Day 4 Mutla'a Ranch, Abdaly Farm, Jarah Farms

We had our 7.00 am start as usual and drove to Mutla'a Ranch.  Pekka drove into the area and parked up and we walked slowly through trees with Lesser Whitethroat, Bulbuls, and a pair of Hypocolious, which flew around the bushes and perched up int he open.

We met up with Pekka around the other side of the trees with at least 20 Hypocolious flying about and giving great views. We then drove to Abdaly for Afghan Babbler, crossing the Mutl'a ridge which was where US forces attacked Iraqi forces as they retreated. We saw lots of weekender tents, stopped at a military checkpoint and passed several police cars parked along the verges! Arriving at Abdaly, Pekka rang the man to let us in. We went in and walked among the palms, until Pekka called us over to say he could hear the Babblers and around 20 birds rummaged through the trees. They were very active but gave great views and even allowed some decent photographs. We also saw more Bulbuls, some Song Thrushes and a pair of Hypocolious. A Grey Herons flew over before we left for a celebratory ice-cream at a nearby supermarket.

We were making our way back to Jahra Farms but stopped off at a water treatment works with a nice area of trees where we found several Vagrant Emperors, a squeaky Chiff and an Eastern Scarlet Chaser. Along the road there was a tree full of Sparrow nests showing he original nesting preferences. Along the perimeter sand bund, AF found the only lizard that we saw all week, hiding under an overhanging piece of concrete before dashing off and out of sight.

We then looked for a more typical, local restaurant but it was closed so on to Burger King for lunch.
After lunch we drove about 1 km to Jahra farms, parked up and walked carefully round the plots. We had good views of Mourning Doves, Common Mynahs, around 15 cattle egrets, ring necked parakeets, white wagtails and 2 red spotted Bluethroats, one of which was very confiding as it came closer and closer along the field edge. This was one of the few paces that e saw nets set up, although there was nothing in them. A flock of 15 Bank Mynahs came in and gave reasonable views but were a little difficult to photograph.

As the light faded, we drove back to the hotel where we tried to see the lunar eclipse but it was too hazy and the moon rose behind one of the tall buildings but we did see a Peregrine from the bedroom window before dining at the hotel again.

Day 3 - Coast and Jahra Pools

Up at 6.30 for breakfast before meeting up with Pekka at 7.
We drove to Hal al Zour, an odd, dry escarpment where we found Red-tailed Wheatear, Desert Wheatear and Eastern Mourning Wheatear. We then drove to an area behind a disused firing range where we had another Mourning Wheatear and an Arab Red Fox which sat up at the the top of the cliffs.

We then drove to Sulaibikhat Car Park and Manchester Club scanning the shore for distant waders which included Lesser and Greater Sandplover, Kentish Plover, Terek, Marsh and 2 Broad-billed  Sandpiper as well as Crab Plovers, which came closer as the tide rose but never got very close. We had Whiskered, Caspian and Gull-billed terns and a White-fronted Kingfisher flew into a close bush.

We visited another McDonald's for lunch before driving out to Jahra Pools. This was a lovely area of marsh and water with a couple of hides which gave excellent views over the pools, We had Greater Spotted Eagles and an Osprey overhead, Great White Egrets, Indian Reef Egrets, Purple Swamphen, Gadwall, Little Grebes, Coot and Moorhen on the pools, Green Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and Snipe fed around the edges.

Several Daurian Shrikes and a Clamorous Reed warbler was singing from the reeds. A Little Bittern flew out of the reeds and round the corner before the others could get onto to it. At a pool round the other side of the area there were some Feruginous Ducks among the wildfowl.

We started to make our way back, stopping to walk through the dusty bushes at the edge of the reserve, locating at least 6 Graceful Warblers and a Siberian Stonechat, before heading back to the hotel as the light faded.

We decided to be adventurous and eat at the Al Babb, a Lebanese restaurant on the 18th floor of the Sharq Tower. It took a bit of finding but was worth it as it had a revolving floor and panoramic views across the city. 

Day 2 - Pivot Fields

Up for breakfast at 6.30 in the dinning room on floor one. It was a very comprehensive, international selection giving a wide choice and a chance to try out some different combinations.
We met up with Pekka just after 7.00 and set off to the Pivot Fields where we were to have the honour of being the first non-kuwaiti birders to be allowed in for 5 years. It was easy to see why this area is such an attraction. There was a mixture of huge, irrigated fields and large areas of deserty, weedy fallow. Our first stop was close to the entrance where we scanned across the field for lapwings. As we got out of the car there was a burst of Great Reed Warbler song, but no sighting. David scanned the field and found two White-tailed Lapwings and a further scan found a flock of 10 Red-wattled Lapwings at the top of the field, quite a distance away. In the next field was a huge flock of Lapwings but no sign of Sociable Lapwings. In the edge of a filed an Indian Gerbil was feeding but we couldn't get very close. We then drove round some more fields, checking the Lapwings and finding larks and pipits before stopping in a trackway that looked out over a large field. Scanning through the lapwings the first thought was that there were some golden plover in the distance but after they moved into better light it was realised that there were at least eight Sociable Plover in the field. We drove round to other side to see if the views were any better but apart from an amazing line of kites on one of the irrigation arms they were just as difficult to see.

We drove around the fields and tracks and then headed out to a pond, stopping for a Bluethroat and a pair of Stonechats, where we had brilliant views of a Spanish Sparrow male in the reeds. Raptors seen in this excellent place were Black Kite, Greater Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Hen Harrier and a ring-tailed Pallid Harrier and Long-legged Buzzard.

Our next drive out was to a camel farm area with a flock of 10 Namaqua doves sitting in some low branches. We watched the doves for a while and then returned to the entrance with a stop at the crocodile pond where we found a large crocodile sunning on the bank. As we left we commented on how interesting and productive the area was and how we could understand the frustration of not being allowed in. Today we had a very ethnic lunch in a local 'restaurant' for the vast sum of 5 KD for all 5 of us, including a drink.

We spent the afternoon in the KABD where we had to surrender our passports before entering. It seemed very quiet with just a Desert Wheatear, some Isabelline Wheatear and a Steppe Grey Shrike. As we bumped along a track a small bird turned into a lovely male Black-crowned Finch-lark which seemed to be completely unaware of us as it foraged along the track edge, giving stunning views.

We headed back to Kuwait University where we were dropped off and walked about, seeing House Crow and finding a small flock of Indian Silverbills feeding among their favourite food source. We then returned to our hotel as the sun set.

We decided to explore the area a bit and walked a short way to an Indian Restaurant where we enjoyed a nice meal and began to explore the variety of fruit 'cocktails' that are available to make up for the lack of anything alcoholic. 

Day 1 - Green Island

Green Island is a completely man-made island, one of the first in the Gulf region created in 1988, with trees, grassy areas and a large lagoon in the middle. It has a 700-seat amphitheatre and a children's play area and is very popular with Kuwaiti's, especially for BBQs at the weekend. As you walk along the causeway you can look back at the Kuwait skyline with some really iconic towers giving it a distinctive outline. As we approached the gateway a Hypocolious was seen diving into a bush but it disappeared quite quickly. 

We had Green Island almost to our selves as Sunday is the first day of the working week in Kuwait. We wandered around seeing White-cheeked Bulbul and Bank Mynah. We checked out the lagoon and found Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Kentish Plover on the edges. There were Collared and Laughing doves everywhere and as we checked out a flock of White-cheeked Bulbuls that were clearing up the remains of a rice picnic when we found a few Red-vented Bulbuls which had a quick snack and then disappeared before we could photograph them. Other birds that we saw were Ruppel's Weaver, which were in the process of building nests in a bush, Swallows and a Pallas' Gull that flew high over the lagoon, missed by David as he was checking out an area round the corner.

As we were heading out we had a butterfly species fly by which we eventually decided was Painted Lady sp and then at the entrance we found a Hypocolious which played hide and seek in the bushes along the entrance to Green Island. Checking out the photos it was feeding on a honeycomb. We watched it for a while and then it flew back into the bamboos where we found a second bird. They spent some time feeding on the roof and flying around the building and the trees before disappearing into Green Island and we could relax with our prime target bird seen well.

We walked back to the car and drove to the nearest McDonald's for lunch followed by a visit to Sabreya Farm a small farm just outside Kuwait where we went for a walk round seeing Isabeline Shrike, Desert Wheatear, Meadow Pipit,White-cheeked Bulbul, which were just about everywhere, Collared Dove and Spanish Sparrow with Swallows swooping around outside across the desert. We then returned slowly to our hotel with stops along the way to check out the fence line for Desert, Isabeline and Persian Wheatears.

As the day had been quite long we decided to eat in the hotel before heading for bed by 8.30.