Birds of Saudi Arabia: Caspian Reed Warbler

Showing posts with label Caspian Reed Warbler. Show all posts

13 August 2023

Breeding Reed Warblers - Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area in mid-August the same breeding warblers as seen in early July were noted. The most common warbler was Caspian Reed Warbler, followed by Graceful Prinia and then Clamorous Reed Warbler. As it is now August, the birds are singing infrequently with only Graceful Prinia still singing briefly and making a few contact calls. All birds were seen in the reed growth at the side of a large flooded sabkha area but as the weather was extremely hot and very humid it was not possible to take photos to start with due to the camera lens becoming fogged up with moisture even though I drove the whole way there with no air conditioning in the car and the windows open to try to avoid this issue. I watched these warblers moving about for almost an hour until the humidity got the better of me and I moved off.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

09 August 2023

Caspian Reed Warblers breeding - Jubail

Caspian Reed Warblers breed in Jubail with over 100 breeding pairs estimated. The Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warbler A. s. fuscus is a common passage migrant, with birds now saying throughout the year in Jubail where they are a common breeding species. Small reed warblers with wing lengths as small as 61mm have been noted in Israel and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain and Sabkhat Al Fasl, Jubail. These birds have in the past been confused for Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum due to their short wing length but have not been confirmed to race. The photos below were taken in the early morning where I had found good activity of birds calling and moving around.

03 August 2023

Half Moon Reedbeds – Al Khobar

Whilst birding Half Moon Reedbeds in Al Khobar, it was obvious from the calling birds that Graceful Prinia, Clamorous Reed Warbler and Caspian Reed Warbler were breeding in the reeds. There is a lot of building work going on in the area and bird numbers were low, but apart from the warblers there were a few Black-winged Stilts in the wet areas along with Kentish Plover, six Common Moorhen and a Grey-headed Swamphen. The latter is a species that has extended its range enormously through the Eastern Province reed beds in the last five years and is now resident in the Half Moon Reedbeds. This is a nice little area of reeds, but sadly due to all the building work they probably will not stay in the same state they are now for very long.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Graceful Prinia-juvenile

Grey-headed Swamphen

16 July 2023

Warblers breeding – Jubail area

Whilst birding the Jubail area in late-June I sat for an hour or so watching the movements of warblers in a small section of reeds that was easily viewable. There were quite a few warblers calling with most being Clamorous Reed Warblers or Caspian Reed Warblers although Graceful Prinias were also singing occasionally. The birds were not performing well but rather staying out of sight when singing although occasionally one would climb up a reed stem and allow some photos to be taken. All three species mentioned are common breeding birds in Jubail and all now are resident in the area. Another species seen was Great Reed Warbler, which is a common passage migrant but not so regularly seen in summer. The only other species that was visible was House Sparrow with a small flock of about twenty birds in the reeds.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

House Sparrow

26 March 2023

Back birding in Jubail

I have just been given permission again to bird a restricted site in Jubail from the NCWD in Riyadh. As a result, I went back for the first time in a month. Birding was good with obvious migration occurring. The most obvious migrant was Common Chiffchaff wit 66 birds seen, mainly in the Tamerisk but also along all the red bed edges. In with all the Chiffchaffs was a single Plain Leaf Warbler in a Tameisk next to three Chiffchaffs. I saw and took a poor photo of a Caspian Reed Warbler that I had ringed three weeks earlier, in almost the same place it was trapped, so nice to know it is still doing well. Clamorous Reed Warbler were very vocal, singing from many different reed heads along the red beds and a single male maura Eastern Stonechat was also present. This is a species I have not seen so often this year bit they are always great to see. Shrikes were around in reasonable numbers with tens of Daurian Shrike, three Turkestan Shrike and a single Great Grey Shrike (Arabian Shrike). A group of five Common Myna were seen at the edge of the area, a species that was seldom seen here, but is now becoming more common. The wetlands held plenty of Grey-headed Swamphen, Squacco Heron and Western Great Egret. A group of 26 Common Pochard were very distant out on a flooded sabkha area. Birds of prey seen included five Western Marsh Harrier, three Greater Spotted Eagle and a single Western Osprey. The only other birds of note were a few small groups of waders scattered round including Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Ruff and Green Sandpiper.

Squacco Heron

Turkestan Shrike

Grey-headed Swamphen

Great Grey (Arabian) Shrike

Eastern Stonechat

Common Myna

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Caspian Reed Warbler - ringed bird

03 December 2016

Caspian Reed Warblers trapped and ringed - Jubail

Whilst ringing at Jubail in mid to late November we trapped and ringed two Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warbler A. s. fuscus. This species is a common passage migrant and uncommon breeding species seen from early February to May and late July to early November in Saudi Arabia. The species has been proposed as being resident in the Eastern Province but this is not borne out by our ringing data, where we only caught birds during migration and the summer months. Birds were first seen at the site on 31 January when six singing birds were seen and numbers increased over the next three months. All birds trapped and ringed were Caspian Reed Warbler A. s. fuscus with DNA samples confirming the identification. Small reed warblers with wing lengths as small as 61mm have been noted in Israel and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain. These birds have in the past been confused for Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum due to their short wing length. We have also caught Reed Warblers with short wing lengths of 61mm on 2 May 2014 and one with a wing length of 60 mm on 10 April 2015 and it would be interesting to find out where these birds originate from as presumably they are not Caspian Reed Warblers but a different subspecies?

04 November 2016

Ringing typical east coast wetland birds - Jubail

Nicole and I went ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl 28 October and caught the typical wetland birds we normally catch with plenty of Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers and a few Common Kingfishers. We also caught a single Great Reed Warbler, two Caspian (European) Reed Warbler, several Graceful Prinias and two Little Bitterns. Other birds trapped included a Turkestan Shrike and the first Bluethroats of the autumn. It was quite hard work ringing in the high humidity but we ended up with 34 birds trapped and ringed in total so not too bad. Numbers decreased markedly around 10:00 hrs as normal so we left the site by 12:00 hrs.