Back again in Dubai, for the third time.
I will write these posts, for the trip to UAE, in english since I promised to send the link to my excellent guide, with whom I spent two fantastic birding days. I've also decided to name the birds with both English and Swedish name, along with scientific name.
As always, the birds in the hotel proximity are always interesting at first, even though I've seen them many times before. This time, there were a couple of more species than previous trips. Well, not anything in particular really but the Indian silverbill (indisk silvernäbb, Longchura malabarica) and the Red-vented Bulbyl (rödgumpad bulbyl, Pycnonotus cafer) were new hotel species. The whole area around the Dubai marina was a greener place than previous areas where we have stayed. Below are some photos of the species present by the hotel pool.
 |
House sparrow, (gråsparv, Passer domesticus) or as it says
in the "Birds of the United Arab Emirates" Indian house
sparrow (Passer (domesticus) indicus) |
The House sparrow is quite common but looks a little bit different compared to the scandinavian. It's generally lighter, with much more contrast, the white cheek really stands out and the neckless is something not seen in the common House sparrow. Perhaps a different species soon?
 |
| Indian silverbill, (indisk silvernäbb, Longchura malbarica) |
A very nice little bird, which I have only seen during my excursions before. But common, both at Safa park and Dubai pivot fields. The silverbills around the hotel were quite fearless and often came to drink the water, which was meant to water the palm trees.
 |
| Laughing dove (palmduva, Spilopelia senegalensis) |
The Laughing dove is always around. You can get very close to them, if you like to take photos.
 |
White-eared bulbyl (vitkindad bulbyl, Pycnonotus
(leucogenys) leucotis) |
The White-eared bulbul is a quite charming bird with a much more beutiful song than, for example, the Common myna. At least in my opinion...
 |
Common myna (brun majna,
Achridotheres tristis) |
Noisy and present everywhere. Though I'd rather be awakened by the song of the Common myna than by the constant construction noises, which you just can't avoid in Dubai. All day and night...
 |
| Red-vented bulbyl (Rödgumpad bulbyl, Pycnonotus cafer) |
A shyer bird is the Red-vented bulbyl and as I didn't really aim to shoot the best pictures around the pool, these two here were what I ended up with.
 |
| House crow (Huskråka, Corvus splendens) |
The House crow is very common, almost everywhere.
 |
| Indian silverbill, (indisk silvernäbb, Longchura malbarica) |
 |
| Red-vented bulbyl (Rödgumpad bulbyl, Pycnonotus cafer) |
