24 October 2016

Desert birds and migrants - Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh 14 October I saw some good desert birds and migrants. One of the first birds seen was an Eastern Morning Wheatear, which was good as birds have only just started returning for the winter and I have not seen one at this location before. Other migrants included a few Common Kestrels hunting over the pivot irrigation fields and a Collared Pratincole was along one field edge. Several shrikes were seen including good numbers of Daurian Shrikes, Turkestan Shrikes and Mauryan Grey Shrike. Birds seen in the desert included, Namaqua Doves, Greater Hoopoe-Lark and Black-crowned Sparrow Larks with possibly over 100 birds seen, easily the largest number I have seen at one time in the Kingdom.
Eastern Mourning Wheatear
Eastern Mourning Wheatear
Eastern Mourning Wheatear
Eastern Mourning Wheatear
Common Kestrel
Common Kestrel
Daurian Shrike
Daurian Shrike
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Greater Hoopoe-Lark
Collared Pratincole
Collared Pratincole
Black-crowned Sparrow Lark
Black-crowned Sparrow Lark
Namaqua Doves
Namaqua Doves