An Afghan First?
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 1:37 pm
I snuck down to Runway's End Marsh today; I needed to see something after a disasterous CLP to PB Clifton when I saw the square root of nothing! I arrived armed with binoculars and almost immediately saw a bird which didn't look quite right. I walked over in the general direction and the bird flew to an adjacent area of rubble, landed and cocked its tail. The bird was pied and clearly not a Wheatear or a Pied Bushchat. I viewed the bird and picked up the large white (almost down to the primaries) wing bar and pied appearance and was confident that I was looking at a male Oriental Magpie-robin which, I believe, given information receved from Mike Blair, is an Afghan first, albeit, an expected one.
The bird disappeared over the rise towards the USMC Osprey flightline and was not relocated; it was very flighty so I continued to walk around and possibly had the best days birding since I arrived.......more to follow at the end of the week report.
At lunchtime I went back with my camera but the bird was not present. I have already put a report into OSME and await their feedback. Life does not get much better. Oh and did I say I amon R&R next week?
From Mike Blair:
Oriental Magpie-Robin (formerly Indian Magpie-Robin) Copsychus saularis Recent expansion in Pakistan to Khyber Pass 2002 Anssi Kullberg in litt. Expected Afghanistan soon. Popular cagebird.
The bird disappeared over the rise towards the USMC Osprey flightline and was not relocated; it was very flighty so I continued to walk around and possibly had the best days birding since I arrived.......more to follow at the end of the week report.
At lunchtime I went back with my camera but the bird was not present. I have already put a report into OSME and await their feedback. Life does not get much better. Oh and did I say I amon R&R next week?
From Mike Blair:
Oriental Magpie-Robin (formerly Indian Magpie-Robin) Copsychus saularis Recent expansion in Pakistan to Khyber Pass 2002 Anssi Kullberg in litt. Expected Afghanistan soon. Popular cagebird.