A good catch of Warblers – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Nicole and I went ringing again at Sabkhat Al Fasl at the weekend of 11 April and caught a good bag (for us) of warblers. There were few birds about although a good number of singing Eurasian (Caspian) Reed Warblers. We set all five of our nets but moved one to a new location in between tamarisk and reed beds to try to catch and stray migrant warblers that were not dependent on reeds. This net turned out to be the best of all and in total we caught 27 birds including nine Sedge Warblers, two Little Bitterns, three Caspian Reed Warblers, seven Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers, one Great Reed Warbler, two Willow Warblers and one Central Asian (Desert) Lesser Whitethroat. Although we had caught all the species before at Alba Marsh in Bahrain, it was surprising the number of Sedge Warblers we caught as we only caught a very small number in Bahrain. Another surprise was that we caught a European (Caspian) Reed Warbler with a brood patch showing the bird was breeding at the site. We caught lots in Bahrain but never showing any signs of breeding. Other birds caught with brood patches included three Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers and a Little Bittern. All these species have been recorded as breeding birds at Sabkhat Al Fasl before but these are good records especially the Reed Warbler. One of the last birds we caught was a bird showing characteristics of a Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat, which was a very nice record. The Great Reed Warbler we caught was a very large bird as can be seen from the below photo where it is side by side with an Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler.

Little Bittern - male

Little Bittern - female

Great Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler (left) & Indian Reed Warbler (Right)

Eurasian (Caspian) Reed Warbler

Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat

Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat

More migrants arriving – Dhahran Hills

The ‘patch’ has been slightly better this week with a number of new migrant species arriving. Phil had a male Semi-collared Flycatcher, a bird that would have been a new species for the ‘patch’ for me, but I did not see the bird, so wasn’t. A smart male Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush was found eating ants along the perimeter fence and allowed a few decent photos to be taken of it. Also along the fence were several Pied Wheatears. Other new migrants included a male Masked Shrike, tens of Turkestan Shrikes, including a smart male keralini type that again I failed to photograph and several Daurian Shrikes Whilst I was watching the Masked Shrike a Desert Whitethroat (Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca halimodendri type) flew into a nearby tree and gave some good but brief views. The wintering Western Marsh Harrier was still about over the spray fields and a Western Osprey was perched in one of the trees near the percolation pond. A few Yellow Wagtails and several Tree Pipits were seen with one Tree Pipit bathing in a small puddle of water left over from the heavy rain of a few days before. Other migrants included two Common Swifts and a Tawny Pipit. An Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler was singing from the small patch of reeds in the corner of the spray fields with two Eurasian hoopoes nearby. Hopefully these new birds are a sign of things to come and the migration season will start picking up.

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Turkestan Shrike

Desert Lesser Whitethroat

Tree Pipit