A FlyBy Lifer from this morning (shot against the sun, so pls excuse the craptastic quality 
).
The Sandwich Terns (Brandseeschwalbe, Sterna sandvicensis) just flew by briefly, two of them. The Kuwait Bird report (2008) lists them as: “Uncommon passage migrant. Uncommon winter visitor. Scarce summer visitor.”
I finally made it to the beach again. Due to various circumstances, lazyness being on of them, I didn’t go the last 3 weeks.
Migration is still in full swing. I saw Sand Martins, Barn Swallows, Pallid Swifts, Yellow Wagtails, a Squacco Heron, a Cattle Egret, Reef Egrets, a Caspian Tern in FlyBy action on their way north & a Common Sandpiper foraging the beach in danger to get swept away by the waves.
This morning after I saw all these species flying by, I started to wonder, if my area here is grossly ‘underwatched’ and actually a hub for migratory birds on their way North. But with so few Birders in Kuwait doing the ‘counting’ job and most of them located and busy in the northern part of the country, nobody will probably ever know. And it’s not like I can show hundreds of birds in numbers to prove my theory (except for on morning in Fahaheel with 100dreds of Black-headed Gulls flying by). All I can do is keep watching and counting.
The Cattle Egret had some wing feathers missing close to his body. Looks like he got shot at.
And a theory on yesterdays fem. Common Kestrel: Maybe she was a ‘caged’ bird and escaped, or got set loose. Supposedly the feathers don’t look like this on a wild bird. We will probably never know. I just hope, if that’s the case, that she knows how to hunt and will be fine!
