Al Warsan Lakes, Dubai

[ijwilki]

Paid a visit to Al Warsan this morning. Turned out to be a good day for herons:
Black-crowned night heron - a first for me
Squacco heron, and possibly the similar looking Indian pond heron
Purple heron
Grey heron
Various egrets, little and reef

Another first for me was glossy ibis - 4 of them showing
Plenty of black-winged stilts, red-wattled lapwings, and white-tailed lapwings. Also coots and moorhens, a few little ringed plovers, and several families of little grebe. There was a group of what looked like ruff in moult.
There were some warblers in the reeds but I didn't manage any photos or IDs.
Plenty of house sparrows, common mynah, bulbuls, collared and laughing doves.

[ijwilki]

A few more heron pics attached, and a glossy ibis

[ijwilki]

Some more pics attached - waders

[PeterB]

That a great exposition of exotica. I might be back to AD near Christmas and might take a day to visit somewhere like that.

[Little Sparrow]

Oooh!! A brill set of pics Ian! Super Heron species and the Glossy Ibis pics are splendid..they all are in fact!

Thanks for sharing!

[ijwilki]

Originally Posted by PeterB

That a great exposition of exotica. I might be back to AD near Christmas and might take a day to visit somewhere like that.

Thanks Peter. It would be a good place for a short visit if you come to AD again at Christmas.

Originally Posted by Little Sparrow

Oooh!! A brill set of pics Ian! Super Heron species and the Glossy Ibis pics are splendid..they all are in fact!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Judith, it was certainly a good day for herons - there were so many of them, and a good variation of species. It was a pity I couldn't get closer - the pics are quite heavily cropped.

I dropped into an area very close to the lakes called Pivot Fields. It's actually a garden nursery but they allow birdwatchers to go in provided they stick to the tracks - they grow 'grass carpet' (turf to you and me) so obviously they don't want people on it. Didn't stop long as it was getting too hot but apparantly it has a good reputation among the local birders and has been regarded as a hot spot at times so I must make sure I visit periodically.

Some pics attached:

Little green bee-eaters in worn out plumage
Hoopoe
Red-wattled lapwing
Grey francolin

[Little Sparrow]

Lovely seeing such colourful species Ian! The Grey Francolin is akin to our Grey Partridge then, just googled. The Little Green Bee-eaters are a treat to see also the Red-wattled Lapwing and who wouldn't enjoy seeing the stunning Hoopoe!

Brill images....thanks!

[PeterB]

Stunning Ian, love the Bee Eaters

[ijwilki]

Originally Posted by Little Sparrow

Lovely seeing such colourful species Ian! The Grey Francolin is akin to our Grey Partridge then, just googled. The Little Green Bee-eaters are a treat to see also the Red-wattled Lapwing and who wouldn't enjoy seeing the stunning Hoopoe!

Brill images....thanks!

Originally Posted by PeterB

Stunning Ian, love the Bee Eaters

Thanks to you both. Was able to get quite close to take the pics at Pivot Fields, in fact I was able to use the car as a hide.

Some more heron pics attached. I've realised that in one of the photos that I cropped yesterday there were actually 4 herons in view so I've cropped and resized with all of them showing. Also a pic of a red-vented bulbul at Pivots - shame the perch looks so scruffy!

[PeterB]

I remember seeing the Red Vented Bulbul and remember thinking how creative the name is. If it was from around here it would probably have been called Red Ar**d...