Another day here, much the same as the last.

One of our COLs just returned from leave, and mentioned that it’s all “gloom and doom” again in the nation’s Forth Estate, and that according to them, things are going to heck in a hand basket once again in Iraq. Don’t believe it – it was actually refreshing to see the GoI make a stand in Basra, and in Sadr City. With a “little help from their friends” (us and the Brits) they have cleared out many of those that GEN Petraeus refers to as the ‘irreconcilables’ and sent them along to another time and dimension..

Anyway – back here on boring old Victory Base, yesterday I made a trip over to the Bird Lake on Camp Slayer on my bike. Most all of the Shovelers have headed north, there were probably 20-30 of them left; I counted a dozen Marbled Teal and about the same number of Ferruginous Ducks, lots of Coots still, one Greylag Goose, several Little Grebes, a pair of Widgeons, one White-faced Duck…all the Green-winged Teal seemed to be gone. I didn’t get any pictures, just watched for a bit.

The first two pics are from 23 March – we were watching airplanes landing on the civilian side at BIAP, Runway 33R for those keeping track. I saw the Graceful Prinias last time, but never managed to get a decent picture.

The book says “small, unmarked, pale grey-buff warbler with long graduated tail…skulks in vegetation.” No kidding. So much that you rarely get a chance for the auto-focus to focus.

The call is a give away, though, as far as identification. There are lots of them about.

The next two are one of my favorite birds here – the Pied Kingfishers – they are fairly common as well, either perching or hovering over water. I got pretty close in the Explorer and was able to get these clear shots.

A male, characterized by his two black throat bands

and a female, who has only one.

That’s it for today – hope all are fine, wherever you happen to be.

Sorry for the long break once again, has continued to be busy here. Weather has moderated a bit, temps in mid to upper 80s, dusty today and windy.

I’ve attached a couple more bird pics, the first two are what I think are a new species for me, the Spanish Sparrow. Quite similar to the English ones, but with an all brown cap (English has grey one) and the black striping on the breast and back.

It’s possible that they’re a hybridization of the two species, which does occur according to Birds of the Middle East.

The third one is on the Bird Lake, over on Camp Slayer, there are Ferruginous Ducks and Marbled Teal, both really pretty birds. I only saw four Marbled Teal last time, and never got even a decent photo of them. There are at least a dozen on the lake this time. The Ferruginous Ducks are new this trip.

Hey all-

Well, it looks like it was a short spring. The rooks are gone, headed north with the coots and pochards, and it’s hit well into the 90s several times in the last week.

But I did see the first Little Tern today, and I saw two new water birds on their way north – a White-faced Duck. You can see why they’re called “stiff-tailed ducks” and look like our Ruddy Duck in the USA.

Also saw a Widgeon – no picture, well I have one, but you probably wouldn’t be able to see that it’s a widgeon.

And maybe the prettiest birds of all have returned, the Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters.

Closing in on my leave, and I am ready to go.

Bob

I found a new bird pond – lots and lots of ducks: shovelers, pochards, pintails, ferruginous ducks, common teal; as well as grebes, coots, gulls, a pair of mallards. Water birds are flaky – as soon as they see or hear you, off they go. I was lucky and quiet a couple of times, so I have a few pics to send to you. Several of these are new species for me, I know, I am turning into a bit of a bird dork and kind of keeping a life list. But as Bigwig explained a couple of years back this “makes me a major bird geek as far as the vast majority of humanity is concerned, but to the real major bird geeks, I’m no more than a dilettante.” Anyway – nice birds. I like the name “ferruginous” – pertaining to or coloured like iron rust.

Shoveler

Common Teal

Ferruginous Duck

Shoveler and Pochard Hens

A little background on the birds here. Have had some questions – where they live, how much water there is, etc. etc.

This is Mesopotamia – that means “land between the rivers” – the two rivers being two of the worlds great rivers, the Tigris, which runs thru Baghdad, and the Euphrates, which runs about 30 miles south of Baghdad. They both start way up in Turkey; the Tigris enters Iraq from the north, the Euphrates drops down into Syria and enters Iraq from the west. They get close to each other near Baghdad, then separate and rejoin near the Shatt al Arab in the southeast at the Persian Gulf. The area between the rivers in the southeast is one of the most extensive marsh areas in the middle east – the marsh Arabs live there, and it is a water bird paradise. The extensive irrigation – Iraq is the cradle of civilization and has been irrigated for thousands of years, also leads to plenty of bird habitat.

I assume the winter visitors go north to the Black Sea, or even further – maybe up into the former Soviet Union or thereabouts.

The coots, ducks, shovelers and teal are all migratory – they started showing up here in December and will probably leave out in the next few weeks. The grebes will stay around all year, as do the moorhens. The pygmy cormorants are year round, but the common ones will head north soon as well. The herons and egrets are year round, as long as there’s water.

The first three pics are of birds mentioned – the geese are real wild geese, not the half domestic ones in the pond here at Al Faw.

Greylag Geese

Moorhen

Little Grebe Hen

The next photo is of COL Grey’s last day here, last Wednesday, taken from the back deck of the boathouse.

The next one is from the same location at 1722 this afternoon – as the dust storm moved in. The spots are flecks of dust picked up by the camera flash.

It’s a bit worse now – I am heading out to get on my bike and ride to my hooch.

Weather continues beautiful here in Baghdad with lows in the upper 40s and highs in the low 70s. No rain since the one storm we had a week or so back.

More migratory birds continue to arrive – I am not sure if there are more here than last time, because I don’t think I was paying attention this time of year in 2004. There were a couple hundred coots (Fulica atra), maybe a hundred pochards (Aythya ferina), a dozen or so gadwalls (Anas strepera), probably 8-10 little grebes(Tachybaptus ruficollis) and a two lone mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) drakes on Walleye Lake today here at Camp Victory. Also a load of Brown-headed Gulls and what I think are Armenian Gulls, but I haven’t decided yet…

The pochards and coots are divers, as are the grebes; the mallards and gadwalls are dabblers. This is the best picture I have gotten so far of the grebes, for some reason they came fairly close to me on the bank today.

More birds – not sure where these coromorants spend the summer, but they recently showed up here. This is actually over at Camp Slayer, the next adjacent camp to ours on Victory Base Complex. The ones with the white breast are immature ones most likely born last spring. They are fish eaters, you have seen the American version at the beach.

The Grey Herons are around almost all year, I think. They’ve been here all summer, but recently maybe a few extra.

Fall is underway here, and the birds are migrating.

The two pics are of Common Pochards and European Coots, which have arrived in the last couple of weeks – I noticed the Pochards only today on the way back from church. They are actually quite attractive birds – unfortunately, like all other waterfowl, they are spooky as hell, as Greg Williamson told me, the ones that aren’t easily spooked are already dead…Finally got close enough the these skittish ducks to get some decent pictures. The pochards are really pretty birds.

A new bird for me – which is surprising given the continued urbanization of VBC. Either the gulls have changed their migration patterns, or the bigger garbage dump and sewage treatment plants have attracted them to the beautiful Victory Base Complex.

They now rival the giant carp as an attraction here in front of the Al Faw Palace. Lots of the Joes bring bread and other stuff to feed the fish and now the gulls as well.

I think these are Black-headed Gulls, (Larus ridibundus). Birds of the Middle East says “in winter, head white with black spot on ear-coverts and, often, vague bar from eye over crown and from ear-covers rover nape.” And “always dark eye” vs. “iris yellow” for the Brown-headed Gull. I think the gull on the right of the picture has the vague bars mentioned, so I am going with Black-headed.

Identification of gulls is a pain, to tell the truth, because they change so much from year to year as they mature, and from summer to winter as well. I am sure one of the experts will set me straight if I have it wrong. There are some true experts in the address list, as opposed to the extreme amateur status that I hold in the bird watching world.

Not sure what species the carp are. Iraqnas giganticus, maybe.

It’s one of the more flamboyant birds of the avian family, at least when it comes to hunting technique.

Little Egrets are the liveliest hunters among herons and egrets, with a wide variety of techniques. They may patiently stalk prey in shallow waters. Or stand on one leg and stir the mud with the other to scare up prey. Or better yet, stand on one leg and wave the other bright yellow foot over the water surface to lure aquatic prey into range.

In peninsular Malaysia, some have been observed hunting near floating vegetation (like palm fronds), possibly looking for prey attracted to the shade. They may crouch with their wings slightly outstretched, either to reduce the sun’s glare or perhaps to create shade to attract underwater prey. They may also enthusiastically rush around in shallow waters perhaps to flush out prey. Little Egrets usually hunt alone. Where they hunt in a group, they are well spaced out, each individual aggressively defending a feeding spot. However, they roost communally, often with other herons and egrets, usually in mangroves. They also roost in reedbeds or snags over open water.

Anyway, here at Bldg 36 it’s mainly a carp show. Carp are considered a food fish here and in most of Europe, and I have tasted some smoked carp that a local guy had last time and it was quite good.

CDR Jeff Hicks, USN, is here with us as our Facilities Chief. Last go around, he worked at another HQ: Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, MNSTC-I, commanded by then LTG Petraeus.

In that job, he got to go run around and see cool stuff, including the cookout shown on the above pics. Our Senior Chief Petty Officer who works in Facilities caught a carp yesterday and Jeff dug up the photos. Jeff said they cooked on the sticks for awhile, then they put the fish, skin down, on the coals to finish off.

The other pics are of a kid baking bread. This is very similar to the way I saw them do it in Afghanistan as well. They stick the flat bread on the inside wall of the oven, let it cook, then grab it out with tongs. It is really good, but of course you have to eat it right away. No preservatives!

A bunch of us from Multi National Corps-Iraq are heading to Ft Bragg tomorrow to participate in the MRX, that’s Mission Rehearsal Exercise – for the XVIII Airborne Corps, (18 ABC for short). III Corps is currently here fulfilling the role as MNC-I and they will be replaced by XVIII Airborne Corps sometime in the future.

We are actually the first contingent of the 18 ABC to arrive here, along with our Bde HQ, 20th Engineer Bde. The MNC-I Staff contingent will go back to Ft. Bragg for about 2 weeks to help the 18 ABC with their simulation exercise and to give them some first hand tips on what’s going on here. I am happy I was included since I will get to stay at the house during the two weeks.

One new thing since we were here last rotation is the addition of numerous engineer search dog teams to our forces. A team consists of a man and his dog – they are engineer Non-Commissioned Officers who train with their dog at Ft Leonard Wood, MO, the home of the Engineers. The dogs are trained to detect explosives – here that means IEDs, mines and caches of ammunition and explosives. The dog teams work with the engineer route clearance teams and with maneuver units to find IEDs and enemy explosives.

The SSD unit commander is here on the C7 Engineer staff so we get to play with the dogs as they come and go thru Camp Victory. This is Charlie – he’s only about 2 and a half years old, and he’s a goober when he’s not “on task”.

I’ve been told that they are all business when they head out on a mission.

Another change is the population explosion of the geese in the Al Faw Palace lake. You may remember a picture I took of them last time, when there were only three here. Now there are fourteen – so they are doing ok.

I leave tomorrow to start the trip back – to BIAP, Kuwait, Atlanta and Fayetteville – arriving there late on Friday.

More later-

Bob