A grey wader day

Week 43, 24 October 2013 - Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City

I again visited the Sea City project at Khiran, but this time did not get out on the water.

Driving around the project, I came across an area flooded with some ground water being pumped out of a construction site by a generator. When I stopped to scan the area I saw that a number of waders had dropped in to forage for food in this temporary wet zone, which is quite typical of migratory birds - they will generally take advantage of any area where there is water, especially in a desert environment. As can be seen from the image below, this surface water is hardly worth a look - but it was!

Temporary surface water

There was a pretty good variety of mostly winter plumaged birds in various stages of moult. 

A few Common Redshank's made a quick getaway as I got closer, but the Common Greenshank was a little more obliging.

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

The majority comprised of Dunlin which are not as common in the south as they are in the north of Kuwait

Dunlin (Calidris alpina)

This was followed by a number of Little Stint's

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Also present were a few Common Ringed Plovers

Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

And Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Today there were almost no autumn passerine birds, as most have now passed through - it wont be long before the winter visitors start arriving as the temperatures slowly start cooling down.