After three years of trying GREY-HEADED CANARY FLYCATCHER has finally made its way on to the Islbirder Pakistan List at Number 362. Today, Sunday 17 November 2013 was a special day in our birding calendar. It was the the day that the Islbirder Team delivered on its pledge to the Zabardast Charity Auction for Pakistan charities to provide a memorable days birding for the highest bidder. The Team had promised a great day for the lucky winner including at least 70 species in the seven hours birding. At the end of the trip the Team had found 78 species and the winning bid of PKR 45,000 will go to a good cause in Pakistan as will the rest of the PKR 581,250 raised by Zabardast Charity Shop at the auction.
During our last few birding trips we had been reconnoitering sites in preparation for the Islamabad Big Day. We started before dawn at the eastern shoreline of Rawal Lake. First bird of the day was a LITTLE EGRET. There followed two Raptors; a WESTERN MARSH HARRIER and a BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE that hovered in front of us over the reedbed. A COMMON SNIPE burst from the damp grass and into flight. Birds were coming quickly with a superb BLUETHROAT putting in an appearance. Thankfully, the successful bidder and benefactor to the local charities was receiving value for money. As expected we added all three regularly seen Kingfisher species including this very photogenic individual (who could resist taking another photograph of this beauty?).
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| Common Kingfisher Riaz |
Just after dawn had broken a huge flock of Swallows and Martins appeared low over the water. Most were PALE MARTIN, PLAIN MARTIN and BARN SWALLOW. Whichever insects were coming off the water they were being fed upon voraciously.
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| Part of the huge flock of Hirundines over Rawal Lake Riaz |
Can you believe we did not see Red-wattled Lapwing? However, we did see NORTHERN LAPWING, GREEN SANDPIPER and two REED BUNTING. We were not keeping a contemporaneous tally but we believed we had spent long enough at the lakeside so we left but not before adding a BROWN ROCK CHAT as we did so. During the drive up past the Monal Restaurant we wondered whether missing out on Sirkeer Malkoha and white-capped Bunting on the southern shore had been a sensible time-saving tactic. We did see EASTERN CATTLE EGRET in a field and collected the three common Bulbul species and JUNGLE BABBLER on the way. A bonus was a YELLOW-BILLED BLUE MAGPIE.
As we drove into our favourite Margalla valley we appeared to have timed it just right as the sun's rays were just beginning to inch their way towards the stream at its base. Our bidder was having trouble keeping up with the number of species being recorded; most of which were attitudinal migrants like the ORANGE-FLANKED BLUETAIL. The trees that border the stream were hopping with birds that were all fully occupied with feeding after what had been a cold night. I love Accentors and we saw both BLACK-THROATED ACCENTOR and this breathtaking RUFOUS-BREASTED ACCENTOR.
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| Rufous-breasted Accentor Riaz |
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| Rufous-breasted Accentor Riaz |
There were five PINK-BROWED ROSEFINCH including one impressive male, the remainder were females and one was captured by the camera.
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| Pink-browed Rosefinch Riaz |
There were so many amazing birds on show; many of which we had seen and recorded the previous weekend. The bird photographed below had us scratching our heads for a moment. It was clearly a Flycatcher or Redstart; and the cinnamon-coloured rump discounted Ultramarine Flycatcher. It clearly wasn't a Rusty-tailed Flycatcher. It lacked the white throat of the female Slaty-blue Flycatcher. So, through a process of elimination; the double wing bar and the rusty rump this left female BLUE-CAPPED REDSTART
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| Female Blue-capped Redstart Riaz |
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Whilst fairly common this BLACK BULBUL is a handsome but raucous bird; reminiscent of a punk rocker with its crazy hairdo!
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| Black Bulbul Riaz |
However, the star of this particular day was the beautiful GREY-HEADED CANARY FLYCATCHER that we found amongst the canopy of a stand of mature deciduous woodland. We watched as it flew from various perches to snatch flying insects amongst the dappled light of the wood. We have searched long and hard for this species in Pakistan and it engendered both elation and relief as we finally caught up with it. A bird, once you see, you realise how well named it is. Whilst I often wax lyrical about the photographers of the Islbirder Team; RMK's photographic skills to obtain images of the bird were staggering. It was almost impossible to predict where this extremely active bird would next alight, each time only for a second or two, so these results are all the more impressive. Add this species' liking for the treetops makes them almost miraculous.
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| Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher (note the bristles at the sides of the bill that assist in the fly catching process) Riaz |
I hope you enjoy these birds as much as we did.
