March 2011.

Red rumped swallow, near Ajdabiyah, Libya.

Subalpine warbler, Libya.

Greater crested terns, Bosasso, Somaliland.

Sooty gull, Bosasso, Somaliland.

I was away from the end of February through March and into the beginning of April. What started out as a two week gig in Somalia ended up being six weeks away with the last three weeks in Libya.

Somalia, Bosasso, the capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland was a difficult assignment and we didn't get out much. One day we did, I took a couple of pictures of Sooty gull and some Greater crested terns. Preferring them over the very similar Lesser crested on size compared to a Sandwich tern.

Libya was a different kettle of fish entirely where we were able to get out quite a bit. As for the looking at birds, this was still tricky and most sightings were made out of the car window dashing along at 90mph. Every now and again we did stop and I was able to identify the abundant larks seen evading our car at regular intervals along the road: Short toed and Desert.

Some of the other good birds were abundant Hoopoe (called Hood hood in Arabic), Subalpine warblers, Marsh harriers a Pallid harrier, Pallid swifts, Red rumped and Barn swallows. Two species I wasn't expecting to see in the desert were Raven and a Curlew (probably disorientated in a sand storm). It would have been great to have the freedom to go out wandering without the fear of artillery and tank fire...