Emirates Birds - Dry Ones...

A few more common birds to be found in the Emirates. The lovely Indian Roller above is pretty common, almost a garden bird. Usually found on fences and overhead wires they are conspicuous and easy to approach.


The stylish Little Green Bee-eater is another dazzling species (well, all Bee-eaters are nice are they not) that is commonly found along roadsides and in gardens and the like.


The rather drab Desert Lark is mostly found in barren, rocky areas in the mountains. I found them to be rather skittish and hard to approach closely so could only get a few record shots.


The Crested Lark is seemingly ubiquitous throughout the whole region, they can be just about anywhere.


The Emirates is a good place to brush up on your wheatear identification. This is an Isabelline Wheatear. We didn't see too many here and this one was actually photographed in Ethiopia, where it is a very common wintering bird. Rather drab as far as wheatears go but with a subtle beauty nonetheless.


Desert Wheatears were quite common in low-lying stoney desert, particularly where there were a few shrubs. Hard to get close to I never did manage to get any decent photos. This one is a lovely male.


This male Hooded Wheatear, on the other hand, was a real exhibitionist! He lived in a car park and was well used to people...


This male Hume's Wheatear was a bit of a target species for us what with its restricted range. We ended up seeing quite a few in the mountains near Al Ain.


Finally, the rather dull Red-tailed Wheatear in atypical tennis court habitat!