Mike Barth Bird Photography Blog: Wadi Bih, Ras Al Khaimah 14.1.11

A belated blog I'm afraid. Just didnt get the time to update during the week. After the success of finding the Streak-Throated Swallow I went off to Wadi Bih in the Hajar Mountains not too far away from the Hirundine site. Not too far in to the rocky Wadi is a small farm where the workers are quite amenable to you entering and having a wander round. There was one small field growing some herb or small plant of some sort (not an expert on plants I'm afraid) which I discovered held several Bluethroat which were out of site most of the time. However with iPod in hand I managed to coax a couple out with some Bluethroat song !

Bluethroat
(Luscinia svecica)

Further in to the Wadi there is a quarry which has a number of pools nearby, I had seen several Trumpeter Finch here last year when there was plenty of water around. However they were pretty much dried out now and rains have been few and far between this winter so far (unusually). I did find a small pool near a water outlet used for filling Water Tankers, I spotted a group of approx 15 Chukar wandering to the pool so decided to position my 4x4 alongside and cover up as a hide. Unfortunately I had spooked the Chukar sufficiently that they did not return in the 2 hours that I sat there, but fortunately several Finch did, along with Striolated Bunting and Desert Lark. Some of the Trumpeters were showing a lovely pink Hue which had not been present last year.