kakariki14's Favorites

egretta garzetta
Nombre común en:
Catalán: Martinet blanc
Alemán: Seidenreiher
Inglés: Little Egret
Castellano: Garceta común
Esperanto: Malgranda egretardeo
Euskera: Lertxunto txiki
Francés: Aigrette garzette
Gallego: Garza blanca común
Italiano: Garzetta
Polaco: Czapla czarnonoga
Portugues: Garça-branca
http://www.avesfotos.eu/garceta-comun.html

Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana) captured at Borit, Gojal, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan with Nikon D500 and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR.

For detailed information about Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan visit www.birdsofgilgit.com

Wow. First picked up this bird more or less in the dark at about 6:15 swimming directly below me just off the south edge of the pier. Was unsure of ID for a few minutes thanks to the birds fairly tattered appearance, poor top down view, and lack of light. As the minutes wore on typical features for this species became apparent such as the gray mantle and back, scalloped gray flanks, distinctive dark collar and mask, and pale bill became apparent. I was able to alert the listserv at about 6:30. I watched the bird for some time as it swam around the pier. It preened, sometimes flapped it's wings, and also dived on occasion (a very cool thing to see from a top down perspective). I watched the bird slowly drift out to the south to a distance of a couple hundred feet before slowly floating back towards the end of the pier. The first other birders to arrive were Loren Wright and Cynthia Case, who showed up at about 7:25. They just got on the bird as it dove and rather unfortunately went after a baited hook that one of the fisherman had let down. The fisherman pulled the bird out of the water and I rushed over to help remove the hook. We could see that the hook was stuck into the top third of the upper mandible, but thankfully not that far, not even making it to the barb. We were able to remove it more or less without incident. It was only after this scramble that I had realized I suddenly ended up with an Ancient Murrelet in my hands. Certainly not something I could have predicted when I woke up in the morning... Thankfully the bird seemed to be in good condition as it was squawking and struggling to get free. After a bit of debate of what to do next (and a few quick pictures) we decided to just release the bird further down the pier away from the fisherman as to hopefully avoid a repeat incident. We released it off the side of the pier thinking it was going to book it and get as far away from us as possible. To our surprise the bird decided to just sit and preen for a little while. It eventually dove a couple of times and began to swim and forage as if nothing had happened. As more people began to show up the bird began to swim towards shore just north of the pier. We watched it swim within just feet of some surfers and swimmers seemingly without a care. As the bird went into the surf the group that had gathered relocated to the sandy beach to get closer eye-level views of it. My photography instincts kicked in and I waded out into the surf and was able to get some pretty stunning views as it dove and foraged around within 10-15 feet of me at times. After a little while of foraging in the surf the bird then began to float back out towards the end of the pier, so the group relocated once more. While watching it back up on the pier we watched it go down for a particularly long dive and come back up with a fish probably at least half it's body length. Although we were all a bit skeptical he managed to get it down and continued foraging. The bird eventually floated out beyond the pier where it eventually grew quite distant. We left about 9AM, with our final views of this spectacular individual a couple hundred yards out off the end of the pier looking into the sun. So great to get such "soul satisfying" views of such a rare (especially seasonally and this close to shore) bird.

Himalayan Snowcock (Tetraogallus himalayensis) captured at Khunjarab, Gojal, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan with Nikon D500 and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR.

For detailed information about Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan visit www.birdsofgilgit.com

Rosy Pipit (Anthus roseatus) captured at Borit, Gojal, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan with Nikon D500 and 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR.

For detailed information about Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan visit www.birdsofgilgit.com