Thursday 6 January 2011

Wintering birds in Sirt

I am back on Libyan matters, today. Les Edwards has again sent me more pictures of and information on birds in Sirt. 


Les has told me that he has noticed a lot of hoopoe in the area having seen none in the summer. It seems that hoopoe is only a wintering bird in the Sirt area whereas in north western and north eastern Libya it is resident.


Libya is quite complicated because it also has passage hoopoe as well which travel through in the spring and autumn. At these times it can be seen almost anywhere in the country.

wintering hoopoe at Sirt by Les Edwards

Black redstart is a common wintering bird all across the northern coast and quite a way inland. Unlike at its summer habitats its not that fussy about its terrain either.

black redstart at Sirt by Les Edwards

Stonechat has a similar but slightly wider winter distribution than black redstart. Les has confirmed it winters in Sirt.

stonechat at Sirt by Les Edwards

Thanks again to Les for his contribution to this blog and once again I would like to ask anyone who has anything useful to say or show to input too!.  The readership of the blog is continually growing thanks in no small part to these special contributions.

3 comments:

  1. I've noticed quite a lot more hoopoe in Ain Zara lately. I didn't realize that they migratd. Thanks for this info. Also the starlings are particularly abundant in Tripoli this year. We've had rain! Maybe this helps. Keep birding Rob, I'm enjoying every post.

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  2. Khadija,

    Thanks for your kind remarks.

    Your local hoopoe population has probably been topped up with some birds from central Europe. The funny thing is some of the best guide books don't acknowledge we have local birds they think they are all migrants which just pass through.

    I'll keep birding as you say and keep blogging. Its nice to see the number of readers slowly rising to about 30 people a day now.

    Rob

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  3. Robert and Khadija
    thank you for information , yes the many of Hoopoe they are local and breeding near Tripoli .
    Salaam
    Jaber yahya

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