Arbu
Well-known member
I took a walk around Dhigurah Island in the Maldives on Tuesday, starting out from the Diva hotel. The Maldives are of course famously unbirdy so I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. First off, as I waded across the gaps in the sandbank between the Diva hotel island and Dhigurah was a nice collection of waders - two curlew, two grey plover, a kentish plover and several lesser sand-plover.
On arriving at Dhigurah I was amazed to see a blue-tailed bee-eater. Apparently these are starting to be seen in the Maldives around November - http://www.haveeru.com.mv/english/?page=details&id=19607 so it wasn't as unusual as I imagined at the time.
Then, walking along the west side of the island, a tern, which looked to be a roseate tern (It was a bit distant, but I noticed how it had a very active flight and strong contrast on the upperwing. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never seen one before).
And finally, to my further amazement, a falcon. I saw it fly over a couple of times. It was essentially grey, although I was able to make out a small amount of white on the face. It had noticeably long wings, and I can only think that it was a sooty falcon, although as far as I've been able to ascertain, this has never been recorded in the Maldives previously. The light was good enough that I think I would easily have been able to tell from underneath if it had been a hobby or peregrine. No photo I'm afraid.
Also, from the seaplane flying back to Male yesterday I noticed about a dozen birds beneath us over a reef which appeared to be pure white - white terns?
Here's a full list from the Maldives. It's less than half the length of my list from the central Sahara three years ago sadly.
Striated Heron
Grey Heron
Sooty Falcon?
Grey Plover
Lesser Sand Plover
Sanderling
Curlew
Roseate Tern
Common White Tern?
Asian Koel
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
House Crow
Comments welcome.
On arriving at Dhigurah I was amazed to see a blue-tailed bee-eater. Apparently these are starting to be seen in the Maldives around November - http://www.haveeru.com.mv/english/?page=details&id=19607 so it wasn't as unusual as I imagined at the time.
Then, walking along the west side of the island, a tern, which looked to be a roseate tern (It was a bit distant, but I noticed how it had a very active flight and strong contrast on the upperwing. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never seen one before).
And finally, to my further amazement, a falcon. I saw it fly over a couple of times. It was essentially grey, although I was able to make out a small amount of white on the face. It had noticeably long wings, and I can only think that it was a sooty falcon, although as far as I've been able to ascertain, this has never been recorded in the Maldives previously. The light was good enough that I think I would easily have been able to tell from underneath if it had been a hobby or peregrine. No photo I'm afraid.
Also, from the seaplane flying back to Male yesterday I noticed about a dozen birds beneath us over a reef which appeared to be pure white - white terns?
Here's a full list from the Maldives. It's less than half the length of my list from the central Sahara three years ago sadly.
Striated Heron
Grey Heron
Sooty Falcon?
Grey Plover
Lesser Sand Plover
Sanderling
Curlew
Roseate Tern
Common White Tern?
Asian Koel
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
House Crow
Comments welcome.
