Ask any birder; check your local patch often enough and you will turn up all sorts of birds of interest. If your local patch is Rawal Lake on the outskirts of Islamabad you may be luckier than most. Trouble is, living in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, having a local patch creates a dilemma. You want to keep going back there to find those great birds but there are so many other superb sites to visit nearby and only so much free time. So, yesterday, The Islbirder Team was back at the lakeside at dawn on Friday 15 November 2013. The temperature struggled just above freezing in the gloom of pre-dawn until the sun broke through and warmed to a maximum to 24 degrees. As soon as the sun peeped over the nearby hills and bathed the reedbeds in a beautiful light; where there had been none there were a dozen SIBERIAN STONECHAT at the top of stems.
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| In the pink light of dawn a Little Egret goes fishing Riaz |
Whilst to some of our readers daytime highs of 24 degrees might not sound much like winter, the extended hours of darkness brings with them a decidedly chilly feel. So, we were pleased when the sun started warming our backs. Gull numbers are increasing and there are now up to 30 BLACK-HEADED GULL and there three CASPIAN GULL. The former busily flying around looking for small fish or stealing them from LITTLE CORMORANT. We noted they did not pick on the two larger GREAT CORMORANT. The Caspian Gulls spent most of their time loafing in the middle of the lake. Following last week's Ferruginous Duck, which has either moved on or was hiding deep in the reeds, there were three duck out on the lake; a pair of GADWALL and a male SHOVELER. Closer to the shore were three LITTLE GREBE.
So what was I saying? Oh yes, visit your local patch often enough and you find something of interest. I alerted RMK to a flying PEREGRINE FALCON. Instantly he was was on it and as we watched this most regal prince of the skies the Peregrine was attacked by a EUROPEAN HOBBY, a much smaller Falcon. There followed an aerial dogfight that concluded with the Peregrine leaving the area. Whilst RMK managed to photograph the Peregrine such was the intensity and speed of battle, he could'nt get the two together.
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| Peregrine Falcon Riaz |
Back at lower altitude the flash of electric blue and a soft, high-pitched call drew our attention to this superb COMMON KINGFISHER. What a bird; this individual is a male as the lower mandible of the female is paler.
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| Common Kingfisher Riaz |
Most visits to the lake will locate a GREY HERON. Predominantly, a winter visitor to Pakistan, some do stay to breed.
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| Grey Heron Riaz |
Did I mention that if you visit your local patch often enough something interesting will turn up? Well, it did and this bird was one that I thought we would be least likely to see at Rawal Lake. Mainly due to its expected lack of longevity with the amount of firearms around. But there it was. It appeared from the north-east and circled the lake a couple of times. Clearly it wanted to land but we hoped it wouldn't fearing that if it did this absolutely fantastic BAR-HEADED GOOSE would end up on a dinner plate. The Islbirder Team has seen up to 3,000 Bar-headed Geese near the Chenab River in Punjab but this was the first time we had seen Bar-headed Goose at Rawal Lake. Where were the others? There weren't any more. This one was on its own; presumably separated from a migrating flock that had been making its way through the Himalayas.
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| Bar-headed Goose Riaz |
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| Keep flying! Bar-headed Goose Riaz |
With the sun higher in the sky and following the excitement of the Bar-headed Goose, we checked out the surrounding fields. There was a huge flock of WESTERN YELLOW WAGTAIL with only a few Pipits amongst them. They were extremely flighty so getting close was difficult. The birds in the below photographs are both of PADDYFIELD PIPIT. The short primary projection and short tail aids that identification.
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| Paddyfield Pipit Riaz |
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| Paddyfield Pipit Riaz |
In a small bush this RUFOUS-FRONTED PRINIA played hide and seek but RMK eventually managed this lovely shot.
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| Rufous-fronted Prinia Riaz |
On our return to the reeds there had been an arrival of MOUNTAIN CHIFFCHAFF, at least 20 birds; all of which were much darker than the Common Chiffchaff and lacking the strong olive green tones. The call was very different to Common Chiffchaff, a harsher tys-upp. In Pakistan Mountain Chiffchaff breeds in Chitral and Baltistan and winters in Sind. Presumably, these birds were on their way south to avoid the cold weather.
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| Mountain Chiffchaff on migration Riaz |
Not forgetting to look up occasionally, a sound birding maxim, there was a huge flock of mostly made up of PLAIN MARTIN and PALE MARTIN. Again, we were about to leave but our attention was drawn to a group of eight ZITTING CISTICOLA. Not known for being easy to photograph RMK was quick to take the opportunity to get this diminutive bird on his SD card.
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| Zitting Cisticola Riaz |
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| Zitting Cisticola in more typical pose Riaz |
SIRKEER MALKOHA is a very rare bird in Pakistan with an extremely small distribution. The southern shoreline of Rawal Lake is a fairly reliable spot for this skulker. So, even though it was getting late in the morning we gave it a go. Almost immediately we found two birds and one even lingered long enough for its picture to be taken; albeit from some distance.
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| Sirkeer Malkoha Riaz |
We couldn't resist a quick look at the Marsh and we found another rare bird in Pakistan terms, although like many Mynas its range will surely extend. There are normally half a dozen ASIAN PIED STARLING and a pair attempted to breed at the Marsh but its nest was destroyed by a BLACK KITE (not the one below as it was killed as a result of the process; becoming trapped in electrical wires attached to the pylon the Asian Pied Starlings were nesting on).
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| Asian Pied Starling Riaz |
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| Black Kite Riaz |
We recorded 64 species during the morning. Good Birding from the Islbirder Team!
