Some good migrants – Al Uqair

I forgot to post these photos taken recently at Al Uqair where wesaw a lot of good migrants. The best birds for us were a male Semi-collared Flycatcher and three White-throated Robins with good numbers of Masked Shrikes at the small date plantation. The magic barbed wire fence held lots of birds as always with European Roller, Turkestan and Great Grey Shrikes and Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush amongst the best. Migration seems to finally have arrived and im looking forward to seeing if anything unusual turns up this spring.

Masked Shrike

Masked Shrike

Masked Shrike

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Semi-collared Flycatcher

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

White-throated Robin

White-throated Robin

European Roller

Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike

More Yellow Wagtails – Dhahran Hills

Whilst birding the Dhahran Hills football fields in the spring the number and type of Yellow Wagtails has been very high. The main numbers were Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema amongst them, which is an early migrant with March and April being the best months for seeing them. They are more often seen in spring than autumn. The other common Yellow Wagtail seen was Black-headed Wagtail feldegg which is part of the Yellow Wagtail complex a group of birds that are common spring and autumn passage migrants, sometimes in hundreds. Yellow Wagtails pass from mid-February to May and again from early August to mid-November with many races identifiable in the field including feldegg, melanogrisia, lutea, flava, thunbergi and bema. Sykes's Wagtail and Blue-headed Wagtail are sometimes difficult if not impossible to separate in the field.

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema

Yellow-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava lutea

Yellow-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava lutea

Black-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava feldegg

Black-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava feldegg

Black-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava feldegg

Blue-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava flava

Blue-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava flava

Blue-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava flava

Heron numbers building – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

The number and type of herons at the Dhahran Waste Water Lake have been building up the last few weeks. New species seen include a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and three Purple Herons, the first ones for a few months. Great Egrets have increased to almost double figures and twelve Grey Heron was the high count. A dark phase Western Reef Heron was an unusual sighting with Little Egrets less unusual. Squacco Heron numbers are also steadily on the increase again almost reaching double figures.

Western Reef Heron - dark phase

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

Purple Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron - juvenile

Black-crowned Night Heron - juvenile

Great Egret

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

First spring Whinchat & Lesser Grey Shrike – Dhahran Football Field

Whilst birding the Dhahran Football field in mid-April area recently I saw my first records this year of Whinchat and Lesser Grey Shrike. Both these species are seen each year in Dhahran but only on one or two days in the spring. Migration of shrikes has been good through Dhahran this year with the majority being Turkestan and Daurian Shrikes but also Woodchat, Great Grey and Masked Shrikes have been seen. Other migrants seen have been a few Northern Wheatear, a species seen rarely in Dhahran, tens of Eurasian Hoopoe and one Whimbrel 

Eurasian Hoopoe

Lesser Grey Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Northern Wheatear

Northern Wheatear

Whimbrel

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Red-wattled Lapwing – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

The Dhahran Waste Water Lake and the Percolation Pond both had Red-wattled Lapwing with the first location having a pair and the second asingle different bird. We has also seen on the day before at Khafra Marsh near Jubail. This was only the fifth time I have seen the species in Dhahran camp. The species is scarce in Saudi Arabia with records from Riyadh, the Empty Quarter and the Eastern Province. They are resident breeders at wetlands in United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, and is gradually colonizing westwards. It was first recording breeding in Saudi Arabia at Sabkhat Al Fasl, a couple of years ago and has bred at Khafra Marsh, Jubail for the last two years. In the Eastern province it is regarded as a scarce passage migrant, rare breeder and scarce winter visitor although records are becoming more common.