Migrants Arriving – Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area in early March I came across a good number of migrants including an early Woodchat Shrike, as well as a Masked Shrike and a Daurian Shrike both of which could be either migrants of overwintering birds. Other interesting species seen included a Spur-winged Lapwing, a species becoming much commoner in the Eastern Province over the last ten years and a large flock of 150+ Pied Avocet. A Grey Wagtail was located in a tree and the first Pied Wheatears of the spring were seen. As always, few Grey-headed Swamphens were seen during the visit.

Daurian Shrike

Grey Wagtail

Masked Shrike

Pied Avocet

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Grey-headed Swamphen

Spur-winged Lapwing

Woodchat Shrike

October birding – Talea Valley

I went birding in the Talea Valley in mid-October, but very few birds were seen. Many birds appear to move to lower elevations or at least out of the valley at this time of year and common birds in the summer such as Laughing Dove and Dusky Turtle Dove was almost absent. A few good birds were still seen such as five Steppe Eagles and a dark morph Long-legged Buzzard. Arabian Serin, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Linnet and Shinning Sunbird were Arabian Endemics located during the day but unfortunately the Eurasian Scops owl found by Phil the day before could not be relocated. The wet pool held a Green Sandpiper and a Grey Wagtail with a few House Sparrows and Indian Silverbills coming down to drink with Crested Lark and a single Red-capped Lark.

Arabian Babbler

Northern Wheatear

Eurasian Hoopoe

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Little Rock Thrush 

Long-Legged Buzzard 

Long-Legged Buzzard

Montagu's Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

Plenty of migrants passing through – Haradh

Whilst birding the Haradh area recently I came across a good number of migrants. It is the peak migration season so this was not too surprising but as I have only been to the area once before and did not know what the best areas to look for birds was, I was very happy. There were many Shrikes and Wheatears as posted already but also quite a few other species including Wagtails including Grey Wagtail, a couple of late White Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail. The Yellow Wagtails were mainly the subspecies beema but there was also a couple of feldegg. Another interesting migrant, that may possibly stay to breed were  Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins. There were in a area of low scrub and trees a favoured breeding habitat and appeared to be paired so it will be interesting to see what happens. A good number of Barn Swallows were seen over a few pivot fields that were being sprayed, two Lesser Short-toed Larks were next to one field and a female Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush on some rocks near another. Good numbers of Common Chiffchaffs were seen on fence wires and shrubs, showing a good passage of this species was underway. Birds that may have been passing through the area, but also may be late wintering birds included Common Kestrels and Tawny Pipits. Good numbers of Spanish Sparrows were seen in the same area where they were seen last visit and many nests were present some made almost entire of hay bale twine. Other birds that breed in the area and that were seen in good numbers were Namaqua Doves.

Yellow Wagtail beema

Grey Wagtail

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Common Kestrel

Namaqua Dove

Wintering Masked Shrike & White-throated Kingfisher and other good birds – Deffi Park, Jubail

Phil and I went to Deffi Park, a large municipal park in Jubail. The park is an area of mature trees and nice grass areas but is popular with locals during the day. As a result we always arrive just before first light and look around and have found a few good birds over the years. The last visit was no exception when we found a White-throated Kingfisher in some trees next to a small stream at one edge of the park. White-throated Kingfisher is a scarce bird to the Eastern Province of the Kingdom although they breed at Al Hair, Riyadh and appear to be coming more common in recent years. This is the first record for the park although birds have been seen at nearby Sabkhat Al Fasl in recent years. Other good birds by the stream included Grey Wagtail, Common Kingfisher, Common Greenshank and Indian Reef Heron. Looking around the trees and grass areas of the park produced a wintering Masked Shrike, and uncommon winter species that are more often seen during passage in the Eastern Province. There were plenty of wintering Chiffchaffs, as is normally the case for this location, as well as a few Water Pipits and plenty of White Wagtails.

Masked Shrike

Grey Wagtail

Common Chiffchaff

Migrants appearing – Sabkhat Al Fasl

A few more migrants are appearing in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia now and soon migration should be in full swing. Quite a few birds as well as different species of migrants were seen on my trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend with some definite migrants and other birds that wer probably migrants but could have been overwintering birds. Some definite migrants included Woodchat Shrike, the first one I have seen this spring and plenty of Daurian Shrikes were also seen with the numbers too large for winter visitors at all.  Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail are also migrants with a single Grey Wagtail and probably 30 Black-headed Wagtails seen. Plenty of wintering White Wagtails are also still present but they will be departing in the next few weeks. Other probable migrants included Isabelline Wheatear and Eastern Stonechat, although there is a possibility they could be winter visitors as well. Barn Swallow and ten Red-rumped Swallows were also migrants and three Pallid Swifts were also seen.

Woodchat Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Grey Wagtail

Black-headed Wagtail

Isabelline Wheatear

Eastern Stonechat

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear – Dhahran Hills

There have been plenty of migrants through the camp in the last few days with my first Eastern Black-eared Wheatear for the ‘patch’ being a nice adult male bird. This was in close proximity to a Pied Wheatear giving a nice comparison. A mixed group of Pallid and Common Swifts were in the air together and six Barn Swallows were roosting in the red beds of the percolation pond. Two Squacco Herrons were on the pond sitting on one of the floating platforms that were the first ones I have seen this year. The female Western Marsh Harrier was still hunting over the reed beds and I saw it catch a frog which was a interesting sight.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Pallid Swift

Pallid Swift

The wet ditch had two Grey Wagtails and a Green Sandpiper and the trees around the pond had a Humes Whitethroat and a Common Redstart that was also new for the year. A Woodchat Shrike was near the pond and two Eurasian Sparrowhawks were also in the same area. Phil has seen both Meneteries’s Warbler and Upcher’s Warbler in the last few days on the ‘patch’.

Grey Wagtail

Woodchat Shrike

Common Snipe & Grey Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

Although the number of birds seen in the autumn is low the number of species seen is quite high with 78 species recorded by me on the ‘patch’ in September. The newest species recorded were a Grey Wagtail feeding about in the drainage ditch wet flash, which was the first record of the species since March 2012 and a Common Snipe also the first record since March. Grey Wagtail is an uncommon but regular passage migrant from February to May & from August to October being more common in the spring with March being the best month to see the species. Birds are almost always seen near water with the drainage ditches the best places to see the species in Dhahran. The Common Snipe was also in the wet flash area with the species being a common passage migrant and winter visitor from August to April with the odd rare summer record.  Other good birds seen included the first year Citrine Wagtail still in the same place and seen feeding together with the Grey Wagtail, three Temminck’s Stints, two Little Stints and two Green Sandpipers. The percolation pond was relatively quiet with the only new birds three adult male Mallards sitting at the very back of the pond. A single juvenile Purple Heron and one juvenile Squacco Heron were also noteworthy.


Common Snipe

Little Stint

Citrine Wagtail - first year

Grey Wagtail

Crakes still around – Dhahran Hills

The last couple of evenings down the ‘patch’ have produced a few good birds. There are still a lot of crakes around the wet areas and on the percolation pond itself. Yesterday I saw four Spotted Crakes feeding together out in the open as well as at least two other birds, one on the pond and another at a different wet area on the other side of the pond. Three Little Crakes were also seen with two being females and one a male, one on the pond and two together in a wet area. I have no idea as to how many birds are involved but there is a minimum of five Spotted Crakes and five Little Crakes. This has been an exceptional year for crakes in Dhahran as can be told by the fact an active birder who has lived and bird-watched in the area for more than 20 years had not seen one until this year. The scrubby desert area has a few wheatears including two Northern Wheatears, four Isabelline Wheatears and a single Pied Wheatear. Tawny Pipits have become more obvious so I am assuming that the resident wintering birds have been joined by a number of migrants?

Spotted Crake

Tawny Pipit

A drainage ditch on the way to the pond had a Common Snipe and a Grey Wagtail, numbers of which are both increasing slowly. Other Pipits seen included a small group of six Red-throated Pipits some in full breeding plumage, which look fantastic. They are not so easy to photograph as they are always very flighty, but give their distinctive call when disturbed, which is always nice to hear. A single Grey-headed Wagtail thunbergi was present in one weed rich corner feeding alongside a single Greater Short-toed Lark. I have not seen either of these types of bird in the camp this spring showing birds are still slowly moving through.

 Grey Wagtail

Red-throated Pipit

Shrikes are still around in good numbers with Woodchat shrike being seen in much larger numbers than last year withthe two photogrpahs below of two different birds. I saw a minimum of five birds as well as a single Turkestan Shrike and two Daurian Shrikes. Most of these birds were seen in the bushes and trees around the spray fields which were full of Common Chiffchaffs with well over 100 birds seen each day. The number of Swifts and Swallows has decreased significantly over the week with only 15 Common Swift and 31 Red-rumped Swallows still left, mainly over the spray fields.

 Daurian Shrike

 Woodchat Shrike

Woodshat Shrike

The pond itself is still fairly quiet, although the Western Great Egret has returned. The Great Crested Grebe and Squacco Heron are both still present, along with six Black-winged Stilts but few other birds of note are present. Although Black-winged Stilts have been passing through the area for the last two weeks these are the first birds I have seen this spring in the camp. Two Clamorous Reed Warblers were seen well in the reeds at the edge of the pond and a couple of Caspian Reed Warblers were also calling from the reeds along with a Bluethroats which have increased in numbers. A single male White-spotted Bluethroat showed well out in the open at the edge of the Spray fields and a group of 29 Northern Shoveller flew over and circled around a couple of times but did not land.