Pallid Scops Owl still alive - Al Uqair

Whilst birding the Al Uqair area 10 November 2023 Phil Roberts and I found a Pallid Scops Owl trapped in an illegal mist net. Luckily the bird was still alive although very badly entangled so Phil cut the bird free with his knife whilst I held the bird and then we released the bird in a tree. It quickly opened its eyes and jumped onto the ground and ran and hid under some low vegetation. I was confident it would survive so when we returned to the location on 29 December, we looked for the owl. Amazingly I found it in the same tree we had released it seven weeks previously. We took a lot of photos of the bird and watched it for some time before leaving it in peace. Hopefully I can find it again the next time I visit as it appears to be wintering on the area. This species is an extremely rare breeding resident and rare winter visitor to Saudi Arabia, although may be more common than thought due to its magnificent camouflage. They are regularly recorded during the winter at Yanbu’ and possibly overwinters in Saudi Arabia more widely than is realized. There is a small breeding population in southwestern Saudi Arabia where birds have been heard calling as well as in the northwest of the Kingdom.

Rose-ringed Parakeets – Dhahran Cricket Field

Whilst checking out the birds on the Dhahran Cricket Field I saw a group of Rose-ringed Parakeets Psittacula krameria. The birds were trying to collect water from leaking air conditioning units on one of the buldings, as the weather was very hot and humid. The species is a locally common resident in larger cities in Saudi Arabia. They are relatively common in Riyadh but outside the capital it is less frequent and rather scarce in the southwest. They are also a common resident to towns and villages of the Gulf, including my local patch of Dhahran and in Jeddah. They are probably an introduced species that have become a self-sustaining resident breeder although this is unclear as record keeping on birds of the region has not been so good over the years. Even though I see the species almost every day I have never had the chance to photograph them properly so these photos are my best efforts so far.

Read ringed Baltic Gulls – Jizan Corniche

Whilst birding the Jizan Corniche in December 2023 we came across three read ringed gulls, all of which were ringed in Finland. Another gull was present with a metal ring but its read ring had presumably fallen off and its ring could not be read. There were probably 40 Baltic Gulls present, so if four were ringed in Finland this makes up 10% of the birds present. Previous ringing recoveries have also mainly come from Finland (14 birds – 82%) as well as Sweden (two birds – 12%) and Russia (one bird - 6%). The Baltic Gull in Saudi Arabia is an uncommon passage migrant and uncommon wintering species, scarce in summer, along the entire Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia with higher numbers in the southern Red Sea part of the Kingdom. Many hundreds of birds winter in the Saudi Arabian sector of the Red Sea. In northern Yemen a maximum count of 200 birds in January indicates that significant numbers winter there also. As a result, maps of the wintering range of Baltic Gull should include the Red Sea coastline from the KAUST area of the central Red Sea south to northern Yemen. Probably over 100 also summer in Saudi Arabia, most being immature birds. Records from central Saudi Arabia are very rare, with only two records, as they are from the Saudi Arabian Gulf coast, where there have been only three confirmed records. 

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: HT245167

Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CAWW

Ringing date: 3-Jul-2003

Ringing Place: Punkaharja, Savonlinna, Finland

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Risto Juvaste

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.93N, 42.55E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 7451 days

Distance: 5087 km

Direction: 161 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: HT277229

Darvic Ring: Yellow with black lettering CSX8

Ringing date: 6-Jul-2009

Ringing Place: Kortka, Finland

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Tatu Hokkanen

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.95N, 42.54E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 5256 days

Distance: 4971 km

Direction: 158 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: CT178124

Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CK7T

Ringing date: 5-Jul-2014

Ringing Place: SAVONLINNA, ETELÄ-SAVO, MIKKELI (SF84), FINLAND

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Risto Juvaste

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.95N, 42.54E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 3431 days

Distance: 5080 km

Direction: 158 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

CAWW

CAWW

CK7T

CK7T

CSX8

CSX8

Libyan Jirds – Khafra Marsh

The whole family left home at 04:30 to go to Khafra Marsh to see Libyan Jird. This site has proved to be very good for getting close views of the animals and we all hoped for some luck. We noticed the first Jirds on the compact sand near the side of the road where a number of burrows were located. The animals stayed close to their burrows and would disappear down them at the first sign of danger. Once the temperature started to get too hot, around 07:00 the Jirds started to disappear down their burrows for good. The underground burrow system of these animals is extensive and often they would go down one hole and reappear shortly after some distance away out of another burrow. The Libyan Jird is one of the most widely distributed species among rodents, ranging across nearly the entire Palearctic Desert Belt from Morocco in Northwest Africa to China. It occupies desert and semi‐desert habitats, generally in areas with stabilized dunes. The subspecies in Saudi Arabia is the Central lineage that also occurs in Jordan and Syria Meriones libycus syrius. 

Whimbrel with markings on P5 – Dhahran

 Whilst trying to get some good photos of the Whimbrels on the cricket field in Dhahran in the autumn I have noticed of the eight birds present, at least four different birds have markings on P5. I assume all our birds are nominate phaeopus and these photos refer to juvenile birds. From a photograph in Campbell, O, S. Lloyd & G Allport. 2022. A record of juvenile Steppe Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris from the United Arab Emirates. Sandgrouse 44: 389-408. It mentions at Plate 9. Nominate phaeopus is usually unmarked on P5 and critical analysis of flight shots indicated that this feather had four (right wing) and at least three (left wing) tiny white spots on the outer web on the fifth primary (counting outwards, hence innermost primary is the first). These would have been impossible to detect in field views. Based on field work in Mozambique, it appears that all adult alboaxillaris have this feature, but very few nominate birds do (Allport 2017). From my limited sample here, it looks like this point may not be so useful in juvenile birds and it may only really refer to adults? A larger sample is required, however, to draw any firm conclusions. As a result, I sent my findings to Gary Allport the authority on Steppe Whimbrel, and he commented as follows “At the moment no texts mention it as a feature for juvenile phaeopus but I can quite imagine it being more frequent in juvenile birds. Also bear in mind that these features probably cline west-east so if you’re drawing on a population from further east they may show different characters from those in Maputo. The full picture is likely to be quite complicated!”.

Marked P5

Marked P5

Unmarked P5

Eurasian Hoopoe - Dhahran Cricket Field

Eurasian Hoopoe is a common species in Dhahran with birds breeding each year in various places, including pipes going into houses, broken sprinkler boxes and a few more natural places. The breeding birds are supplemented by many migrants that pass through in spring and autumn when they can be the commonest bird seen in the area I bird. They are amazing birds, and some allow very close approach even on foot. Taking photos of them on the ground is not too difficult but getting them in flight is a trickier task. I managed to take a few in the last month or so and some are shown below.

Blue Pansy – Salwa

Whilst birdwatching the Salwa area, near the Qatar border, I came across a Blue Pansy Butterfly Junonia orithya which is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia and is also called the Eyed Pansy in Africa and in Australia the Blue Argus. Butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae are few in Saudi Arabia although are quite conspicuous. They include Blue Pansy that is a migratory butterfly, and they appear sporadically, produce one or more local broods of offspring, and then disappear again until their next invasion. Their success in establishing themselves temporarily within the region depends very much upon their powers of adaptation and choice of larval food-plants. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upper side of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eyespots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eyespots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eyespots similarly placed as on the upper side. The butterfly was in a small set off allotments in an area I saw them in March. This set of allotments is very good for butterflies and plenty of Clouded Yellow were also flying around.

Plenty of Great Cormorant - Dhahran Waste Water Lake

Large numbers of Great Cormorant can be seen in the very early morning flying around Dhahran Waste Water Lake. Some of the birds just come and wash, briefly fish and fly off with others staying all day in the area. The birds gather in large numbers and fish together catching large numbers of Tilapia in the lake often pushing them to a shallow area to make catching them easier. The species is a common winter visitor to the Eastern Province where thousands have roosted in the trees nearby in recent winters. They are also abundant in coastal waters from September through March including the Jubail and the Half-Moon Bay area of the Arabian Gulf.

Balkan Blue - Deffi Park

 The Balkan Bluea Tarucus balkanicus is a small butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family. It is found in Mauritania, Niger (the Aïr region), Sudan (Khartoum), Uganda, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, North Africa, the Balkans, western Asia, parts of central Asia and in India. The habitat consists of very arid savanna. The larvae feed on Ziziphus species. It is tailed with its underside white with a prominent black streak from the base of both wings. Markings normally black. Continuous sub marginal bands of connected black streaks.

Fifteen Common Pochard – Dhahran Waste Water Pond

On 9 December I saw fifteen Common Pochard Aythya ferina on the Waste water Pond in Dhahran. This is one of the more unusual species of duck for the camp. They were associating with a large number of Northern Shoveler and were very timid and flew almost as soon as I had seen them, although I did manage to get a few flight photos as they were moving off. This pond is a good location for duck as it is inside a protected Saudi Aramco compound where hunting is completely prohibited and very few people visit. Common Pochard was once a common winter visitor to the Eastern Province but is now an uncommon winter visitor occurring from mid-October to mid-March normally as singles or in small groups of up to five birds. Previously it was regular at Abqaiq until the late 1980’s but prior to 1981 it was regular at Dhahran and in February of that year a maximum of 155 were recorded. Previously it was also regular at Hofuf lakes where a maximum count of 500 was made where they occurred from October to March but were also seen in April to early June and in August and September. Away from the Eastern Province it is also an uncommon winter visitor mainly to the Riyadh area and southwest near Jizan. The status at present in Saudi Arabia is a scarce passage migrant & erratic winter visitor. This bird is widespread throughout Saudi Arabia as a passage migrant (February to April and September to October) with migration across a broad front. They prefer open freshwater sites, such as lakes, wastewater lagoons and sheltered coastal lagoons where they feed on aquatic vegetable matter as well as molluscs and crustaceans.

Gaber Goshawk – Shatifiyah

Whilst in a small pivot field near Shatifiyah in southwest Saudi Arabia, close to the Yemen border, we saw a bird of prey fly across in front of us. The proportions suggested the bird was a Goshawk, and after checking the details in the field it became apparent it was a juvenile Gaber Goshawk. In Saudi Arabia it is a scarce breeding resident, preferring acacia thickets and mixed open woodland, often near cultivated areas, such as the area where we saw it. This area where we located the bird is seldom if ever birdwatched so the record is of note. Birds occur in Yemen so probably has a continuous range across the border of both countries.