18 September 2023

Sykes Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

Whilst birdwatching the Dhahran Cricket Field in mid-September I came across a small group of Yellow Wagtail with a couple of nice Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema amongst them. The Yellow Wagtail is a common passage migrant through the whole of Arabia with many thousands passing through the Eastern Province alone. Birds are common in the spring migration period but less common in autumn and nice plumaged birds like the one in the photo below are not common during this period. As the birds are constantly on the move looking for food they are not so easy to get good photos of, although this bird was quite obliging as it walked very close collecting insects from the wet grass that had just beed sprayed with water. This bird has a longer, larger and bolder white supercilium than most individuals giving it quite a striking appearance.