One of the two young doves from Doris’ second brood has fledged and left the nest and hopefully the second bird will not be long. I would have put some photos of these birds on my site but they were identical to the first brood. Nil activity from anywhere else in my tiny little world. The Collared Dove did pay a brief visit to a nearby tree but other than that its been very quite.
The day started as had the week, with a fleeting glimpse of a small bird of prey shooting over the rooftops. The most common falcon is the Common Kestrel but I have yet to see one and I cannot definately say that this bird was this species. Yet another that got away.
Towards the evening walking back from dinner i noticed a larger than usual amount of swallows, I grabbed my bins and spent some time at one of my view points. Eventually I watched swallows in there hundreds moving from a general North to South, maybe slightly Southeast. I cannot explain this and will check tonight to see if a similar event occurs. I check all the birds I could and they all seemed to be Barn Swallows.
A week has passed and very little has happened. In the middle of the week I thought I heard a Warbler, I was on the way to a meeting and couldn’t stop, on my return the bird had gone. My initial thoughts were a type of Sylvia Warbler, something akin to Whitethroat but less scratchy. Another one thats got away.
I did see my second Collared Dove this morning as it flew into the trees at the back of the Football pitch.
Doris’ second brood has hatched, I could see two small bundles of feathers as I peeked into the nest, when Doris was away on a foray, here’s crossing fingers for more succes.
Yesterday I spent a few hours on the football field that I can often see but I can’t usually visit. Swallows were a constant and I managed to see at least one Red-rumped. A stroll arond the edge and I chanced across the Long-tailed Shrike. He/she began to utter a "tac" contact call and it was soon joined by another. This leads me to believe that they are definately breeding in this area. Anybody’s thoughts on nest construction, position etc would be much appreciated.
I managed to see yet another new butterfly,this had the colouration of a Brimstone with black wing edge markings.
Lately it has been extrememly quiet with no new birds and indeed no sightings of the less frequent species. Sparrows and Mynas are still breeding and today I noticed that Doris was back on her nest. On inspection I found two small white eggs. Hopefully she will succeed in raising these as she did her last brood.
Yesterday evening I was talking outside our offices at dusk. Although not completely dark the sun was well down, gradually I registered the call of a bee-eater as it approached, passed overhead and moved off. To me this seemed unusual but bee-eater is not a frequent visitor to my home shores so I am not that aware of their nocturnal habits.
One definate night flyer was this moth that I found in our building in the morning. Up close it has a very strange marking on its back. I will keep my eye out for any other species of moth.
The last few days have been relatively quiet birdwise with just the regular species. Breeding is still going on full swing with Mynas, Doves and Sparrows still nesting. I did see the Shrike this morning on his favourite tree, I quickly grabbed my camera and he gave me 15 seconds on a nearby branch as he moved around the tree firstly flushing a sparrow and then a Myna, it is obviousy very protective of this ideal view point. I have attached a photo but it is by no means ideal. I will as usual endeavour to get a better image.
I saw a new butterfly yesterday, another white but very similar to the british Marbled White, anyone out there who knows their Afghanistan butterfllies, any advice or help is much appreciated.
For reasons I won’t go into I watched the sunrise this morning and spent a couple of hours overlooking the football pitch area. It held good numbers of sparrows, maybe 50+ about ten Mynas, a few Feral Pigeons and a single Hoopoe. I was also rewarded with the sight of two Brahminy Starlings Sturnus pagodarum sitting on the very crossbar that the shrike had been on earlier in the week. Another new bird for the area was a Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto which flew the length of the pitch before disappearing behind some buildings.
All the birds this morning were the usual fair, the mynas were chasing the mynas, the sparrows were chasing the sparrows, a magpie was rasping near the top of a tree and a Long-tailed Shrike was using a football goalpost as a vantage point from which to spy prey in the grass. The swallows are constantly in the air but all seem to be Barn, I have only seen a few Red-rumped in one area.
I have seen a few more butterflies but they all seem to be a kind of white.
Yesterday morning Doris’ second chick had left the nest. Once again I didn’t see the bird fly but I have seen quite a few Palm Doves around our building today so I just hope it fledged Ok.
I have been confined to the office so no real birding opportunities in the last couple of days.