Islbirder was birding on the muddy perimeter of a West Midlands Industrial Estate in the centre of the England looking for a Hume’s Warbler, the first record for the Region and a British Tick. It was freezing cold with squally and heavy showers. He was thinking what on earth am I doing here? It was only a few short weeks ago that Hume’s Warbler was a regular visitor to his Islamabad garden. At the same time RMK had taken a week away from his office to undertake an expedition to photograph some of the resident species and exciting winter visitors to Pakistan. RMK takes up the story of his memorable birding holiday. It’s been a strange winter and I am very sorry to inform you that this year the numbers of birds visiting Islamabad and Punjab appear to be reduced. On Saturday 25 January 2014 I visited Trail 5 within the Margalla Hills National Park. This was the famous Trail 5 that we had visited on many occasions and seen such wonderful species. However, birds were few. The C...
On Saturday 13 July 2013 we made our way to the Kalar Kahar area, Punjab to look for new species for our Pakistan List. We had decided to arrive early to give ourselves the chance of locating one, or more, of the famous population of Indian Peafowl. Whilst some would consider that these particular Indian Peafowl something of a plastic tick; they are countable and appear as number 353 on my list of species recorded in Pakistan. The first INDIAN PEAFOWL we saw was a stunning male perched on a fence. Not the best evidence of “wild” status. The local community looks after the birds so they show little fear. However, we saw about a dozen or so and some acted more like wild birds, those that stalked the woodland area. Whether these birds comprise a feral population, like the Monk Parakeets in Miami, Florida, or not these beautiful photographs portray this amazing species so dramatically. Once again the photographers have done a fantastic job. Male Indian Peafowl Sarel van Zyl ...
Dear Readers, RMK has been spreading the birding word to wildlife photographers based in Pakistan and his efforts are paying off handsomely with some fantastic records. This time its a second record for Pakistan in the form of an Oriental Pied Hornbill. I'll let Muhammad Babar describe this exciting discovery in his own words: "I would like to share my experience of spotting/watching "Oriental Pied Hornbill" in Lahore with you. On 21 May 2016, 6:40 am, a typical warm day , we (Me and my couple of friends) were observing nesting behaviour of White-browed Fantail in my garden. While scanning the surroundings for more small birds, we were looking around. Suddenly we noticed a crow was chasing a bird, comparatively large with huge beak. We initially though this was another bird probably another Crow with something in his bill. But when i checked it from my Lens, i was surprisingly shocked to see a Hornbill , and not just a Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill. It was i...