Some spring migrants in northwest Saudi Arabia – Bird record by Euan Ferguson

Euan Ferguson was in Saudi Arabia with a couple of other birdwatchers in spring 2017, conducting an environmental survey and found a number of good birds and many migrants in the northwest if the Kingdom at Sharma on the Red Sea coast and further inland at Dumat. The survey team added a lot of knowledge to the birds seen in the area showing how valuable environmental surveys can be. Euan sent me a number of his photos and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website some of which are shown below.

Bluethroat

Little Bittern

Green Bee-eater

Ortolan Bunting

Common Quail 

Savi's Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher 

Turkestan Shrike

Wryneck

Black-headed Wagtail

Temminck’s Lark and more near Zulfi – Records by Mansul Al Fahad

Temminck’s Lark Eremophila bilopha is a scarce and erratic winter visitor to most northern areas of the Kingdom. It is also a breeding resident, locally common in Central Deserts. I have looked for this species quite a few times in various areas but have so far not managed to see any. I obviously need to visit the north again this year and hope to better than previously. Mansur managed to see some birds near Zulfi in late November and sent me one of his great photos of it along with a couple of other photos of Steppe Eagle and Common Quail taken in the same area at the same time. I thank Mansur for kindly allowing me to use his photos on my website which are shown below.

Temminck's Lark 

Steppe Eagle

Common Quail

Plenty of Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins and Turkestan Shrikes – Sabkhat Al Fasl

The last trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl produced a good number of migrants. There were plenty of Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins a species that passing through the location in both spring and autumn but is much commoner in spring. Several birds were seen along the tracks and near the reed bed edges and one gave particularly good views flicking its tail and wings constantly. The other species that was about in very good numbers were Turkestan Shrikes. They have now replaced Daurian Shrikes and well over twenty birds were seen during the morning including a couple of odd looking Karelini type grey plumaged birds. As in most places in the Eastern Province recently a lot of European Bee-eaters were seen with one area of reeds holding thirty birds in a small group. They looked really amazing in the early morning light. Several Tree and red-throated Pipits were about and four Common Quail were seen in the reed edge at one point. Hundreds of Squacco Herons many in full breeding plumage and good numbers of Little Egrets were seen along with a couple of Little Bitterns and ten Grey Herons. Purple Swamphens showed will with 41 birds seen during the morning. Warblers were mainly European Reed Warblers & Clamorous Reed Warblers but we also saw a single Common Whitethroat and several Willow Warblers. The most unusual bird seen was probably a Black Kite flying over with a Long-legged Buzzard also seen perched and in flight on the way into the location in the very early morning.

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Common Quail

European Bee-eaters

European Bee-eaters

European Bee-eaters

Red-throated Pipit 

Red-throated Pipit

Turkestan Shrike

Pharaoh Eagle Owl at Jabal Nariyah – Bird records by Dave Kilmister

On 17 May Dave visited Jabal Nariyah, then drove south past Nariyah to As-Sarrar. “There was a Pharaoh Eagle Owl at the Jabal, and a trio of Brown-necked Ravens. Apart from that, the birding was quiet. The pivot fields at Qaryat Al-Olaya are far more accessible and the large lakes had dried out already. I did see my first Arabian Spiny-tail Lizard though, so I was happy”.

Pharaoh Eagle Owl

A couple of weeks ago Dave went to Ash Sharqiyah Development although it was very windy. Dave did not see a single raptor, and there was nothing on the lakes. “There were a lot of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and I saw a single European Bee-eater (though very unlikely to have been alone), which was a first for me at the farm. Some of the less-common birds were a Masked Shrike, a flock of Wood Sandpipers on a pivot field, and a single Yellow Wagtail. There was a pair of European Rollers, and a Blackcap and a Redstart. I confirmed that the sparrows nesting are Spanish Sparrows, much quieter now and not carrying nest material so I presume they are brooding. I got a photo of a Common Quail (well, it’s head at least) and a Willow Warbler.

Common Quail

Willow Warbler

White-spectacled Bulbul (Sabkaht Al Fasl) a second record for the Eastern Province

For my weekend trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl I was joined by Phil Roberts and we set off early to get to the site for first light. The weather was again not as good as would have been liked with cloud cover and wind and quite a bit of dust around. We normally see Greater Spotted Eagle as our first bird on trips to this site but today we failed to see any for the first time since the summer last year, so they may well have all moved off to their breeding grounds to the north-east. As last weekend we saw plenty of Shrikes about with the majority being Turkestan Shrikes of which we saw at least 25 birds. A minimum of 15 Daurian Shrikes were also seen and a single Mauryan/Steppe Grey Shrike and a single Southern Grey Shrike were also present in the scrubby desert area on the way into the main site. Unlike last weekend the number of wheatears had declined markedly with only two Pied Wheatears and a single female Northern Wheatear seen. Yellow wagtail numbers were well down on the last few weeks but 12 birds were seen including adult male feldegg & beema. The back pools held two adult Whiskered Terns, 7 Little Terns, six Squacco Herons and a Spotted Crake was seen in the reeds at the edge of the large expanse of water, which was a new species for the site for me. A small group of six pipits caused us to stop and look carefully, but they all turned out to be Tree Pipits and whilst looking at the Tree Pipits two Greater Short-toed Larks were also located. As we were leaving the area a confiding Common Quail showed well before running off and hiding in the nearby scrub.

 Common Quail

 Greater Short-toed Lark

 Tree Pipit

Little Tern

Whilst driving along the edge of the reed beds we found a single White-spectacled Bulbul, but unfortunately it flew off before any photographs could be taken. This is a rare vagrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with only one previous record involving five birds at Harad in 1982 (Bundy et al . The species is not scarce in Saudi Arabia and is a common breeding resident in the south-west of the country and can be seen regularly around the Riyadh area, but very rarely wanders to the Eastern Province. There is a small chance the bird may have been an escape from captivity but it looked in very good plumage and health so we are assuming it was a wild bird. A single Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin showed well but the light was not good for a photo as it posed quite nicely on the reeds. Good waders seen included two Spotted Redshanks, three Wood Sandpipers, three Common Snipe, three Marsh Sandpipers, one Temminck’s Stint and three Green Sandpipers. Purple Swamphen sightings are increasing again with a number of birds with young being seen and Little Terns are now being seen in good numbers all over the site. The flooded sabkha at the back of the site held over a thousand Greater Flamingos, 200+ Pied Avocets, 100+ Ruffs and 20+ White-winged Terns. Western Marsh Harriers were still about in reasonable numbers and a fine adult male was seen by the pumping station which is unusual as almost all records are of female and immature birds. The only other birds of prey we saw were two Common Kestrels. A sinlge Great Reed Warbler was the first returning bird of the year for me and was seen well in the reeds behind the flooded Sabkha.