Hello all, I had a good outing to the MPGs this morning. I had seen on eBird that some European Rollers had been spotted (thanks to Paul J) so I was keen to connect with them. After parking up behind the helipad one of the first birds I saw was indeed a European Roller, so I was very happy with that. There were a couple more in the vicinity and a walk around the middle and back woods produced some other nice birds (for me anyway), including a stunning male Golden Oriole. Photos below:

Hi all. Pipits drive me nuts. Especially distinguishing between Meadow / Tree. I know in the UAE Tree Pipits tend to be much more common, but while wandering around the Equestrian Club here in Abu Dhabi last night I think I have a good candidate for Meadow. I'm basing this on the strong streaking on the flanks, and the yellowish (rather than fleshy-colored) lower mandible. However I'm not 100%. What do you think?

I connected with a couple of Whinchats this evening at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club (thanks to Oscar). This is the first time I've seen them in the UAE, absolutely beautiful birds. Unfortunately I couldn't get a better photo since they were a bit skittish and in any case the light was falling. Other birds of note: Tree Pipits, Red-Throated Pipits and Yellow Wagtails.

I visited Mamzar for the first time this morning, in the company of Oscar, Simon, Paul and Desmond. Having made the effort to get there for 8am, we had an excruciating 15-20 minute wait for the ticket people to turn up. When we finally got in, it initially didn't look like there was much around, but soon Paul spotted a beautiful Wryneck and we had good views for ten minutes or so. Things got better and Oscar and Simon managed to find some real goodies: Masked Shrike, Common Rock Thrush, Semi-Collared Flycatcher... Simon spotted a European Robin too, though it proved elusive.

Hello all, With two little ones I don't get much time to go out birding, but with the mother-in-law passing by a few days ago I got the green light to escape for a few days. A friend-of-a-friend runs a tour company from Kampala, so I thought I'd see if he could help me. A few emails later and I had a quick four-day itinerary, with the main target being the Shoebill. I re-watched the 'Savannah' episode from the BBC's Africa series in preparation (a good segment on Shoebill!) and then I was off. Itinerary as follows: - Day 1: Flight to Entebbe (1600 AED return, very reasonable). Birding Entebbe Botanical Garden. - Day 2: Mabamba swamp for the Shoebill. Mpanga Forest. Then onward to Lake Mburo NP. - Day 3: All day Lake Mburo. - Day 4: Back to Entebbe for the flight home. Day 1 I was picked up by my driver, Abdul, and we made our way to the Boma guest house where I dumped my stuff. We did a quick turnaround and by about 15h30 I was at the botanical garden. I took a guide ($20) who had some knowledge of birds and we had a nice walk around, passing through wooded areas before getting down to the shore for terrific views across Lake Victoria. Then we went parallel to the shore, passing some reeds (lots of weavers) before heading back. We racked up 64 species over 2.5 hours and I would have probably had more if I'd brushed up on my birds a bit more. Highlights included African and Eurasian Hobby, Ross's and Great Blue Turacos, Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill, Crowned Hornbill, Hamerkop, Eastern Plantain-Eater and my first Marabou Stork (a lot of these are quite common but all lifers for me). There were also a lot of weavers down on the lakeshore and I was glad of my camera so that I could pick out the different species later... They can look quite similar. Full list here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53512787

Some shots from a trip out today to Lulu Island, with good numbers of Hypocolius present.

There were a few around the fish market area this morning. I managed to get a couple of shots of a 1st winter bird though I wasn't fast enough to catch a lovely adult coming into summer plumage.

I had a nice trip out to Al Wathba this morning, lots of birds around: 50 Avocets, 160 Shelduck, a Spotted Redshank, a nice Bluethroat, Black-Necked Grebes, Black Kite and a distant Greater Spotted Eagle. Apart from that the highlight of the day was a pale-looking Common Kingfisher (not so common at Al Wathba). It was also nice to bump into Oscar, Mark and Claudia and I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Moran and his group. eBird list here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52045732

A nice semifufus Black Redstart in the MPGs today, near the seep. Also good views of a Crested Honey Buzzard. eBird checklist here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51545125