Birding Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area – Near Taif

I went birding at Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, a 2244 square kilometre Protected Area, managed by the Saudi Wildlife Authority (SWA) and situated in Central Saudi Arabia on the Najd Plateau on 22 March. The Protected Area is entirely fenced and it is not possible to entre without permission. Birding was fairly slow with not many birds seen, but some very good ones included. We saw both the scarce reintroduced species, North African Red-necked Ostrich and Macqueen’s Bustard. We saw several groups of North African Red-necked Ostrich in different parts of the Protected Area including from the watchtower of one of the ranger stations. Most groups had both males and females in them but were very wary of us and never allowed close approach. The rangers even showed us an old nest of the Ostrich with a number of infertile eggs in that are twenty times bigger that a chicken egg. A single Macqueen’s Bustard was seen in flight and on the ground at great distance that was an amazing sight but unfortunately my photos are quite poor. Both of these species were new birds in Saudi Arabia for me and were soon joined by a third new species Lappet-faced Vulture of which we saw ten birds including six together thermalling of a small jebal within the Protected Area.

North African Red-necked Ostrich

North African Red-necked Ostrich

Abandoned North African Red-necked Ostrich Nest

Macqueen's Bustard

Lappet-faced Vulture

Other birds seen included a good number of House Sparrows around the ranger station along with two White-spectacled Bulbuls. An Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear and Pied Wheatear were all seen in very small numbers along with two Southern Grey Shrikes. Two Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse were seen flying over in the early morning and three more later in the day only the second time I have seen the species in Saudi Arabia. A few Greater Short-toed Larks and tens of Crested Larks were also scattered over the Protected Area and a single close view of a Short-toed Snake Eagle was also an amazing sight. A single Common Redstart and a Blackstart were located in the vegetation but otherwise birding was slow. Brown-necked Raven was one of the commonest sight in the Protected Area with birds seen in many areas.

Short-toed Snake Eagle

National Wildlife Research Centre – Taif

My family and I were very lucky to be invited to look around the Saudi Wildlife Authority National Wildlife Research Centre (NWRC). This is an amazing centre that works on the reintroduction of rare and scarce species to many of its Protected Areas around the Kingdom and is a huge credit to the country for its forward thinking on conservation matters. The centre was established in 1986 and is particularly involved in the reintroduction of the rapidly declining Macqueen’s Bustard as well as reintroducing the extinct Ostrich. The Ostrich that occurred in Saudi Arabia, and was last seen in 1941, was the Arabian Ostrich Stuthio camelus syriacus, but unfortunately there are no examples of their subspecies left so the birds being reintroduced are the North African Red-necked Ostrich Stuthio camelus camelus from Sudan, that is genetically the closest surviving subspecies. Birds were reintroduced in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area and now have a self-sustaining population of around 300 birds, and this is the only place in Saudi Arabia where you can see this species. The birds are now self-sustaining and are in fact so successful at breeding that individuals are now being sent overseas to other breeding centres. Macqueen’s Bustards were reintroduced to the Protected Area to re-establish a sustainable resident breeding population, with the NWRC pioneering the captive breeding of Macqueen’s Bustard, which has now been employed by other centres around the Middle East and North Africa. The captive breeding birds came from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordon, Iran and confiscated birds of unknown origin and produce between 150 – 300 birds annually. There are currently about 250 to 300 Macqueen’s Bustards in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area but they are very difficult to see. A huge amount of scientific work has gone into the reintroduction of these birds and many scientific papers have also been written and this is another great success story from the NWRC. Breeding birds of both of these species are kept at the NWRC but the success of the Ostrich has meant that no breeding is required anymore. You are not allowed out of the vehicle near the Bustards as they do not want them habituated to humans.

North African Red-necked Ostrich

Macqueen's Bustard

The centre also has a number of rescued or confiscated animals including Arabian Leopard, Stripped Hyena, Wolf, Cheetah and Lion. Nubian Ibex is being raised at the centre and a Honey Badger is there that was trapped in Saudi Arabia and sent to the NWRC. Other animals that have been reintroduced by the NWRC are Arabian Oryx and Sand Gazelle. Since 1997 a number of Arabian Leopard Panthera pardus nimr have been collected by the centre and with cooperation with the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah, which pioneered captive breeding techniques for the species, a number of cubs have been born. These animals will, hopefully, ensure the captive survival of the species and could allow future reintroductions to the wild.

Arabian Leopard

Arabian Oryx

Cheetah

Honey Badger

Striped Hyena

Nubian Ibex

Scarce birds in the Al Hassa area (part 1) – Bird records by Shaheen

A recent environmental survey of Lake Al Asfar near Al Hassa has turned up a number of good birds for the Eastern province. The details below are from a local photographer Shaheen who apparently took all the photographs in the area of Al Hassa. I am trying to find out the exact details of some of the records as they are very important ornithologically, and will post further details if they become available. All the photographs below were taken by Shaheen who has given permission for me to use them on my website.

Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina is a vagrant in Saudi Arabia with four records of nine birds all I can find. They are as follows:

Three females and a male at Dhahran Hills percolation pond, Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp, 31 July 1985

Pair at Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp, 16^th January 2004

Two males at Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp, 9 - 19^th February 2004

An adult male at Lake Al Asfar, Al Hassa in 2013?

Red-crested Pochard - male

Eurasian Stone-curlew Burhinus oedicnemus is a scarce migrant and winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, probably annual especially at Haradh. It has occurred in widely scattered localities across the region with most records in March and October. The main passage periods are February to early May and from September to November. There is one July record. Up to seven have been found together but they are normally found singly. Birds have been seen in the Rub’ al-Khali desert in the Empty Quarter where a few birds winter in open sandy areas with the last one I know of being seen on 28 February 1990. The species is more common in the South-west of the country where they are uncommon but regular winter visitor in the Tihamah coastal plains. A flock of 100 were seen roosting on a plateau near Qarnayn 28 December 1991. It appears to have occurred quite regularly in winter in the Empty Quarter and Gulf earlier in 20^th Century.

Eurasian Stone-curlew

Eurasian Stone-curlew

Macqueen’s Bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii is a migrant breeder and scarce winter visitor to the Eastern Provinceof Saudi Arabia. Elsewhere in the country it breeds in small numbers in northern Saudi Arabia and has been reintroduced to central Saudi Arabia. For much of the twentieth century, Macqueen’s Bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii was treated as a subspecies of Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata, with them being treated as a polytypic species, comprising three subspecies: C. u. macqueenii in eastern Egypt (Sinai), Arabia and central Asia from northwest Kazakhstan east to Mongolia, wintering from the Persian Gulf to northwest India and in central China; C. u. undulata in northern Africa from Mauritania to western Egypt; and C. u. fuertaventurae on Fuertaventura, Lanzarote and Graciosa, in the Canary Islands. Recent studies of courtship behaviour, morphology, vocalisations, and mitochondrial and nuclear DNA have shown consistent differences between Macqueen’s Bustard and Houbara Bustard. Together with clear-cut plumage differences, these new data suggest that Macqueen’s Bustard and Houbara Bustard are best treated as separate species Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata (with the subspecies undulata and fuertaventurae) and Macqueen’s Bustard C. macqueenii (monotypic). The Macqueen’s Bustard is a traditional game bird found across the entire Arabian Peninsula; however, its population has decreased drastically during recent decades mainly as a result of human developments in the region, particularly new hunting techniques and an increase in livestock. In the 1930’s hunting parties could regularly kill 50 birds or more on a trip and in the 1960’s falconers were still taking up to twenty birds in a week, but by the 1980’s only a small population was still surviving in Harrat al-Harrah in the north of the country. It has been suggested that it may still breed in favourable years on the edge of the Danna. Recent sightings of the species in the Eastern Province are few, although some local Bedouins say it occurs sparingly from November to March.

The only other records are one over the sea at Half Moon Bay flying towards the Saudi coast (26°N 50°E) 31^st October 1976
One at Haradh for a week in early February 1980
One near Abqaiq in December 1980
One south of Al Khobar 27 December 1983.
A pair Ras Tanajib 13 November 1991
A male Safwa 28 November 1991
One caught by local falconers in an area just south of Jubail 10^th November 2011
One photographed at Al Asfar Lake winter 2013?

Maqueen's Bustard