Birding Islamabad

Today, we thought we would explore some different habitat and at dawn we were in the D12 Sector of Islamabad. Whilst, arguably not the most picturesque of locations, with its partly built residences and plots in preparation, it does contain some small cultivated fields, scrubland and a backdrop of the Margalla Hills. We were there looking for migrants with some limited success. The unseasonably warm and wet weather persists and there has been little evidence that migration is in full swing. The large Bayan Tree at the small shrine looked perfect for a SPOTTED OWLET and so it proved with this young bird doing its best to look inconspicuous but not quite achieving it. SPOTTED OWLET Riaz This was the first of 39 different species we were to encounter during this outing. We had hoped for Chats and Larks and we were not disappointed. Both CRESTED LARK and ORIENTAL SKYLARK provided good views. However, the overcast and drizzly conditions made photography har...

On Saturday 5 October 2013, we visited the eastern shoreline of Rawal Lake; a little later than we had planned because Islbirder hadn’t set his alarm properly and had slept in. However, it was only just past sunrise when we reached our destination. The drive to he location had been accompanied by mumblings about the dense haze and the fact there had clearly been an isolated downpour very recently. With the weather unseasonably warm for October, with daytime peaks of mid-30s, the haze was added to by the humidity. Not good conditions for our photographers who cursed their weather apps that if they had displayed more accuracy would have had our snappers stay in bed. However, as it looked a bit brighter over Bill’s mother’s we optimistically looked forward to more clement conditions. There was a feel of migration in the air and the numbers of SYKES’S WAGTAIL and WHITE WAGTAIL in the small, cultivated fields bore testimony to that. There were also Larks but these were of a sed...