Tanjaro river revisited

July 27th was a sightseeing day in Erbil but I resumed some birding on the morning of July 28th before it got too hot.

I revisted the Tanjaro river in Sulaimani. This proved to be a good decsion as birds were more numerous that the previous visit and I added 7 species to my new Kurdistan list.

white stork, black winged stilt and red wattled lapwing

I chose to walk downstream from Pak City whre I was staying. Some of the first birds to be seen included a single white stork (the same one as last time?) and a flock of red wattled lapwing. 

red wattled lapwing

However there were far more waders about including several black-winged stilt.

flock of black-winged stilt

There were a few juveniles among them and I suspect local breeding.

more black- winged stilt

Once again there were plenty of green sandpiper around and once again the e-bird data base didn't like my entry when I tried to input their sighting. E-bird obviously believes they shouldn't be around in mid summer 

green sandpiper

On the other hand, the sighting of two wood sandpiper was accepted.

wood sandpiper

Common sandpiper were also present again but little ringed plover wasn't seen on my previous visit.

little ringed plover

 As might be expected little ringed plover was seen in the more pebbly areas.

juvenile yellow wagtail

Both white wagtail and yellow wagtail were seen. The yellow wagtail breeding species here is black headed wagtail. However I didn't see any males and the views were directly into sunlight so I couldn't identify the sub-species I saw.

white wagtail

Aweay from the river banks, I got to see my first Kurdistan rufous bush robin.  

 Rufous bush robin

However sightings of two separate see-see partridge in different palces down the river was a bigger highlight since this was a lifer for me.

female-type see-see partridge

Needless to say, crested lark turned up.  I see this bird everywhere I bird in the Middle East and north Africa. It tolerates so many different habitats.

crested lark

There was plenty of food for herons but surprisngly I didn't see a single one here or elsewhere on my trip.

frog

In the next and final blog on Kurdistan, I will write about my session on Gouizha heights where the cross section of birds was a little different.

Birds seen by the Tanjaro river on July 28th 

I = addition to Iraqi list, L = lifer

See-see partridge  I,L

White stork

Moorhen   I

Black-winged stilt  I

Red-wattled lapwing

Little ringed plover  I

Green sandpiper

Common sandpiper

Wood sandpiper   I

Feral pigeon

Collared dove

Laughing dove

Magpie

Crested lark

Barn swallow

Eastern olivaceous warbler

Rufous bush robin   I

House sparrow

Yellow  wagtail  I

White wagtail