09 March 2015

A couple of migrants at Udhailiyah – Bird records by Nishan Xavier

Nishan who is a birdwatcher and photographer from Saudi Aramco’s compound at Udhailiyah has sent me a few photos of a couple of migrants he has seen there in the last week. One bird was a Masked Shrike and although this species does winter in small numbers in the region it is mainly a passage migrant. The other species Nishan sent photos of was a Pied Wheatear which is entirely a passage migrant and is an early one as well. Good numbers have started passing through the Eastern Province in the last week and they obviously do so on a broad front as the bird records have been well scattered. Nishan has kindly given me permission to use his photos on my website some of which are reproduced below.
Masked Shrike
Masked Shrike
Pied Wheatear
Pied Wheatear
Pied Wheatear
Pied Wheatear
Pied Wheatear
Pied Wheatear