10 August 2011

Isabelline Wheatear - Dhahran Hills

The weather in Dhahran has not been good the last couple of days. Today although he wind had died down there was a lot of dust in the air and the conditions were very hazy. Very few birds were on the percolation pond with only one Green Sandpiper, eight Black-winged Stilt, Six Little Stint, eight Little Ringed Plover and thirty four Kentish Plover. There were two white herons in the form of a Little Egret and juvenile White phase Indian Reef Heron. The only other bird of note was an Isabelline Wheatear catching insects on the dried up edge of the pond. I managed to take a couple of photographs of the bird but conditions were not good for photography.

The water levels are dropping quite a lot and the maximum depth of the pond if only about 30 cemtimetres. As a result it is quite easy to see the Caspian Turtles in the pond as they are putting their hads out more han often. Today I saw four different turtles.