Short and Sweet
I will share my most recent posts but lets talk about this past Sunday (14th July)
Met up with a Lahori birdwatcher early in the morning at Clifton Urban Forest. He had brought his family around and I think they had a good time as well. Thankfully the early morning flamingoes gave enough of a flyby to the new visitors that they saw them and enjoyed the 10 seconds the show lasted. Before these guys arrived, upon parking at Clifton Urban Forest, I saw the Red Juke and immediately recognized to whom it belonged. I ran into Shahbaz Alam sb and Atif Taj, it was my first meeting with Atif.
Then, I picked up Zohaib Ahmed (ZA) at Numaish Chowrangi at a later time (1515) then selected earlier because I made a quick stop at Empress Market for some wooden next boxes, bird feeder, and some mixed bird seed. After picking up ZA, I picked up a new birder in town, Mustafa. The guy is half Pakistani and half Kenyan and this was his first time properly birdwatching in the country. We picked him up from Tipu Sultan rd and off we went to Malir towards Salman Baloch (SalB)'s place where Sadiq Baloch (SadB) was also there. We did several spots along the Thado River in Deh Thano while walking from reed habitats, agricultural settings, orchards, and more.
Mustafa had a lot to share and it was perhaps, my first time birdwatching with someone from that continent. He had his right thigh bandaged up from a 2-year-old Buffalo wound! He has done bird ringing and also runs a safari company.
The highlights of the Malir visit was my lifer, African Marbled Skipper which were common on Indian Mallows (Abutilon indicum). Season's first pair of Pied cuckoos, Rosy starlings, and we also flushed a male Black francolin!!! which may be an escapee but that was something!
Nice places and observations. Hopefully one day I will have a chance of some birding in Sindh (it's 22 years since I did that last time). Why would Black Francolin be an escapee? Isn't it very regular and common throughout most of Pakistan?
ReplyDeleteYou are more than welcome anytime, a lot has changed in 2 decades. Sindh certainly has a lot of specialties. So, for the francolin, it has been extirpated in and around Karachi completely. It is still widespread here but in isolated pockets mainly due to excessive hunting pressures. Here where we saw the bird, the area is a green speck surrounded by rapid highly urban sprawl and the last wild Black francolins vanished at least 2 decades ago. This particular male has been calling in the area for the past few months, we need to get it a female soon. That will be something.
DeleteMaybe you can buy a female Black Francolin and release it there? In some countries, francolins now flourish in urban and sub-urban areas for the very reason that shooting them there would risk hitting people and houses, while in "wild" areas they were hunted into local extinction. However, francolins and other partridges tend to breed quickly and recolonize lost territories if given the chance.
DeleteExactly, I plan on doing that soon. Maybe even this weekend. True, both species are not shot here for food but they are very readily trapped for pet trade. When in town, do visit Empress market and you may even find Long-tailed Shrikes and Desert finches up for sale! The only issue here is keeping poachers away which is a big issue. Same fate has been met by Red Avadavats but I have been releasing them here from time to time and recently (2 days ago) we got a good news of 2 males and a female being resighted in peak breeding colors. Fingers crossed for the Francolin rebounding.
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