Whilst photographing gulls at Jizan
fish market, Phil saw a Brown Booby Sula leucogaster flying in and
alerted me to its presence. The bird had been seen the day before at the fish
harbor, but this time was much closer, flying around and occasionally over the
fish market. It perched on the roof of the market at one stage and remained
there until a collection of fish waste was thrown out and all gulls and the
Booby flew down to eat the scraps. As the Brown Booby was at least twice the
size of any gull present it took the largest flatfish and after eating it flew
off in the direction of the harbour. The close fly past allowed a number of
photographs to be taken of the bird that are not easy to see and photograph
from the mainland. Brown Booby is an uncommon resident of the Red Sea, where it
mainly occurs offshore. They breed on the Farasan Islands as well as other
islands in the Red Sea and wander north to the Gulf of Akaba in winter. S.
l. plotus is the subspecies we get in Saudi Arabia and it occurs from the Red
Sea and tropical Indian Ocean east to northern Australia and the central
Pacific Ocean. The race plotus is the largest and has a blackish head
and neck almost concolorous with rest of upperpart. Its iris is grey to
yellowish grey with narrower pale yellow outer ring. The bill is yellowish horn
to pale horn with bluish or greyish cast, facial skin and gular pouch bluish
grey to blue, legs pale greenish yellow. The female has an ivory or pale horn coloured
bill, slightly tinged either yellowish or pale greenish. The facial and gular
skin are pale greenish yellow, with the legs coloured like the facial skin or
slightly more greenish. Birds are strictly marine, feeding mostly in inshore
waters. They breed mainly on bare, rocky islands or coral atolls.
Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
30 July 2017
28 July 2017
Seven Pied Cuckoos – Sabya area
Whilst birdwatching the southwest
of the Kingdom in July, around Sabya, I came across at least seven Pied Cuckoo Clamator
jacobinus a species not often seen in the Kingdom. Birds were seen near
Sabya Waste Water Treatment Lagoons (three) as well as at Phil’s Fields (four).
Some of the birds appeared to be pairs and others were heard calling, the first
time I have heard them in the Kingdom. The Pied Cuckoo is a scarce and
irregular summer visitor to the southern Red Sea, the Tihamah, Asir and Hejaz
north to Taif. It is unclear if it breeds or is a migrant but the timing of
birds in the middle of the summer months of June and July suggest it breeds in
Saudi Arabia. They occur in thorn-scrub, cultivated areas, and parasitise mainly
Bulbuls and Babblers. They normally occur below 1000 metres but have been seen
in the mountains of the west of Saudi Arabia up to 2000 metres. The subspecies
that occurs is C. j. pica that occurs from sub-Saharan Africa S to
northwest India and Myanmar.
26 July 2017
Yellow Splendour – Sabya Waste Water Lagoons
Whilst birding the southwest of the Kingdom to the northeast of Jizan this month I saw a number of Yellow Splendour Colotis protomedia butterflies.This is a large species,
with a beautiful primrose yellow upperside, bordered with black. The veins on
the forewings are also black, as it the sub apical bar. They occur from
northeastern Nigeria and Cameroon, east to Sudan (and even the extreme north of
Egypt), Somalia, Saudi Arabia (southwest), Yemen, and south to the drier parts
of East Africa (northern Uganda, northern and eastern Kenya, and northern
Tanzania) covering in excess of 20,000 km2. The species is found mainly in dry
savannah habitats. Individuals of this species are attracted to flowers,
especially those of the larval host-plants, which comprise Maerua species and adults have a fast flight. The intricate underside of this large yellow butterfly make it one of the most beautiful of all species found in Saudi Arabia.
24 July 2017
Greater Sand Plover – Jubail
Whilst birding the
Jubail area recently I came across a Greater Sand Plover feeding on a small
area of sabkhat. The bird was an adult so it is difficult to know if it was a returning
bird or a bird that has remained throughout the summer. Greater Sand Plover is
a common species on passage but it is difficult to get close to them as they
are normally out on the tide line or in the flooded sabkha. I managed to get
quite close and take a few photos of the bird that are shown below. The only
other waders seen were Kentish Plovers and Black-winged Stilts in very high
numbers as well as Common Redshank.
23 July 2017
White-eyed Gulls – Jizan Fish Market
Whilst in Jizan we stopped at
the fish market where we knew from past experience that photography
was possible. The fish market is an excellent place to see both Sooty and
White-eyed Gulls with plenty of birds normally resting on the roofs and feeding
on scraps on the ground. It is best to get to the market in the early morning
when the fish are being landed and processed to see the largest number of
birds. We only managed to get there late one evening and again in the early
afternoon but saw plenty of gulls at both times. July proved to be good at the
fish market with hundreds of gulls present with almost all Sooty and
White-eyed. Many wait around on the ground for fish waste to be thrown out and
then a huge melee breaks out as all the gulls go for the waste at the same
time. White-eyed Gulls have a range in Saudi Arabia that spreads mainly up the
Red Sea coast to north of Jeddah. The White-eyed Gull is mostly sedentary although
it disperses from its breeding sites in the Red Sea to occur throughout the Red
Sea during the non-breeding season. There may also be some southward and
eastward movement during this time, when it is reported to become scarce in the
northern part of its range. Breeding takes place during the months of June – September
where it breeds in loose colonies, on inshore islands, where it occupies bare
rock and sand flats, and usually consiss of fewer than 25 pairs. During the
non-breeding season it is usually found in small groups, but sometimes forms
flocks of hundreds or even thousands to forage and often occurs further out to
sea at this time. They are mainly coastal and usually feed at sea, but some
Egyptian populations have adopted a scavenging role at rubbish tips and
harbours, which is also the case at Jizan Fish Market. They eat mainly fish,
but also crustaceans, molluscs, annelids and offal.
22 July 2017
Desert Locust – Talea’a Valley
The Desert Locust Schistocerca
gregaria situation was calm
during early 2017 due to poor rainfall and ecological conditions throughout
most of the spring breeding areas in northwest Africa and the Arabian
Peninsula. Low numbers of solitarious adults were present but small-scale
breeding probably occurred in interior Saudi Arabia that may cause locust
numbers to increase slightly. Numbers remain low in 2017 so finding one in the
Talea’a Valley, near Abha in the southwest mountains of Saudi Arabia was a bit
of a surprise. The desert
locust can form plagues and threaten agricultural production in Africa, the
Middle East, and Asia which it has done for for centuries. The livelihood of at
least one-tenth of the world’s human population can be affected by this
voracious insect. The desert locust is potentially the most dangerous of the
locust pests because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great
distances.
20 July 2017
White-eared Bulbul - Jubail
Whilst birding Jubail in
July I found a White-eared Bubul a species not commonly seen there although
Phil Roberts saw one in early June. The birds in the Eastern province of Saudi
Arabia appear to be of the subspecies mesopotamia
found in Iraq and Kuwait as they have very yellow eye rings and a bigger white
ear patch. The subspecies that occurs elsewhere in Saudi Arabia including
Riyadh, Tabuk, Wadi Dawasir, Sakaka and other areas in central and central
western Saudi Arabia appear to be the Indian subspecies leucotis as birds are believed to have been introduced in these
places. The species is widespread through much of the country although does not
occur in the southwest around Jizan where the similar White-spectacled Bulbul
is common. They are mainly a common resident breeding species where they occur.
18 July 2017
Birding the Raydah Escarpment near Abha – Bird records by Munzir Khan
Munzir went birding to
the southwest of the Kingdom on 27 June and went to the Raydah Escarpment. This
is a site near Abha and is the best place to see Arabian Partridge first thing
in the morning along the roadside. Driving down the escarpment is good but the
road is very steep. Common endemics seen at this site include Yemen Linnet,
Yemen Thrush and Arabian Wheatear along the roadside. Arabian Serin can be seen
at the farm and the village at the bottom of the escarpment. Munzir sent me
some of his photos taken there and has kindly allowed me to use them on my
website some of which are shown below.
Arabian Partridge |
African Grey Hornbill |
Blackstart |
Cinnamon Breasted Bunting |
Little Rock Thrush |
White-spectacled Bulbul |
16 July 2017
Spur-winged Lapwing still present - Jubail
Whilst biding the Jubail
area in early July 2017 I saw the Spur-winged Lapwing again in the same place I
refound it on 23 June. The behaviour of the bird being very vocal and calling
in flight as was the case the last time I saw it suggests the bird may be
breeding. It will be interesting to see if I see more than one bird at the site
over the next few weeks. Breeding has not been proven in the Eastern Province
although I saw a bird that was apparently defending a territory at Haradh
earlier this year.
15 July 2017
Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull ringing recovery – Jizan Corniche
Whilst birding the Jizan Corniche on 6 & 8
July 2017 Phil Roberts and I found a second calendar year Lesser Black-backed
Gull (Baltic Gull) Larus fuscus fuscus. The bird was wearing a white
darvic ring on its left leg with black alpha-numeric details showing CC5P. We
sent off the details to Finland and got back the below information saying the
bird was ringed 370 days before in Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland (61°41′N
25°28′E) and had travelled 5159 kilometres in a SSE direction to reach Jizan.
The bird has probably spent the winter in Jizan, as other Baltic Gulls do, such
as Laura, a satellite tracked bird that wintered south of Jizan in Saudi Arabia
in 2013 – 2014. As the bird was is a second calendar year individual it has
obviously decided to stay the summer in southwest Saudi Arabia with up to 20
other second calendar year Baltic Gulls. The bird was seen on two dates in
Jizan and both times within only a few hundred metres of where we first found
it so it looks like it is site faithful. We looked carefully at all other
Baltic Gulls in the area to see if any others had rings but could not find any
others.
Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull Larus
fuscus fuscus
Ring Number: HT282352
Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CC5P
Ringing date: 01-Jul-2016
Ringing Place: Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland
(Co-ords: 61°41′N 25°28′E)
Age: Nestling
Ringer: Pekka Mäkinen (953)
Finding date: 06-Jul-2017
Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region,
Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16°56′N 42°32′E)
Finding Condition: Bird found alive
Duration: 370 days
Distance: 5155 km
Direction: 157° (SSE)
Finder: Phil Roberts & Jem Babbington
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