Birds of Saudi Arabia: Grey-headed Swamphen

Showing posts with label Grey-headed Swamphen. Show all posts

07 October 2024

Grey-headed Swamphen – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

An early morning trip to Dhahran Waste Water Lake recently produced two Grey-headed Swamphens. This is the first time I have seen the species here in over two years so was a very pleasant surprise. The favoured location for this species is in Jubail and our last visit showed the water levels very low and reed clearance occurring so maybe the birds are moving around trying to find more suitable habitat. It will be interesting to see if the stay or are joined by other birds over the next couple of weeks. There were very few other birds seen with a few Grey Herons and Great Cormorants about the best.

Grey-headed Swamphen

Grey Heron

Great Cormorant

13 September 2024

Grey-headed Swamphen – Jubail area

Whilst birding Jubail last weekend we found a lot of Purple Swamphens some in unusual places due to the drainage of large areas of the wetland site. Other areas had the reed beds removed and now there is not many good areas for them to live. Graceful Prinia on the other hand still has large areas of reedbeds and scrub to move around in and are still plentiful. Eurasian and Clamorous Reed Warblers were also common in these same areas. Migrants were around in small numbers including Woodchat Shrike, Isabelle Wheatear, Northern Wheatear, European Bee-eater, Barn Swallow, Sand Martin and Yellow Wagtail. Less common birds for the site included Eurasian Oystercatcher, House Crow, Bar-tailed Godwit and Common Myna.

Isabelline Wheatear

Grey-headed Swamphen

Graceful Prinia

03 August 2023

Half Moon Reedbeds – Al Khobar

Whilst birding Half Moon Reedbeds in Al Khobar, it was obvious from the calling birds that Graceful Prinia, Clamorous Reed Warbler and Caspian Reed Warbler were breeding in the reeds. There is a lot of building work going on in the area and bird numbers were low, but apart from the warblers there were a few Black-winged Stilts in the wet areas along with Kentish Plover, six Common Moorhen and a Grey-headed Swamphen. The latter is a species that has extended its range enormously through the Eastern Province reed beds in the last five years and is now resident in the Half Moon Reedbeds. This is a nice little area of reeds, but sadly due to all the building work they probably will not stay in the same state they are now for very long.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Graceful Prinia-juvenile

Grey-headed Swamphen

28 June 2023

Summer Breeders & Visitors – Jubail

Whilst in the Jubail area recently I photographed a number of the common breeding species as well as a few summer visitors. I managed to find a good place to stop and try to photograph Clamorous Reed Warbler as I heard a number of birds calling loudly. They find a nice reed and slowly move up the reed stem to get in a good position for calling their distinctive very loud call. This sometimes gives a good opportunity to photograph the birds. In the reeds there were plenty of Grey-headed Swamphen, a bird that I love seeing. They are far from elegant when they fly and try to land in the reeds but are great birds to see and watch. They have been expanding their range markedly in the Eastern Province over the last few years and can now be seen in many places. Little Terns breed in the area now and I managed to find a pair in a good position for photographs. Black-winged Stilts also breed commonly in the area with this one below against a nice sandy background. Non-breeding species seen include Caspian Tern, which is common bird year-round and the much scarcer Lesser Crested Tern. Greater Flamingo has bred at this location in previous years but only fifteen birds are currently present so looks unlikely this year.

Little Tern

Greater Flamingo

Grey-headed Swamphen

Lesser Crested Tern

Black-winged Stilt

Clamorous Reed Warbler

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.

Squacco Heron

Turkestan Shrike

Grey-headed Swamphen

Great Grey (Arabian) Shrike

Eastern Stonechat

Common Myna

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Caspian Reed Warbler - ringed bird

02 March 2023

Khafra Marsh and nearby areas – Jubail

Whilst birding the Khafra Marsh and nearby areas of Jubail in February I saw a very nice immature Greater Spotted Eagle perched on the ground. This is a common winter visitor to Jubail in wetland areas with up to fifteen birds wintering in one particular site. They are often seen in flight or perched on power pylons but seldon on the ground at close range. The typical species were seen in the wetlands including a number of Squacco Heron and the reed beds were full of calling Clamourous Reed Warblers, Caspian (European) Reed Warblers and Prinias. The prinias at Khafra Marsh have a different call to those in other areas of Jubail and I am uncertain of their identity. There could be both Graceful and Delicate Prinia present but more work is needed to fully understand what is going on there. The farm fields held a nice flock of twenty plus Eurasian Skylark a species I had not seen previously in Khafra Marsh but a regular winter visitor to the Eastern Province. A Common Kingfisher was a nice sight perched in the open briefly and the resident Grey-headed Swamphens were seen in small numbers with others presumably hiding in the reed beds.