LTC Bob at Victory Base continues to produce some nice photos of local birds. His latest offerings at Silflay Hraka are great pictures of Babblers and of White-breasted Kingfishers. The Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters should be arriving in a month or so. I expect he'll have some great shots of them too.

I found a nice old picture from 1922 of a White Stork nest. The caption says that the local belief was that good luck would rest on the family on whose house the storks build their huge nests. I'm told that in the north of the country its more common to see nesting storks than in the area where I spent most of my time.

I've been reading some reports from the last comprehensive waterbird surveys conducted in Iraq. I'll highlight a few of the areas and what they found there over my next few posts.

The first area is near the town of Kut southeast of Baghdad. On the arid plains about 10 km north of the Tigris River is a large isolated lake called Haur Al Shuwaija. The site was surveyed 3 times between 1968 and 1979. Large numbers of birds both wintered and bred there. Its unknown what state the lake and its surrounding area is in now. From the numbers and varieties of waterbirds listed below, the place must have been spectacular, hopefully it still is. It is in this general area that a Lesser White-fronted Goose is being tracked via satellite.

Reported peak counts of selected species
Great White Pelican - 71
Dalmatian Pelican - 3
Gray Heron - 130
Greater Flamingo - 600
White-fronted Goose - 325
Lesser White-fronted Goose - 70
graylag Goose - 460
Ruddy Shelduck - 1280
Common Shelduck - 250
Eurasian Wigeon - 2700
Gadwall - 435
Common Teal - 3450
Mallard - 2630
Pintail - 2800
Northern Shoveler - 3000
Common Crane - 70
Eurasian Coot - 510
Pied Avocet - 373
Kentish (Snowy) Plover - 725
White-tailed Lapwing - 37
Little Stint - 130
Ruff - 2000
Black-headed Gull - 650
Yellow-legged Gull - 645
Gull-billed Tern - 6
Caspian Tern - 11
Whiskered Tern - 110