A few migrants – Al Uqair

Whilst birding the Al Uqair area last weekend we saw a few migrants. A Lesser Grey Shrike was a little unusual, with three other shrike species seen including Great Grey, Red-backed and Daurian. Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin may have been a migrant or alternatively one of the breeding birds from earlier in the year. Other signs of migration included a few Barn Swallows and several Greater Sand Plover on the coast. A single Whimbrel was quite early and about ten Greater Hoopoe Larks were a seen in an area where we had not seen this type of number before. The coast had a couple of White-cheeked Tern and a single Little Tern along with Kentish Plover. Migrations should start in earnest in the next week or so which I am looking forward to.

Whimbrel

Whimbrel

Whimbrel

Greater Hoopoe Lark

Greater Hoopoe-Lark - Uqair

Whilst birding the Uqair area and looking at a group of gulls Phil noticed a  Greater Hoopoe-Lark running aroud on the sand. It was quite an obliging bird and stayed fairly motionless for a while before moving right next to car, but it was running too fast to get and really close photos. The Greater Hoopoe-Lark is a common breeding resident in all sandy desert areas of the Kingdom including the Empty Quarter, the desert regions of the Southern Red Sea and the Tihamah. They are uncommon in the North-west. 

Steppe Eagles – Ushaiqer Dump Site

The Ushaiqer dump site is at the end of a 5 km graded track that splits off from the road between the towns of Ushaiqer and Shaqra (25.326°N, 45.173°E)  and heads west (Figure 1a). The site at Ushaiqer previously received large amounts of chicken offal, which attracted the largest number of eagles ever recorded at a single site in winter 2019 with approximately 7500 birds recorded. Now, however, the dumping of food waste is no longer permitted and the eagle numbers have significantly decreased with only several hundred seen last winter. Early morning 23 September Phil Roberts and I went to the site to see if any eagles had returned. Although the date was quite early, with main migration through Saudi Arabia in October, we managed to locate up to 50 Steppe Eagles. Most birds were adults with only four first year birds seen. It will be interesting to see over the winter if birds remain at this location or move elsewhere due to lack of food. This location is also a good place to see various species of lark, and this trip we saw both Desert Lark and Greater Hoopoe-lark with a nice flock of 20+ Trumpeter Finch.  

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Desert Lark

Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Some good birds in the pivot fields – Wadi Ad Dewasir

Wadi Ad Dewasir has several thousand pivot irrigation fields and is situated in central Saudi Arabia 1000 kilometes southwest of Dhahran. We spent three days birding the area in November and located some very interesting species. One species which had not been recorded there before but which we found in many places in small flocks totaling over 150 birds was Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. A local farmer I asked about the birds suggested they were common in the area, and this proved to be correct from our observations. Other species that were common were Cream-coloured Courser with over 50 seen each day and in one field a very large winter gathering of Caspian Plover totaling 36 birds. This is the largest winter group for many years in the Kingdom although hundreds were recorded in the Eastern Province in the 1980’s. Greater Hoopoe Lark was found feeding around the edge of several pivot fields with Great Grey Shrike (aucheri) seen occasionally perched in trees, shrubs or on hay bales. Commoner birds included House Sparrow, Indian Silverbill, Crested Lark, Yellow Wagtail, Arabian Green Bee-eater and Western Marsh Harrier. Lastly, at last two Pharaoh Eagle Owls were noted on the escarpment edge.

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Caspian Plover

Caspian Plover

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Cream-coloured Courser

Cream-coloured Courser

Crested Lark

Crested Lark

Great Grey Shrike

Great Grey Shrike

Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Birding the Farasan Islands

Birdwatching on the Farasan Islands was excellent with very close views of birds possible due their lack of fear of humans. Great views of the common Greater Hoopoe Lark and Black-crowned Sparrow Lark were obtained with the views of the Sparrow-Lark probably better than anywhere else in the Kingdom I have seen them. The shoreline had numerous wader species in very good numbers with Crab Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper, Greater Sand Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Whimbrel and Kentish Plover seen. Other species seen included Sooty Gull, Pink-backed Pelican, Western Reef Heron and Western Osprey. Inland and in the mangroves were Purple Heron, Barn Swallow, Egyptian Vulture, Common Cuckoo, Graceful Prinia and Black Scrub Robin.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Black-crowned Sparrow Lark

Black Scrub Robin

Common Sandpiper

Crab Plover 

Graceful Prinia

Greater Hoope-lark

Pink-backed Pelican

Pink-backed Pelican

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Purple Heron

Western Osprey

Greater Hoopoe-Lark - Hanidh

Whilst birding a desert area near Hanidh in the Eastern Province I came across a Greater Hoopoe-Lark. I had heard birds calling in this area in early spring but could not locate them so was happy to see a bird. The birds are almost always on the move so getting good photos of them is not so easy. The Greater Hoopoe-Lark is a common breeding resident in all sandy desert areas of the Kingdom including the Empty Quarter, the desert regions of the Southern Red Sea and the Tihamah. They are uncommon in the North-west.

Greater Hoopoe-Lark - Ushaiqer

Whilst birding the rocky desert near Ushaiqer I came across a Greater Hoopoe-Lark on afternoon and got a few average photos of it. I went back the following day and managed to get better photos as it was busy feeding and pulled out a large grub that it swallowed in one go. The birds are almost always on the move so getting good photos of them is not so easy. Luckily this bird was feeding on a large grub so allowed some photos to be taken in good light. The Greater Hoopoe-Lark is a common breeding resident in all sandy desert areas of the Kingdom including the Empty Quarter, the desert regions of the Southern Red Sea and the Tihamah. They are uncommon in the North-west.

Larks – Ushaiqer

The rocky escarpment and desert area around Ushaiqer was a good place to see Desert Lark. They were quite common but not so easy to photograph. The area also looked good for Arabian Lark but our searches failed to locate this enigmatic species. We did however find a few Bar-tailed Larks looking a little strange but luckily for me Yoav Perman helped with the identification. Other larks located were the larger and much more obvious Greater Hoopoe-Lark. All three of these species are typical desert species that are not seen very often although all three are common breeding residents.

Bar-tailed Lark

Desert Lark

Desert Lark

Desert Lark 

Greater Hoopoe-Lark