Search for the Golden Bush Robin Continues! (Our 100th Post)


I have very strange feeling these days, as a few people making me embarrassed by asking the question, am I a birder or a bird photographer. My simple answer is whatever I am doesn’t matter and with smile I tell them I am a nature lover, a birder, a wildlife protector and a photographer.

Anyway, the news of Golden Bush Robin was very warm and I decided to follow the bird, as it occasionally visits the Margalla hills during winter. So I didn’t want to miss the chance and took two days out in the field to find this beauty.

Islamabad is wonderful place to be in winter and  many of my  new friends want to go out with me in the field. Over the weekend two of them joined ZR and me for birding on Trail 5 . We had a good chat about birds and nature and later on we let them have their climb up Maragalla Hills.

Overall the weekend ending on 18 January 2015 was very fruitful. We search Trail 5 for two consecutive days and travelled almost 40 km each day deeper into the Margallas to find and photograph the Golden Bush Robin.

The birds we saw along Trail 5 were, WHISTLER’S WARBLER, ORANGE-FLANKED BUSH ROBIN, a male taking an early bath and we also saw a female. Some of the other birds that we saw were WHITE-THROATED FAINTAIL, BLUE WHISTLING THRUSH, GREEN-BACKED TIT, GREY-HOODED WARBLER, CINEREOUS TIT and KHALIJ PHEASANT.

 
Whister's Warbler such a rare bird in Pakistan Riaz
I wasn’t very happy to see a SHIKRA hunting over Trail 5. Seeing the Bird of Prey there isn’t a happy sign as birds wont come to drink water and the Whistler’s Warbler, which is a rare bird might be its target.  Surprisingly the Shikra was flying amazingly fast between the stream and was pickied up small birds many times. However, I believe that nature will take its course and I need not to worry too much about it.

"The Shikra went that way!" Grey Bushchat Riaz
 
Green-backed Tit Riaz
Yellow-fronted (or Himalayan) Greenfinch Riaz
Deep into the Margallas 10 km ahead of Makhnial Village , we spotted HIMALAYAN GRIFFON, STEPPE EAGLE, YELLOW-FRONTED GREENFINCH, ORIENTAL WHITE-EYE, CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH and a beautiful RUFOUS SIBIA.

Rufous Sibia Riaz
Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch Riaz
Female Blue-capped Redstart Riaz
 
Orange-flanked Bush Robin (aka Oranged-flanked Bluetail) Riaz






 
Young Himalayan Griffon Vultures Riaz

Steppe Eagles Riaz
I have been missing much on the Rawal lakeside and believe that during coming weekends I shall pay regular visits to the site to find some new species. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the Golden Bush Robin but I was glad that we saw Vultures sitting on the a pine tree and I made a small movie clip.

Oriental White-eye Riaz
Streaked Laughingthrush Riaz

White-throated Fantail playing up to its name! Riaz
WOODPECKERS ARE GREAT!!!

Female Brown-fronted Woodpecker Riaz
Female Scaly-bellied Woodpecker Riaz

Guys I say warm welcome to my friend ZR, who is a birder and photographer and I will appreciate if Islbirder will post his images on the blog.

From Islbirder: absolutely, it will be a great honour for me to post more wonderful photographs from another talented Pakistani wildlife photographer. Riaz, you and your Team are doing such great things to promote Pakistan’s birds and with the excitement of Kamran’s forthcoming book on the birds of Sialkot things are looking up indeed. I LOVE THESE PHOTOGRAPHS.

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Birds Found in Pakistan

Image
Islbirder was birding on the muddy perimeter of a West Midlands Industrial Estate in the centre of the England looking for a Hume’s Warbler, the first record for the Region and a British Tick. It was freezing cold with squally and heavy showers. He was thinking what on earth am I doing here? It was only a few short weeks ago that Hume’s Warbler was a regular visitor to his Islamabad garden. At the same time RMK had taken a week away from his office to undertake an expedition to photograph some of the resident species and exciting winter visitors to Pakistan. RMK takes up the story of his memorable birding holiday. It’s been a strange winter and I am very sorry to inform you that this year the numbers of birds visiting Islamabad and Punjab appear to be reduced. On Saturday 25 January 2014 I visited Trail 5 within the Margalla Hills National Park. This was the famous Trail 5 that we had visited on many occasions and seen such wonderful species. However, birds were few. The C...
Read more

The Breeding Season in the Margalla Hills & a Trip to Shogran

Image
The changing season in Islamabad has pushed the overwintering visitors to higher altitudes and the breeding season is in full swing within the Margalla Hills National Park. Verditer Flycatcher   During weekend of 27 & 28 March 2021, I excitedly anticipated two full days of birding. On 27 March me,  SWABI BIRDER  along with  Mrs.  SWABI BIRDER   visited an area of woodland within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, to check on how the birds are preparing for their breeding season. The dry branches have their leaves and birds were extremely active. Speckled Piculet (Male) We sat quietly near to a water source and after few moments birds started coming to drink. Firstly, a Verditer Flycatcher that was quickly followed by a superb Speckled Piculet. Also in branches was a Grey-hooded Warbler in full breeding plumage. Grey-hooded Warbler   A female Common Rosefinch alighted nearby on a branch. On the edge of the stream area was a beautiful Grey Wagtail, in fu...
Read more

Kalar Kahar 62 Species

Image
On Saturday 13 July 2013 we made our way to the Kalar Kahar area, Punjab to look for new species for our Pakistan List. We had decided to arrive early to give ourselves the chance of locating one, or more, of the famous population of Indian Peafowl. Whilst some would consider that these particular Indian Peafowl something of a plastic tick; they are countable and appear as number 353 on my list of species recorded in Pakistan. The first INDIAN PEAFOWL we saw was a stunning male perched on a fence. Not the best evidence of “wild” status. The local community looks after the birds so they show little fear. However, we saw about a dozen or so and some acted more like wild birds, those that stalked the woodland area. Whether these birds comprise a feral population, like the Monk Parakeets in Miami, Florida, or not these beautiful photographs portray this amazing species so dramatically. Once again the photographers have done a fantastic job.   Male Indian Peafowl Sarel van Zyl ...
Read more