Altitudinal Migrants Arrive In Islamabad


Hello everyone, this is RMK, I hope you had a lovely New Year with your friends and families. I enjoyed it to the best and was really happy to go birding after my vacation.

I had a feeling that birds from mountains must have come down now as the temperature in Islamabad had dropped to zero so it must be very cold in mountains. On 3 January 2015, I decided to visit the famous Trail 5 into the Margalla Hills. It was freezing in the morning, my colleague ZR was waiting for me in the parking area. It was 0700 hours in the morning and I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw an ASIAN KOEL fly from a tree. I am sorry that I couldn’t take an image but it was very unusual, at this time, for Asian koel to be there.

Anyway, our climb along the trail didn’t take too long and we were at our favoured spot with the water-filled the little ponds. It's so difficult to photograph birds in there at Trail 5 as light is terribly low and which makes the images grainy even using high ISO settings.

We saw RUFOUS-BELLIED NILTAVA, ASIAN BROWN FLYCATCHER, RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX, ORANGE-FLANKED BUSH ROBIN, Warblers, HIMALAYAN BULBUL, WHITE-CHEEKED TITs, GREEN-BACKED TITs, BLUE WHISTLING THRUSH, BLACK BULBUL and WHITE-THROATED FANTAIL.

Blue Whistling Thrush Riaz

Black Bulbul Riaz

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker Riaz
It was pleasing to see so many KALIJ PHEASANT around on trail, some in flight. I believe their numbers have increase and I am feeling happy. After that I came down and saw a lovely adult EURASIAN SPARROWHAWK and two SPOTTED OWLETS on a branch behind yellow leaves.


Female (top) and Male Kalij Pheasants Riaz
Eurasian Sparrowhawk Riaz

Spotted Owlets Riaz
I never get tired when going out in the wild to see birds, photograph them and share these images with you, my friends. So we decided to drive into Margalla Hills. We passed the Monal Restaurant and reached Makhnial village. I saw a few Vultures flying high and took a few shots of RED-VETED BULBULs and a BLUE-THROATED BARBET, eating berries from a fruit tree.


Red-vented Bulbul Riaz

Blue-throated Barbets Riaz
One is always inquisitive to find something new when it comes to birding so I was adamant that day and we started walking in to the fields near Kharian village. I saw a GREAT HIMALAYAN BARBET flying by, couldn't  take its image (strange they never come down from the hills of Murree ). Sorry guys I will try to share its image next time.


Scaly Thrush Riaz
When I was busy looking around for the Barbet, a brown bird flew by my side and I looked for it. I got close to it and found this beautiful SCALY THRUSH (a new bird for me (lifer)) and a new bird for our blog.

White-throated Fantail Riaz
It was almost evening and I started driving back to Islamabad, the sun was setting over the magnificent Faisal Mosque. It was a successful trip and I was pleased to see Scaly thrush and hoping that the altitudinal migrants will stay in the Margalla Hills for few months.

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