The migrants have begun coming through in earnest. I'll try to get out as often as I can during the fall migration. You never know what might show up. This morning before I had to be at work I took a couple mile walk down to the usual laundry pond. I saw three different species of shrikes!

I found where the Little Owl has been roosting. When I approached, it flew into a tiny slot in one of the large cement fuel bunkers that we have on base. When I looked in the hole it was apparent by all the feathers that the owl spends a lot of time there. The Little owls are often out during the day and often perch in the same place day after day. I've seen this one a couple times in the exact same place, sitting on a light pole.

The water in the pond is lower than it has been in a while. The vegetation is overgrown and makes it difficult to see the shoreline. Still quite a few terns feeding in the pond. Almost twenty Little Egrets were feeding in the shallows along with a single Squacco Heron. For the first time I saw Mallards in the pond as well as a small group of Marbled Teal.

There were more bee-eaters than usual. Flying straight up in the air then diving down to their perches.

In the trees near the pond I saw a pair of Wood Warblers and a group of Common Babblers were running around amongst the Syrian Mesquite. They reminded me of some of the Desert Thrashers in the Western US.

So far since I've been in the Middle East I've seen 80 species of birds. Of that number 43 have been new ones for me. Most of the others I had seen in Europe before.

Yesterday I photographed a large Lycosid spider that one of the guys caught. I saw the same species in Kuwait. The body is about 1 inch long and sandy brown with dark chocolate markings. The one in Kuwait was very aggressive rearing up and waving its front legs. The one I had yesterday didn't show the same behavior, it just wanted to escape.

9/3/2004 0700-0930

Little Grebe - 3
Squacco Heron - 1
Little Egret - 18
Mallard - 7
Marbled Teal - 4
Moorhen - 5
Black-winged Stilt - 1
Red-wattled Plover - 1
White-winged Black Tern - 10
Whiskered Tern - 2
Rock Dove - 8
Wood Pigeon - 35
Collared Dove - 6
Laughing Dove - 1
Little Owl - 1
Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater - 15
Crested Lark - 3
White-cheeked Bulbul - 7
Graceful Prinia - 2
Acrocephalus sp - 1
Wood Warbler - 2
Common Babbler - 5
Isabelline Shrike - 1
Southern Gray Shrike - 1
Woodchat Shrike - 1
Hooded Crow - 2
House Sparrow - 30