18 September 2012

Great Reed Warbler - Dhahran Hills

There has been a slow trickle of new birds through Dhahran Hills over the last week with the best bird seen yesterday being a Great Reed Warbler in the thick cover of the spray fields. This is easily the best place to see this species in the area I birdwatch which was a surprise to me when I came as I thought they would be in the Phragmites reed bed. Other new migrants included a single Spotted Flycatcher feeding in the trees and from the fence surrounding the percolation pond. Sand Martin numbers are now well over 500 birds feeding over the pond with numbers building as the evening approaches. Waders are still about in reasonable numbers with a juvenile Temminck's Stint the best among them. Cattle Egret numbers are also building up slowly with eleven seen, the first count above ten for the autumn. These numbers should be increasing significantly over the next couple of months. A single Turkestan Shrike has been hunting from the palm trees outside my office window for the last two days.

Western Cattle Egret

Spotted Flycatcher
Temminck's Stint - juvenile