Imran Shah: Birding Gojal Tesil & A First Record for Pakistan!


Imran Shah has been visiting Borith Lake in Gojal Tesil for the last six years and he shares with us here some superb photographs of a selection of birds that he has observed. I’ll let Imran give us his account of this amazing location:

Borith Lake is a small saline body of water in the Gojal Tehsil of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, measuring about 850m in length and 270m at its widest. The lake is located in a small depression in above main Gojal valley, at an elevation of about 2600 metres. Geographically it is interesting due to the fact that the lake lies between the Passu and Ghulkin Glaciers, on the northern and southern sides, on the west lies the great Batura Muztagh, with some of the 7000 metre peaks like Batura Sar (7,795m), Shispare (7,611m), Passu Sar (7,476m) Ultar Sar (7,388m) and Sangemarmar Sar (7,000m). It lies approximately 5 km to the north of Gulmit, and can be reached via a 2 km unpaved road from Husseini village, on the main Karakorum Highway. The site is an important sanctuary for migrating waterfowl and other birds. To witness the highest diversity and number of birds Borith Lake should be visited from September to May, although the lake offers great diversity of species all year.

 
Pakistan's Forst Recorded Black-legged Kittiwake (adult in winter plumage) Imran Shah

 
Greylag Geese with Pintail, Pochard, Mallard, Gadwall & Coot Imran Shah


Common Shelduck with Gadwall, Coot & Pintail Imran Shah
Male Common Pochard Imran Shah
Ruddy Shelduck Imran Shah
 
Red-crested Pochard Imran Shah
 
Tufted Duck Imran Shah


 
Slavonian Grebe Imran Shah
Common Redshank Imran Shah
Brown-headed Gull Imran Shah
 
Pallas's Gull Imran Shah
 
Eurasian Sparrowhawk Imran Shah
Eurasian Hobby Imran Shah
Common Kestrel (trying to imitate Lesser Kestrel) Imran Shah
First-winter Male Black-throated Thrush Imran Shah
White-winged Redstart Imran Shah
Rufous-backed Redstart Imran Shah
Eurasian Skylark Imran Shah
Common Starling Imran Shah
 
First-winter male Spanish Sparrow Imran Shah
Eurasian Siskin Imran Shah
For birding, I have been visiting Borith Lake for last six years, but during the last three years I have been regularly visiting the area during all months. The significance of this bird sanctuary, is apparent from the fact that in an area of less than one square kilometre, I have been able to photo-document more than 110 bird species:

Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
Common Teal (Anas crecca)
Garganey (Anas querquedula)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina)
Ferruginous Pochard (Aythya nyroca)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Chukar (Alectoris chukar)
Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus)
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)
Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Booted Eagle (Aquila pennata)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
Eurasian Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Himalayan Buzzard (Buteo refectus)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Baillon's Crake (Porzana pusilla)
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii)
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)
Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Brown-headed Gull (Larus brunnicephalus)
Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans)
Pallas's Gull (Larus ichthyaetus)
Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
Hill Pigeon (Columba rupestris)
Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
European Roller (Coracias garrulus)
Scaly-bellied Woodpecker (Picus squamatus)
Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla)
Eurasian Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris)
Northern House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)
Rosy Pipit (Anthus roseatus)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola)
Brown Accentor (Prunella fulvescens)
Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Güldenstädt’s (White-winged) Redstart (Phoenicurus erythrogastrus)
Eversmann’s (Rufous-backed) Redstart (Phoenicurus erythronotus)
Variable Wheatear (Oenanthe picata)
Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka)
Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti)
Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus)
Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius)
Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush (Monticola saxitilis)
Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus)
Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
Black-throated Thrush (Turdus atrogularis)
White-browed Tit Warbler (Leptopoecile sophiae)
Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)
Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca)
Booted Warbler (Iduna caligata)
Sulphur-bellied Warbler (Phylloscopus griseolus)
Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Mountain Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus)
Greenish Warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides)
Hume's Warbler (Phylloscopus humei)
Northern Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)
Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria)
Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach)
Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)
Common Magpie (Pica pica)
Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Yellow-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Rose-coloured Starling (Pastor roseus)
Indian Golden Oriole (Oriolus kundoo)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)
Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus)
Eurasian Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)
Fire-fronted Serin (Serinus pusillus)
Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)
Plain Mountain Finch (Leucosticte nemoricola)
White-winged Grosbeak (Mycerobas carnipes)
Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)
Grey-necked Bunting (Emberiza buchanani)
White-capped Bunting (Emberiza stewarti)
Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia)
(Updated to take into account recent taxonomic changes)

Compared to the previous year, the winter of 2016 proved to be quite interesting. Gulls were a fascinating addition to the list of birds at Borith Lake. In my all previous visits I only spotted only one or two Caspian Gulls. However this year in a span of one month the lake was visited by Black-headed Gulls (6), Caspian Gulls (10), Brown-headed Gulls (3 or 4), Pallas's Gulls (2) and the most interesting observation was a single Black-legged Kittiwake on 12th of December. Most of these gulls were observed at the lake in extremely windy, cold and cloudy conditions.

Also interesting to note was the observation of Eurasian Siskins and Slavonian Grebes. Eurasian Siskins were present in the area from November to December, with highest number of about 10 birds observed on 11 November 2016, and a single pair of Slavonian Grebes was spotted on the 14 December 2016. This year was also interesting in terms of Anseriformes; some of the interesting finds were both the Common and Ruddy Shelducks.

ISLBIRDER: The Black-legged Kittiwake is the first ever, recorded in Pakistan and I congratulate Imran on this fantastic achievement. Slavonian Grebe is a rare vagrant to the country (only four previous records) and subject to some further research, I believe, Eurasian Siskin is another first for Pakistan.

There are so many little watched areas of Pakistan as far as birding is concerned and who knows what ornithological riches are out there waiting to be found. The regular watching of your “local patch” is a great way of increasing our knowledge regarding birds in Pakistan and has the potential of turning up rare and interesting species.

I really look forward to receiving more records from Imran and we are privileged, here at Islamabad Birding, to be able to share Imran’s experiences and photographs with our many tens of thousands of readers.

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