Birds of Prey Offer Photo Opportunities


On Saturday 26 January 2013, early morning found us at the D12 Sector of Islamabad in the most beautiful weather with the photographers purring at the quality of the light. My apologies for the tardiness with which I have been updating the blog but my broadband (more like elastic band) connection is driving me crazy. You pay for the fastest connection but unless you get up at 0300 hours the connection is ridiculously slow. To download 15Mbs of photographs has just taken me three hours! I cannot tell you the name of the company but it begins with N and ends with TEL.

As we arrived in the area I shouted STOP as we drew alongside a small flock of about 20 YELLOW-BREASTED GREENFICH (also know by the name of HIMALYAN GREENFINCH). These are beautiful little birds of the high mountains that had been forced to lower altitudes by the winter snow.

Yellow-breasted Greenfinch Sams Photography
 Today was to be a day for Raptors and the guys did a great job capturing the fantastic photographs that follow. The first bird we saw was an adult STEPPE EAGLE and whilst the identification of large Eagles can be, to say the least, tricky I am sure that the bird below is a STEPPE EAGLE because of the barring on the under wing and undertail.
Adult Steppe Eagle Sarel van Zyl
Not far from the STEPPE EAGLE was another large Eagle that has proved to be more of an identification challenge. Initially, I believed it to have been a juvenile GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE but after referring to some authoritative literature, I am now having doubts and believe that it could be a juvenile STEPPE EAGLE. The tail and wing shape still lead me to think it is a GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE, the head looks right but some of the literature states that at this age there should be two white wing bars. However, other literature contradicts this. So, I am plumping for my original identification of GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE.
Putative Juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle Sarel van Zyl
The next large Raptor was something easier to identify, or was it? First impression was a very pale LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD, seemed straightforward enough. But hang on, could it be an Upland Buzzard? A diagnostic clincher for Upland Buzzard is the fully feathered tarsus (leg). Sadly, it’s about the only part of the bird that you cannot see on this fantastic series of photos. However, as Upland Buzzard has never been recorded in Pakistan, so we’ll call this one a pale and indistinctly marked LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD.

Long-legged Buzzard Sarel van Zyl
Long-legged Buzzard Sarel van Zyl
Long-legged Buzzard Sarel van Zyl
There is an area near to D12 where one can view BLACK KITE from above and the birding paparazzi cannot pass this site without trying to get a really good flight shot. They rarely fail.

Black Kite Sarel van Zyl
After the excitement of the Raptors we headed off to Leopard Valley to the northeast of Islamabad. Although quite late in the day we did find some nice birds. We found a BLACK-THROATED ACCENTOR, another altitudinal migrant as was this fabulous WHITE-CAPPED WATER REDSTART.
White-capped Water Redstart Sarel van Zyl
Sharing the same stream was a female GREY WAGTAIL and a BLACK REDSTART was found nearby. A pair of COMMON TAILORBIRD appeared exceptionally colourful in the valley light as did several male ROCK BUNTING and a WHITE-THROATED KINGFISHER.

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