Jordan Day 2 Azraq wetlands and beyond

Day 2 was spent at the Azraq Wetland Reserve (a few small lakes remaining from a previously extensive system), before heading off on the drive back towards Amman and then on to Dana Valley.

Hoopoes gathered. The maximum count at one time was 19 Hoopoes seen from the hide!

This female Little Crake was a life tick for me

Woodchat Shrike

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler

Male Siberian Stonechat

Bluethroat

Sparrowhawk fly-by

Blackstart (from the van), another lifer for me...

We stopped off at this rather magnificent canyon viewpoint, where I ticked my first Tristram's Grackles

Desert Lark (another lifer for me)

Great Spotted Cuckoo (yet another lifer!)

There was a steady passage of Steppe Buzzards kettling over this ridge above a dammed lake. Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper were along the water's edge. The people in the photo are a mix of our group and some of the guys who maintain the nearby dam

Southern Grey Shrike (from the van)

Anyone know what this ladybird-like spotty beetle is?