Birds of Saudi Arabia: Great Grey Shrike

Showing posts with label Great Grey Shrike. Show all posts

23 April 2024

Some good migrants – Al Uqair

I forgot to post these photos taken recently at Al Uqair where wesaw a lot of good migrants. The best birds for us were a male Semi-collared Flycatcher and three White-throated Robins with good numbers of Masked Shrikes at the small date plantation. The magic barbed wire fence held lots of birds as always with European Roller, Turkestan and Great Grey Shrikes and Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush amongst the best. Migration seems to finally have arrived and im looking forward to seeing if anything unusual turns up this spring.

Masked Shrike

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Semi-collared Flycatcher

Turkestan Shrike

White-throated Robin

European Roller

Great Grey Shrike

27 January 2024

Very few birds – Al Uqair

My most recent trip to Al Uqair resulted in very few birds. It is not very good for shorebirds, even though it looks good and is on the coast. This trip I saw a single Eurasian Curlew and a small flock of flying Common Redshank and Common Greenshank. On the coast were a small number of House Sparrow, lots of White-eared Bulbul and two Great Grey Shrike. The most unusual bird was a flying Long-legger Buzzard, a species that is uncommon in the region but one I had not seen at this site before.

Eurasian Curlew

Great Grey Shrike

House Sparrow

06 November 2023

Very few migrants – Salwa

We visited the areas in southeast Saudi Arabia near the Qatar and United Arab Emirates boarder to see if we could find anything unusual. After setting off at 02:45 we made it the areas the sun was rising at 06:00 hrs. We visited a few small allotment areas looking for migrants but only saw a two Great Grey Shrikes and a Common Chiffchaff, with virtually no birds present except White Eared Bulbul and House Sparrow. We then went to look at a couple of wet areas to see if we could locate any Prinias, which we had failed to do in the past. This time we also didn’t find anything but did record Clamorous Reed Warbler for the first time in the area as well as a few Common Chiffchaff, three Common Snipe and a Pied Wheatear. On the way onto one site, I saw a nice male Desert Wheatear but otherwise it was very quiet. We found a small lark that was very elusive but appeared to be either a Greater Short-toed Lark or Lesser Short-toed Lark and a warbler calling like a Lesser Whitethroat but very little else.

Great Grey Shrike

House Sparrow

Pied Wheatear

04 October 2023

A scattering of Migrants – Al Uqayr

A trip to Al Uqayr in late September produced a scattering of migrants, but nothing out of the ordinary. There were a good number of shrikes of various species around with five Woodchat Shrike, twenty Daurian Shrike, four Great Grey Shrike and a Lesser Grey Shrike. Two Spotted Flycathers were busy along the side of a small tree lined farm with several Barn Swallow in flight over the same area. Eurasian Hoopoe and Brown-necked Raven were flying over with the commonest birds House Sparrow and White-eared Bulbul. Brown-necked Raven, although a common resident is not seen very often in this area. I later went to the coast to try to see if any waders were in a good position for photography but the area was wet and muddy and it was not possible to pass without a high chance of becoming stuck so I headed home a little earlier than normal.

Brown-necked Raven

Daurian Shrike

Great Grey Shrike

House Sparrow

Spotted Flycatcher

White-eared Bulbul

Woodchat Shrike

10 September 2023

A few migrants – Khafra Marsh

I visited Khafrah Marsh in early September to see what migrants had dropped in. This is a large wetland area near Jubail and on the water itself where 17 Grey-headed Swamphens. This is the largest number I have seen at this location where they were first seen only a few years ago. A black-tailed Godwit was on the water’s edge with a few Kentish Plover. On a small pool were a single Little Ringed Plover, a Kentish Plover and two Namaqua Doves and a Yellow Wagtail also dropped in whilst we were there for a short while. I quick walk through a rough grassy area with small tamarisk shrubs produced three Egyptian Nightjars, and a Great Grey Shrike but very little else.

Egyptian Nightjar

Great Grey Shrike

Kentish Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Namaqua Doves

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

20 July 2023

Not much about – Uqayr

Whilst birding at Uqair looking for Prinias, there were very few birds about. I looked along the coast in the hope of seeing some returning waders but nothing of note was seen. The only waders that seem to be about in higher numbers are Black-winged Stilts. A single Socotra Cormorant was loafing on the beach partly hidden and flew off before I could get any closer. The scrubby desert was almost devoid of birds apart from three Great Grey Shirkes that must breed locally. No Prinias were seen this trip although we know they occur in this area. On the way back I found a new area of reeds that have stated growing outside the Tamara beach resort on Half Moon Bay. This is about halfway between Uqayr and Dhahran and is about 20 km south-west across the bay from Al Qqiq. I saw at least two pairs of Prinia here, but the birds were not calling, although on views in the field they looked like hufufae Graceful Prinia.

Socotra Cormorant

Great Grey Shrike

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.