A Sand Plover Headache at Rawal Lake

Late on Friday 21 June 2013 I received a message from HGS (who from this day forth will be known as “Sand Plover Man”). It said that he had paid a quick evening visit to the Eastern shoreline of Rawal Lake and found another Sand Plover sp. Any thoughts of a birding lull lie-in the following morning were quickly dispelled. At 0445 hours on Saturday 22 June, I collected SvZ and we were off. That is until we reached a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. Trying to explain to the AK47-brandishing police constable that we were on a twitch didn’t quite do it. The police sergeant was summoned. Fortunately, the sergeant understood the significance of a Sand Plover sp turning up at this time of year in Islamabad and he allowed us on our way!

We arrived at the shoreline just as the sun was appearing and we stopped near a pool of water that had been left isolated by the receding water level. It was teeming with small fish and this fact had not been lost of on the large numbers of avian predators that were present creating something of a feeding frenzy. Most numerous were the LITTLE EGRET and SvZ’s photograph below displays the technique used by Little Egrets whilst fishing; catch, toss and swallow headfirst.

Little Egret at Dawn Sarel van Zyl

Also present were several BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, including one juvenile bird. Whilst the Little Egrets were frantically dashing around the Black-crowned Night Herons adopted a more stealthy approach to their fishing technique. Whilst occasionally successful more often than not their furtive approach was disrupted at the critical point by manic Little Egret.

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron Sarel van Zyl

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Sarel van Zyl

Also taking advantage of the stranded fish were some INDIAN POND HERON and several LITTLE CORMORANT.

Adult Indian Pond Heron Sarel van Zyl

Later, an adult Black-crowned Night Heron managed to catch a significantly larger fish; an event captured by SvZ’s lens. Now its one thing catching a big fish but its another keeping it a problem about to encountered by this bird as two HOUSE CROW zoom in on his prize.

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron being pursued by House Crows Sarel van Zyl

We counted at least 11 LITTLE RINGED PLOVER (LRP) during the morning and that number included some juveniles an indication successful breeding had taken place around the margins of the lake. A group of 8 LRPs were resting amongst the large stones as I scanned through them I could just see the head of a Sand Plover. When the bird moved I instinctively thought it was a LESSER SAND PLOVER based on it only appearing slightly larger that the nearby LRPs. It did not appear to have the long-legged appearance of a Greater Sand Plover nor the larger bill of that species. I should add, as can be seen from SvZ’s fantastic shots this bird was in non-breeding plumage. The rounded and less angular appearance of the head also suggested to me it was a Lesser Sand Plover. Geographically too, it made more sense it was this species as Lesser Sand Plover occasionally breeds in the northern area of Pakistan on the north of the Deosai Plateau in Baltistan. I have been known to knock some of the illustrations in the Helm Field Guide “Birds of Pakistan”. However, the illustration of the non-breeding Lesser Sand Plover on page 105 is absolutely spot-on for our bird.

Putative Lesser Sand Plover Sarel van Zyl

Subsequently, both HGS and I have delved into the literature regarding how to differentiate between Lesser Sand Plover and Greater Sand Plover. Now I do not intend to, you will be relieved to hear, regurgitate that within this Blog, as there is a mountain of it. Much, I have to suggest is contradictory. It would be fair to say that neither HGS nor I are totally confident as to which species our bird was. However, I am tempted to hint at it being one of the Tibetan subspecies (atrifrons group) of Lesser Sand Plover (of which there are four) and probably Charadrius mongolus schaeferi based on bill size. I used for reference the tome entitled “Advanced Bird ID Handbook” by Nils Van Duivendijk. However, having stated that, I would be more than pleased to hear from any other birders who have alternative views. Regardless, ISLBIRDER’s thanks to HGS for finding this fascinating but headache inducing bird!

Putative Lesser Sand Plover Sarel van Zyl

The previous records of Pallas Lesser Sand Plover, as Phyhala called this species in his book, were of a bird in breeding plumage at Rawal Lake on 17 and 18 June 1980 and a “possible” on 21 August 1987. Phyhala described it as a rare visitor to our area. Roberts noted that Lesser Sand Plover over-summers in Pakistan in non-breeding plumage but that inland records are very scarce.

STOP PRESS

Putative Lesser Sand Plover Sarel van Zyl

 SvZ, has just sent this photograph of the putative Lesser Sand Plover in flight. The tail looks good for a Lesser Sand Plover and the wing bar looks the same width along its length (does that make sense?). However, the angle from which we are looking at the bird means that particular field characteristic remains inconclusive. One can just see the toes of the bird emerging from beyond the end of the tail. Some authors suggest this is a characteristic of Greater Sand Plover but others don't. No matter what, SvZ did amazingly well to get a useable shot of the bird in flight.

What other birding treasures are to be discovered in Pakistan? Between three of us we have found the following potential new additions to the Pakistan Bird List in a couple of years:

Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike at Nathia Gali, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Tri-coloured Munia at Head Marala, Punjab

Eastern Marsh Harrier at Head Marala, Punjab

Little Gull at Rawal Lake, Capital Federal Area

So, what else was a Rawal Lake on 22 June 2013? Well, only one PHEASANT-TAILED JACANA and one WHISKERED TERN. There were two COMMON GREENSHANK and this beautiful COMMON REDSHANK.

Common Redshank Sarel van Zyl

A bit of a surprise was this EURASIAN SPOONBILL that flew in at about 0700 hours and landed on a small gravel islet created by the low water levels. The thing about Rawal Lake is that you have got to watch it constantly as it keeps throwing up major birding surprises. However, that would mean ignoring all of the other wonderful birding opportunities we a so lucky to have on our doorsteps.

Eurasian Spoonbill Sarel van Zyl

Good Birding!