Staggering fall of birds in Kuwait
April 18, 2008
A combination of torrential rain and gale force southerly winds carried along by a fierce electrical storm resulted in a staggering fall of passerine birds in Kuwait, numbering many thousands of birds over a large area. This afforded me and my group some of the most enjoyable Western Palearctic birding ever, and took me back to the golden days of Eilat spring migrations of the 1980’s. The numbers of bird species such as Pied Wheatear, Ortolan Bunting and Common Redstart was truly staggering, and gives some insight into the continuing success of populations in Iran and further north and east.
Amongst the many highlights of the 5-day trip was the finding of the first ASIATIC PIED MYNAH/STARLING Sturnus contra for Kuwait (this species is fairly common in the UAE after a successful introduction in 1989 and occurred at the same time as an ARABIAN GOLDEN SPARROW) and my first ever SOCOTRA CORMORANTS in the Western P, whilst I relocated the overwintering adult LONG-TAILED SHRIKE which had not been seen for over two weeks.
Other highlights included 3 Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins, Desert Fox, 7 Little Bitterns, 22 Steppe Eagles grounded in the desert, large numbers of Montagu’s Harriers, an immature male SHIKRA, huge flocks of migrating Lesser Kestrels, Corncrake, Little Crakes, 54 CRAB PLOVERS, 120 Collared Pratincoles, c1,000 mainly breeding-plumaged LESSER SAND PLOVERS, 87 Broad-billed Sandpipers, 200 Terek Sandpipers, 150+ Red-necked Phalaropes, 100+ Lesser Crested Terns, 7 White-cheeked Terns, 40+ Bridled Terns, male NAMAQUA DOVE, Scops Owl, BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS, 2 European Rollers, 2 ORIENTAL SKYLARKS, BLACK-CROWNED FINCH LARKS, HOOPOE LARKS, several thousand Red-throated Pipits, leucocephala Yellow Wagtail, 20+ GREY HYPCOLIUS, White-cheeked & Red-vented Bulbuls, 25 WHITE-THROATED ROBINS, many Eastern Rufous Bushchats, a male ‘vittata’ Pied Wheatear, 3 Rock Thrushes, Savi’s Warbler, 8+ BASRA REED WARBLERS, Eastern Moustached Warblers, Upcher’s Warbler, several adult Barred Warblers, Menetries’s Warblers, Eastern Orphean Warblers,Semicollared Flycatcher, 9 COMMON BABBLERS (including several recently fledged young), Pallidirostris Saxaul Grey Shrike, abundant Turkestan & Daurian Shrikes, Common & Bank Mynahs,large numbers of PALE ROCK FINCHES, a pair of YELLOW-THROATED PETRONIAS and 150+ Ortolans
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