19 January 2013

Red-tailed Wheatear still present – Dhahran Hills


A trip to the ‘patch’ today produced the Red-tailed Wheatear again. This time the bird had moved some distance from it’s normal area to the large rocks along the perimeter road. Again the light was poor as it was late evening but the bird was close and I managed to get one decent photos before it flew off further from the car. The bird has been about for three weeks now and hopefully will stay longer. A couple of new birds for the year were seen today, a Common Kestrel chasing Rock Doves and Feral Pigeons over the nearby airbase and two Marsh Sandpipers on the settling pool. Other waders on the pool included a Wood Sandpiper and 15 Black-winged Stilts and a lone Black-headed Gull was keeping them company. The spray fields held one Siberian Stonechat, two Daurian Shrikes and five Tawny Pipits and the percolation pond had five Gadwall. 20+ Pallid Swifts were again over the pond as it was getting dark.
Red-tailed Wheatear
Daurian Shrike