Whilst birding the ‘patch’ yesterday I saw a few Yellow Wagtails
flying over and then later a large flock of about thirty birds feeding around
the edge of the settling pond. This flock contained mainly Eastern Black-headed
Wagtails Motacilla flava ‘melanogrisea’ an
eastern variant of the Black-headed Wagtail subspecies, which it closely
resembles. The main difference is the white moustacial stripe below the black head, that is often difficult to see. Below are photographs of three different birds and these are the first decent photographs I have managed to take of
this subspecies so I was quite pleased with my efforts. Also in the flock were two Grey-headed
Wagtails and a Blue-headed Wagtail as well as five White Wagtails. Eastern Black-headed Wagtails are an
uncommon passage migrant in the Eastern Part of Saudi Arabia and are mostly
seen in mixed wagtail flocks like the one these birds were in. Black-headed
Wagtail is the commonest subspecies of Yellow Wagtail occurring in the Eastern
Province of the Kingdom and will become very common over the next few weeks.
