A morning around the pool(s)

Week 32, 09 August 2013 - Jahra Pools Reserve (Click to enlarge image)

I was up early and checked that there was no wind - there wasn't  so I headed up to Jahra for a couple of hours at the pools. I thought I was early, but there were a few other birders that must have arrived at sun-up, but I wasn't that far behind.

Good light and no wind, all we needed was some obliging subjects - that was a little more difficult. A new bird at the pools was a single immature Glossy Ibis that seemed content amongst the Black-winged Stilts.

Immature Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

The Little Grebes are mostly all independent and trying to establish their own territories on the pools which seem to shrink each day - evaporation and exponential reed growth.

This year's Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

The Great Cormorant is still present and seems quite comfortable in the solitude of the pools, rather than the expanse of the Arabian Gulf.

Over summer'ing Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

I stayed for sometime with Rashed as we patiently waited for Warblers to reveal themselves in the dense reeds and a challenge to photograph as they are not static for long - we did have some luck with Eurasian Reed Warbler

Eurasian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)

A juvenile Indian Reed Warbler

Indian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus s. brunnescens)

and finally the more skulking Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler (Locustella luscinioides)

In between their appearances, I tried my luck with DIF (as opposed to BIF) - now if you want a challenge with big glass, this is it! However, I got a few acceptable images, thanks to the calm water below the Dragonflies as a background.

Tandem Dragonflies, in flight (DIF)

Single in-flight Dragonfly

On the way out, two Mallards were put up by something in the reeds - I'm guessing these are the adolescents from this years ducklings

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)