Fads Sea Photography

Some more dolomite flowers 😍

While breathing the fresh air of the mountains and being in awe of the greatness of it, we should not forget about the small details that matter 🥰did you know that this UNESCO world heritage, the dolomites region, alone have 1,400 plant species?! (this species is still TBD).
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What a view😍

Sometimes on research trips, while we are waiting for dolphins to appear, we see other special species. On this occasion we saw a shark, which we identified from the dorsal fin at the surface and the caudal fin or tail fin moving back and forth at the surface. We could not tell what species it was but because it was brownish, we suspected hammerhead. Indeed, after piloting the drone, we saw it was a hammerhead shark and identified it as a smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna Zygaena). This individual dit not respond to the drone and kept on swimming for the entire duration of the flight, about 15 minutes. Usually, sharks get startled by the boat and dive instantly. But this time, we did not approach it with the boat, and only with the drone. Magical moments!
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Filmed with DRPM/LMASM/2023/005 and AAN Permit 41460/2023
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2017 VS 2022

Still friends
Still laughing
Still at sea
Still in Portugal
Still on the Atlantic
Still working with cetaceans
Still working together ❤️
First onboard Next, on board .delphis.project

🦈Short finned Mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus)🦈

On board the research vessel for my PhD at Azores delphis project we were waiting our turn to film the common dolphins. Whilst waiting, we suddenly saw this Mako shark that was almost 2 meters long! These sharks are normally quite shy and dive down instantly, showing how sharks fear humans. But this time, we turned off the engine on time and the mako actually got interested in the boat. It turned towards our boat and actually circled us once before heading out into the deep. Sharks are often feared, but we had to be so silent and motionless for her to not swim away from us. Seeing this individual up close was impressive, but not scary. Mako sharks have a particular diet and humans do not fall under their diet. They mainly eat squids (cephalopods) and bony fish such as mackarel and tuna. This is an endangered species and is threatened due to sport and commercial fisheries, and gets found entangled in drift nets. Considering this species of shark is often associated with fishing vessels, perhaps it thought we were one, and was checking to see if we had some fish discards :)

My first priolo thanks to

I've lived on São Miguel, Azores, since 2018 and never saw this endemic little Azores bullfinch called Priolo (Pyrrhula Murina) until today! This is an endangered species and can only be found in the Eastern part of São Miguel, Azores. Indeed, nowhere else in the world. Look at its beak, isn't it so funny? 😍

Some fish swimming away from the loggerhead sea turtle towards our boat with .delphis.project. (no species id yet)
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Here's the female Allen's hummingbird!

I've finally managed to go through my Catalina Island, California pictures from December 2021. I was sent on a research trip there to research common dolphins and right in front of our house we had these tiiiny cute daily visitors, the Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). I identified it with its more narrow tail feathers compared to other similar species. This species is often confused with the Rufous hummingbird.

Yesterday we were searching for common dolphins, the study species of my PhD .delphis.project , but we found spotted dolphins instead. They were in a feeding frenzy and as we drove away, some of them came towards the boat so I put the GoPro in the water from the side of the boat, and this was the result 😍

In December 2021 I was lucky to be invited for fieldwork in Catalonia Island, California! What an incredible experience! This was a new species for me, long-beaked common dolphin (delphinus capensis) (although they are now both considered to be the same species as short beaked common dolphins (delphinus delphis). You can see in the last picture that their beak is quite long compared to the short beaked common dolphins that we have in the Azores.
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Sierra Nevada's Iberian Ibex (Capra pyrenaica)! I have been to the Sierra Nevada twice and did not manage to see them on the first trip. But did on this last trip! Their habitat is in these rugged mountains and is crazy to see animals with hooves climb so well on the steep slopes! They are adapted to climb and have short legs and flexible hooves. Seen thanks to Sterrin's Wild World

🦩As the flamingos are going to sleep🦩

so will I for a while, as my trip has come to an end and I've posted all the bird shots that I've taken in Kuwait. I hope you enjoyed this series of birds! See the link to my website to check out the whole collection of birds in Kuwait! See link in bio

https://fadiaalabbar.wixsite.com/mysite/kuwait-birds

The Middle Eastern Wildlife | Fadia Al Abbar Where half of my roots lie, my visits to Kuwait include checking out some birds while I'm there. The desert feels give a nice color to the pictures, and of course, very unique species can be seen here since it is a migratory passage for many bird species. Egypt is another one of my favorite places t...

On my last bird watching trip in Kuwait, we saw a lesser kestrel. I will soon buy a bird guide so that I can ID the species as well.

On a day in the desert of Kuwait, I spotted this little Northern Wheater (Oenanthe oenanthe). This is a frequent visitor and has a very large range, from Europe to Africa, Alaska, Greenland and sub-Saharan Africa.

A day in the Gulf of Arabia, Kuwait, looked like this: Whitecaps, few waves, and a dhow which is a traditional sailing boat currently still being used to catch fish!

The Indian Reef Heron (Egretta gularis schistacea). Apparenly a very common resident species here in Kuwait, but unfrtunately threatened by oil pollution.

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) Id thanks to

Masked shrike.

White-eared bulbul, (Pycnonotus leucotis), kuwait.

White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
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Peek-a-boo from the white-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis), in a palm tree.

More flamingos from Kuwait?! Yes please!

I've attempted to start identifying some of the smaller birds we saw in Kuwait (they are harder to id!). This is a Wheater, and I think it's the Eastern Mourning Wheater (Oenanthe leugens), an uncommon visitor in the winters of Kuwait, and infrequently recorded near the coast (which is where this little one was spotted). It is more typically found in Northern Africa all the way down to Tanzania, and more infrequently in the Middle East.

More birdies in Kuwait's mud flat during sunset

Two migratory Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus) at sunset. We've been seeing them more frequently.

A beautiful birdy sunset and, for a change, the dust has eased and we had a normal desert-like sunset.

Common Myna bird (Acridotheres tristis). The name says it all, it is a very common resident species in Kuwait and may have originally by (cargo) ships. These mynas were seen in the tree with "so many bird species" and unfortunately surrounded by plastic bags (see previous 2 posts).

Squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides). As much as I'd prefer to share the pretty pictures only, I have decided to also show a sad story in this post. In the next pictures, you will see all the plastic bags that got stuck in this tree that is clearly near a food source, as we found many other bird species in this tree. Kuwait is unfortunately a country where plastic recycling is not a thing, and an overuse of plastic bags (and easily throwing away garbage) is considered normal among many people. If you are reading this, please consider at least disposing of plastic bags correctly, because this is the perfect site where you can see how wildlife directly is affected by plastic that is not correctly disposed of. Plastic can get ingested (which does not get digested) and can fill up their stomachs and kill these animals. These squacco herons are an uncommon migrant passenger, showing that Kuwait is an important stopover for many bird species, so these areas are worth protecting!

Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) spotted among bitterns, in a tree next to a city water/sewage outlet, in Kuwait. This species easily goes unnoticed so it was a lucky sighting! In Kuwait this is considered a scarce migrant passenger that is nocturnal and can also be seen active at dawn and dusk. We spotted this individual in the late afternoon, so it was probably just waking up!

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) take off!

Shuwaikh, Kuwait.

Isn't this the cutest? 😍 Eurasian hoopoe (named after its calls hoop hoop) or hood hood in Arabic. Upupa epops. A migratory species seen in Kuwait in the springtime and autumn. PS. Can you see the seed it's throwing?

White-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis), are super common residents in kuwait. They are found everywhere, and most often in Palm trees. Here's a cute couple 😍

We got an ID thanks to .birding! The Oriental honey buzzard  (Pernis ptilorhynchus) in Kuwait! A migratory bird not seen here this time of the year very frequently, more often seen in Southeast Asia.

So I'm seeing this little beauty more than I thought I would! I just looove how it looks in flight (despite this picture not being very sharp😅)
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White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
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When man meets nature. In between all the buildings and among the dust there are beautiful bird species in Kuwait. The herons and flamingos on the edge of the waterline.

In case it wasn't proof enough that flamingos exist in Kuwait, here's a shot with Kuwait's iconic water towers😁 during a dusty sunset

Greater flamingo

These water towers hold Kuwait's water supply built in the 1960s

Desert sunset during the dust storm.

It always fascinates me how the sun loses its power when it's dusty like this. It can sometimes even disappear in the dust as it would behind the clouds, except in this case everything is orange. Kuwait has been hazy and dusty since I arrived but there are some beautiful sights that come with it.

Kuwait has greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) in the tidal area of Shuwaikh! Check out how they take off in flight, during this dusty sunset. Don't they look so funny with their long legs?

This gorgeous bird species is unfortunately also threatened by hunters, fishing nets (where they can get entangled), and pollution. These flamingos feed on small shrimps in a tidal flat where the sewage water exits from the city.