Search for the Golden Bush Robin Continues! (Our 100th Post)


I have very strange feeling these days, as a few people making me embarrassed by asking the question, am I a birder or a bird photographer. My simple answer is whatever I am doesn’t matter and with smile I tell them I am a nature lover, a birder, a wildlife protector and a photographer.

Anyway, the news of Golden Bush Robin was very warm and I decided to follow the bird, as it occasionally visits the Margalla hills during winter. So I didn’t want to miss the chance and took two days out in the field to find this beauty.

Islamabad is wonderful place to be in winter and  many of my  new friends want to go out with me in the field. Over the weekend two of them joined ZR and me for birding on Trail 5 . We had a good chat about birds and nature and later on we let them have their climb up Maragalla Hills.

Overall the weekend ending on 18 January 2015 was very fruitful. We search Trail 5 for two consecutive days and travelled almost 40 km each day deeper into the Margallas to find and photograph the Golden Bush Robin.

The birds we saw along Trail 5 were, WHISTLER’S WARBLER, ORANGE-FLANKED BUSH ROBIN, a male taking an early bath and we also saw a female. Some of the other birds that we saw were WHITE-THROATED FAINTAIL, BLUE WHISTLING THRUSH, GREEN-BACKED TIT, GREY-HOODED WARBLER, CINEREOUS TIT and KHALIJ PHEASANT.

 
Whister's Warbler such a rare bird in Pakistan Riaz
I wasn’t very happy to see a SHIKRA hunting over Trail 5. Seeing the Bird of Prey there isn’t a happy sign as birds wont come to drink water and the Whistler’s Warbler, which is a rare bird might be its target.  Surprisingly the Shikra was flying amazingly fast between the stream and was pickied up small birds many times. However, I believe that nature will take its course and I need not to worry too much about it.

"The Shikra went that way!" Grey Bushchat Riaz
 
Green-backed Tit Riaz
Yellow-fronted (or Himalayan) Greenfinch Riaz
Deep into the Margallas 10 km ahead of Makhnial Village , we spotted HIMALAYAN GRIFFON, STEPPE EAGLE, YELLOW-FRONTED GREENFINCH, ORIENTAL WHITE-EYE, CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH and a beautiful RUFOUS SIBIA.

Rufous Sibia Riaz
Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch Riaz
Female Blue-capped Redstart Riaz
 
Orange-flanked Bush Robin (aka Oranged-flanked Bluetail) Riaz






 
Young Himalayan Griffon Vultures Riaz

Steppe Eagles Riaz
I have been missing much on the Rawal lakeside and believe that during coming weekends I shall pay regular visits to the site to find some new species. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the Golden Bush Robin but I was glad that we saw Vultures sitting on the a pine tree and I made a small movie clip.

Oriental White-eye Riaz
Streaked Laughingthrush Riaz

White-throated Fantail playing up to its name! Riaz
WOODPECKERS ARE GREAT!!!

Female Brown-fronted Woodpecker Riaz
Female Scaly-bellied Woodpecker Riaz

Guys I say warm welcome to my friend ZR, who is a birder and photographer and I will appreciate if Islbirder will post his images on the blog.

From Islbirder: absolutely, it will be a great honour for me to post more wonderful photographs from another talented Pakistani wildlife photographer. Riaz, you and your Team are doing such great things to promote Pakistan’s birds and with the excitement of Kamran’s forthcoming book on the birds of Sialkot things are looking up indeed. I LOVE THESE PHOTOGRAPHS.

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