The Dunnock Team

This picture was taken during my BirdingBreaks tour to Syria: it 'clearly' shows the right hand bird to be ringed; most probably they are the satellite-tagged adult pair Sultan and Zenobia.

A male of at least 4 males and 3 females seen during this year's BirdingBreaks tour to Syria; found in the exact same orchard as last year, the species appears to be wintering here regularly.

Believe me: the three birds in the centre/left are three Pine Buntings, incl a female.

Fortunately, BirdingBreaks tour participant John Hermans had much better equipment and was able to take brilliant shots of most birds....

8 of a flock of 39 Sociable Lapwings in a foggy and cold Eiwa in the northern Syrian steppes. Nevertheless one of the tour's highlights!

Note the overall sandy tone, the short wing, pale lore and pale tail. With Chiffchaff. It was later seen with a wing of a Chiffchaff in its claws!

Remains of 8 birds shot and eaten the previous day by local hunters. They said between 2,000 and 3,000 were present in the general area, of which we saw a flock of 65 (see above).

Remains of a male and female, shot and eaten the previous day by local hunters. They said between 2,000 and 3,000 were present in the general area, of which we saw a flock of 65 (see above). Flocks of 8 and 26 were seen in other areas few days earlier.

A flock of 65 was all we could find of the 2,000+ birds present in the area (but we only had two hrs and there was poor visibility). Unsustainable hunting during the migration period, by both local and foreign hunters, is the number one cause for the sharp decline in numbers of this species. See http://77.167.75.191/doc/doc00232.pdf for more information..

Abundant in Aleppo's old city - nevertheless a cute bird!

This species was seen exceptionally well at this year's BirdingBreaks tour to Syria.

A small flock, consisting of 8 birds, was seen at NW Tishreen, within 10 km of the Turkish border.

The species was commonly found along the Euphrates river, as here at Shnan riverine howeijat habitat. Greater Spotted Eagle and Pallid Harrier were among the other highlights here.

This 'brookei' Peregrine was bought by one of the BirdingBreaks tour participants and set free far from civilisation.

Despite this awful picture (John Hermans has far better ones, see below), Hoopoe Lark remained one of this year's BirdingBreaks Syria tour highlights!

The pale face of this 'bicornis' race of Horned Lark is clearly visible. The species is common above 2,000m at Bloudan, Anti-Lebanon mountains west of Damascus.

Trip Report

Trip Report

Trip Report