25 December 2015

Greater Hoopoe Lark taking advantage of hay bales – Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili)

Greater Hoopoe Lark is known to take advantage of various items to help it regulate its temperature and slow down water loss during the heat of the day. Using the large burrows of Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizards to get out of the sun has been well documented as one way they achieve this. Whilst we were at a large farm near Jubail we saw may Greater Hoopoe Larks around the edges of the fileds with possibly up to thirty birds seen. Some of the fields had just been harvested and made into bales and a few of these were square types made into three sided low blocks. One Greater Hoopoe Lark was seen using the shaded and cool area in the bottom of these hay stacks as an area to retreat from the sun and keep cool. When disturbed it would jump up ontop of the bale of hay and look around but when it was quiet again it would move back to its cool resting area.
Greater Hoopoe Lark

Greater Hoopoe Lark

Greater Hoopoe Lark

Greater Hoopoe Lark