I had intended on just having a quick look around before heading down to the IBRCE reserve but the park was much bigger than I expected and I ended up spending all morning there. Having already flushed one Sand Partridge, I fully expected the next three birds I flushed to be the same but, thankfully, one of them landed under a bush just a little further along the trail and I couldn't believe my eyes.
My first Liechtenstein's Sandgrouse since 2003 sitting there in the middle of the day! I admired it for the longest time just blending in with the vegetation and being ever so difficult to locate with my camera, the yellow, black and white eye markings being the only give-away. I felt guilty walking away from such a rare opportunity and even turned round and walked a different route so as not to disturb it again. This resulted in me discovering a bush which was full of African Babul Blues, not the prettiest of blues but a real challenge to photograph since they are so tiny.
Having also seen a lone Arabian Babbler, a small flock of Indian Silverbills and another group of five Liechtenstein's Sandgrouse in flight, I eventually made my way to IBRCE, where Bittern, Spotted Eagle, 3 Steppe Eagles, a hunting Black-winged Kite and an Oriental Honey-Buzzard rounded off an excellent first day with a total of 61 species.
