The plan was to spend our final day working the Assouerd road looking for any species we had failed to see on our first visit. We had connected with all our target species a couple of days earlier but I was glad of the chance to get a better view of Dunn's lark. The wind had dropped but with so much dust hanging in the air with no wind to disperse it visability over any distance was limited.
Dust clouds
We stopped at the Water tower again, not expecting to see anything and sure enough we didnt see anything. Imagine how we felt when on our return we learnt the Allen's Gallinule, a very rare visitor to the Western Palearctic, was seen and photographed the next day. We must have been just a couple of metres away from the bird. We had even checked for footprints in the mud, nothing.
We moved on, at the Dunn's lark kilometre post the Larks were still there and showing well.
Dunn's Lark
Dunn's Lark
Dunn's Lark
Dunn's Lark
Black crowned Sparrow Lark
Desert warbler
We moved on to the Wadi were we met up with some old friends from a previous Birdfinders trip. They told us about Great spotted Cuckoos and Fulvous Babblers about 1/2 hours walk in. We walked in the opposite direction to our previous visit and sure enough found an adult and juvenile Great spotted Cuckoo and a pair of Fulvous Babblers.
Fulvous Babbler
I should at this point thank our leader Peter Lansdown who despite sustaining some nasty injuries in a fall remained positive and professional throughout and to all the birders in the group for their good humour and contribution to the success of the tour.
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