Breakfast at a local
restaurant was enlivened by a pair of Desert Finches coming down to a puddle beside the
main road! Couldn’t quite believe it as we were in a built up area and I assumed they were escaped cage birds
but there was a male and female and their plumage was in pristine condition
with no frayed edges indicating captivity…. A singing Eurasian Blackbird was also watched as well and interesting to note
the subtly different song as well. We did indeed visit a different lake area
this morning and our efforts were rewarded with quite a few Caspian Gulls being seen, plus there
were also Black-headed Gulls, Little, Common, White-winged and
Whiskered Terns, Paddyfield, Eurasian and Great Reed
Warblers, Citrine Wagtail, many Masked Wagtails, Isabelline Shrike and a Chinese
Pond-heron.
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| Yep it's a Desert Finch... |
Then we set out on the long
drive back to Urumqi, arriving 9.30pm. But along the way our driver decided to
try a shortcut which led us into an arable area of lush, green fields and
hedgerows where several pairs of Barred Warblers, Richard’s Pipits and Bluethroats
were a nice surprise.
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| Barred Warbler |
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