Today in Pivot, STP, Warsun, etc

[drrezakhan]

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Today in Pivot, STP, Al Warsun and Naad Al Shiba Large or Old Car showroom pond
7.15am to 11.40pm
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Pivot
+50 Ruff
5 Glossy Ibis
1 Collared Pratincole
3 Wood Sandpiper
2 Greenshank
4 little Stint
2 Temminck’s stint
4 Common Sandpiper
9 Common snipe
6 Common Starling
3 Western (?) Marsh harrier, one mobbed by 50+ bank myna
1 White Wagtail
18 yellow Wagtails- many juveniles
1 Hume’s Wgheatear
1 Richard’s Pipit
? 1 unknown large-sized, very wary pipit amongst the short grass in abandoned areas of the large pivot, darker brown, tail more like wagtails
4 Water Pipit
1 Kestrel
2 BCheeked Bee-eater
4 LG Bee-eater
20+ Barn swallow
2 Pallid swift
2 Isabelline/Red-tailed shrike, see pics

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STP
50+ Cattle Egret
23 BW Stilt
6 RW Lapwing
8 WT Lapwing
30+ Ruff
20+ yellow wagtail, mostly juvs
14 Green Sandpiper
11 Common sandpiper
2 White-winged Tern
30+ Barn swallow
3-4 Crag/Sand martin
2 pallid swift
2 L Grebe
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WARSUN
1 Osprey
4 Marsh Harrier
4 Purple Heron
1 yellow-legged/Caspian Gull with noose on one leg
2 unknown terns
2 BT Godwit
15+ Grey heron
30+ Ruff
6 RW Lapwing
7 WT Lapwing
4 Wood Sandpiper
3 Little Stint
1 Green sandpiper
4 Coot
2 Indian Moorhen
30+ Chestnut-bellied and
9+ Pin-tailed Sandgrouse all came to drink water around 10.40am
On One round about in the International City by the lake: 9 Black-tailed Godwit, 15+ Ruff, 2 RW lapwing, 2 WT Lapwing in feeding frenzy<O:p></O:p>
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NO OTHER GULLS OR DUCKS YET
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NAAD AL SHIBA OR OLD CAR SHOWROOM POND
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9 BW Stilt
4 RW Lapwing
1 WT Lapwing
20+ LRinged Plover
30+ Kentish Plover
14 Little stint
4 Temminck’s stint
1 Dunlin
4 LGrebe
16 ruff
2 Redshank
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[MarkS]

Hi Reza,

Good to see you this morning at the Pivots. I managed a couple of hours before work and saw pretty much the same stuff, although Hume's Wheatear seems a very good record for the site. I, too had a Richard's Pipit and the other darker bird in the area you describe. I initially suspected Blyth's because it seemed darker, with a more streaked cap and was not a "typical" Richard's. I haven't ruled out 1st winter Tawny yet. I've taken some very poor blurred digi-scoped pics which I'll post if they show anything that resembles a bird!

Also there - 1 male Yellow-crowned Bishop and 3 Scaly-breasted munia (UAE tick!)

The shrike is a male Turkestan Isabelline Shrike btw. Martin is Sand Martin.

[Mike Barth]

Mark are the Munia escapees or real tick ?

[MarkS]

Mark are the Munia escapees or real tick ?

Tickable plastic, I believe.:)

[drrezakhan]

Hi Mark
Thank you so much for identifying the species.
Is scaly-breasted thesame as Spotted Munia? I have earlier found a pair in the pivot sometimes in May (!) 2010 along the narrow reed beds between 2 small fields leading to the chinese pottery (!) shed. Pipit is still a little tricky one.

[MarkS]

Is scaly-breasted thesame as Spotted Munia? I have earlier found a pair in the pivot sometimes in May (!) 2010 along the narrow reed beds between 2 small fields leading to the chinese pottery (!) shed. Pipit is still a little tricky one.

Yup - Scaly-breasted Munia = Spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata).

Pipit pics:
670267036704

I'm pretty sure it's just Richard's - looks long-billed, long-tailed and very white super. However it didn't look very leggy and had a very streaked crown and appeared much darker on the cap and mantle than the pictures show. Anyone agree or not?