Great Black-headed Gulls & more – Al Asfar Lake

Whilst birding Al Asfar Lake near Al Hassa on 25 February we found three Great Black-headed Gulls on a wetland area. Two were adults in full summer plumage with the third bird an immature. The Great Black-headed Gull is an uncommon winter visitor to the Arabian Gulf and southern Red Sea coastal areas that is also rarely seen inland including at wetland sites like Dhahran and Al Asfar Lake. The first birds are normally not seen until December or January, with March probably the best time to see the species. A few migrants were located including Greater Short-toed Larks and Turkestan Shrike, but most birds were still wintering species including Great Grey and Durian Shrikes, Caspian Stonechat, Greater Spotted Eagle and 40+ Western Marsh Harrier. A Spur-winged Plover was present and plenty of Pallid Swifts were flying around the area. A large number of Graceful Prinia hufufae were singing and showing well.

Great Black-headed Gulls

Great Black-headed Gull

Graceful Prinia

Caspian Stonechat

Daurian Shrike

Caspian Stonechat – Dhahran Hills

Today I found a male Caspian Stonechat Saxicola maurus hemprichii in the scrubby area near to the new Dhahran Lake. The male Caspian Stonechat has a very characteristic plumage with extensive white portions on each side of the inner tail (between half and three-quarters of the outer tail feathers white), not unlike the pattern in many wheatears or male Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio. This is easily seen on a flying bird but can be more difficult to confirm on perched birds with closed tails. Caspian Stonechat is an uncommon winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The pale colouration and extensive white in the tail of male birds, looking like a Northern Wheatear at times, makes for certain identification. The bird was busy feeding and not too worried about my presence, as I was on foot and I managed to take some good photos of the bird, one showing the tail pattern quite nicely.

Caspian Stonechat - Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area I noticed an interesting looking Stonechat in the reed bed edge. Unfortunately it flew off and I could not relocate it. I went back to the location where I had seen the bird at the end of my birding and luckily saw the bird again in the reeds and then on the ground and managed to get a few photos of it. I could see that the bird had a lot of white in the tail when it flicked it, which it did on a regular basis. With a tail pattern like this the bird was obviously a Saxicola maurus hemprichii  or Caspian Stonechat also known as North Caspian Taxon (NCT). The northern population has a very characteristic male plumage with extensive white portions on each side of the inner tail (between half and three-quarters of the outer tail feathers white), not unlike the pattern in many wheatears or male Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio. This can be seen on one of the below photos and can easily be seen on a flying bird, but can be more difficult to confirm on perched birds with closed tails. The amount of white in the tail on males is subject to a subtle cline; at its maximum in the Volga Delta region, becoming slightly more restricted in the south. Both sexes resemble nominate maurus from further east and north in that they have a large unstreaked pale rump patch, buffish when fresh, white when abraded and bleached. In comparison, European Stonechat S. rubicola has a streaked rump with usually limited white. The hemprichii male has a concentrated red-brown chest patch and a large white patch on the neck-sides, again more like nominate maurus and different from most rubicola which again can be seen on the photographs below. The bird remained in the same place for at least two weeks.