-winged Kite: This is the vociferus subspecies which occurs from Pakistan to China & the Malay Peninsula

Black-winged Kite: A flight shot of a different individual

Shikra

Oriental White Ibis: Also known as Black-headed Ibis along with 2 Great White Egrets

Red-naped Ibis: Also known as Indian Black Ibis

Indian Stone-curlew: Another split for the Subcontinent, this time from Stone-curlew

Indian Roller

Rose-coloured Starling: There was a flock of about 50 adults close to Desert Coursers which we saw each trip. They looked a lot nicer than the brown immature birds we normally see in the UK

As we reached the lake, it became clear that the number of species to photograph was going to rise steeply, so I'll let the photos tell the story for the rest of the morning, before we headed back to a great lunchtime curry at Desert Coursers.

White Pelican: In flight, they are straight-forward as White Pelicans have all black flight feathers on the underwing compared to pale flight feathers of Dalmatian Pelicans

White Pelican: When not in flight, they are harder to separate from Dalmatians, but the lack of a shaggy crest is one of the features

Dalmatian Pelican: A breeding bird with the bright breeding bill & shaggy crest

Painted Stork

Greater Flamingo: The bicoloured bills help identify these as Greater Flamingos (rather than the smaller Lesser Flamingos which were also present in good numbers)

Greylag Goose: A pair of the rubrirostris subspecies, rather than the anser subspecies we see in the UK

Spotted Eagle: The dark colouration, strong bill & yellow gape only just reaching the centre of the eye supports this identification

Spotted Eagle: A different individual in flight. The darker underwing coverts and broad wings help separate it from Indian Spotted Eagle

Spotted Eagle: The upperside of the same individual

Crane: Adult & juvenile

Crane: Adult

Spoonbill: Adult (on left) & juvenile

Black-winged Stilt

Avocet: A species that I guess everybody will recognise

Wood Sandpiper

Ruff

Slender-billed Gull: The yellow eye, long bill & faint head spot separate this from other similar species

Short-toed Lark: This is the longipennis subspecies which is greyer & paler breasted than the dukhenensis race which winters further South & West in India

Crested Lark: There are many subspecies of Crested Lark. This is the chendoola subspecies

Citrine Wagtail

White-eared Bulbul: This is a common arid country Bulbul

Eastern Orphean Warbler: Male

Pied Bushchat: Female

Eastern Pied Wheatear: Also known as Variable Wheatear. This is the nominate picata subspecies

Desert Wheatear: This is the deserti subspecies

Common Babbler: A very slim Babbler to the other similar sized Turdoides

Daurian Shrike: Clements now splits this from Turkestan Shrike

Wild Boar