Jizan Sewage works outfall – Jizan

Whilst in Jizan and looking for colour ringed Baltic Gulls we went down the coast towards Yemen. As there is unrest in Yemen and it is not too safe to go too close to the boarder we stopped at Jizan Sewage Works about 12 kilometres south of the city centre. This sewage works is a modern facility so few birds occur where the water is treated but some overflow goes out to a small area of mangroves and into the sea. This area proved to be a good new site with plenty of good birds seen. The mangroves held plenty of Eurasian (Mangrove) Reed Warblers, and many Greater Flamingo were around. Birds of prey seen included a single first calendar year Greater Spotted Eagle, tens of Black Kits and a single Long-legged Buzzard. Waders included Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Common Redshank and Pied Avocet. Hundred duck were recorded nearby with three species were there including Pintail, Northern Shoveller and Eurasian Wigeon.

Black Kite

Black Kite

Black Kite

Bar-tailed Godwit

Greater Flamingo

Grey Plover

Northern Pintail

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler

Eurasian Wigeon

House Crow

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Two subspecies of Eurasian Reed Warbler in Saudi Arabia confirmed from DNA

A recent paper on the ‘Mitochondrial phylogeny of the Eurasian-African reed warbler complex’ has confirmed by DNA samples that two subspecies of Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus occur in Saudi Arabia and birds from the southwest once thought to be African Reed Warbler A. baeticatus are in fact Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae. The other subspecies is Acrocephalus scirpaceus fuscus that occurs in central Saudi Arabia (Riyadh - DNA) and Eastern Saudi Arabia (Jubail - ringing details). The paper mentioned above says fuscus is a well-supported clade containing all samples from Kazakhstan and several from Saudi Arabia and Israel, where four samples from Lake Kenneret, collected some time later than 21 May in 1995, may have been local breeders. The western-most sampling locality in the presumed breeding range are Astrachan and Azerbaijan, suggesting that the ranges of fuscus and scirpaceus abut somewhere between the Black and the Caspian Seas. The second clade was avicenniae containing the holotype of avicenniae from Eritrea and samples from breeding populations in Saudi Arabia (Al Shuqaiq), but also a sample from Kenya originally attributed to fuscus. As the latter was obtained away from the breeding grounds, misidentification is a possibility. Most probably this sample represents a migrant from the Red Sea mangrove population. The range of avicenniae is generally believed to be confined to mangroves bordering the Red Sea, but has recently been extended to reach Egypt (Hering et al., 2011a).  The papers records from Lake Kenneret inland Israel, and the observations by Morgan (1998) and Hering et al. (2009, 2011b), imply that this taxon may have a larger distribution and wider choice of habitats than previously known. I have trapped and ringed both these subspecies in Saudi Arabia with photos below of both types and have blood samples from Either Mangroves and Al Qahma Mangroves in the southwest. These blood samples will be tested soon to find out where they lay in relation to the other birds sampled, but will almost certainly be Mangrove Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae which is what was assumed when trapped and measured.

Caspian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus fuscus

Mangrove Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae

Ringing at Either Mangroves – Either

Abdullah Alsuhaibany and I went ringing for a day at Either Mangroves trying to catch Mangrove White-eye so we could obtain blood samples for analysis. We got to the site at 05:30 when the temperature was already 30 degres Celsius and humidity at 95%. The high tides also made the ground where the nets were to be set very soft and sticky meaning that we had to wade their with bare feet, quite painful with the mangrove roots. We set four nets over a 750 metre long stretch on the mangroves but the high temperature, humidity and distance from net to net made ringing extremely taxing. I know for certain I was more tiered after this ringing session than any other I have done. At the end of the day it took 1.5 hours to take down four nets and process that normally takes twenty minutes. We did have a good day however, with seven Mangrove Warblers, three Mangrove White-eyes, two Collared Kingfishers, one Clamourous Reed Warbler (not the Clamourous (Indian) Reed Warblers we catch in the east of the Kingdom) and one retrapped African Collared Dove. Not many birds for all the hard work but three more samples of the Mangrove White-eye and three more sets of Biometrics to look at.

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Mangrove White-eye

African Collared Dove

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Ringing at Al Qahma

After ringing at Either Mangroves for two days we moved further north to Al Qahma Mangroves to see if we could catch Collared Kingfisher and Mangrove White-eye sp here. We ringed for two days at this site again from before first light to around midday, using five 18 metre mist nets, when it became too windy to continue. We failed to catch the White-eye here but did catch nine Collared Kingfishers. This ringing site was very small being about 100 metres by 150 metres showing the high number of Collared Kingfishers at the location. We trapped and ringed 42 birds of six species at this location including 19 Mangrove Reed Warblers, nine Collared Kingfishers, six Ruppell’s Weavers, four Clamorous Reed Warblers, three African Collared Dove and one Striated Heron. Despite not trapping the White-eye here we did see two birds on both days showing the species occurs here in very small numbers. This was a new location for the White-eye sp and has added a further piece of information to the growing knowledge of this bird.

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Mangrove Reed Warbler

Ruppell's Weaver

Ruppell's Weaver

Collared Kingfisher

Ringing at Either Mangroves

Saudi Aramco Environmental Protection Department and I went to an area north of Jizan to ring birds in late June 2015. We first tried Either Mangroves an area approximately 40 kilometres north of Jizan. We got to the site two hours before first light and set five nets in the hope of catching and ringing three key species. These were Mangrove White-eye sp, Mangrove Warbler and Clamorous Reed Warbler. We wanted to get blood samples to try to identify accurately the species/subspecies of the two warblers and try to close out the mystery surrounding the White-eye as to whether it is a new species or a currently know species in a new habitat of mangroves. We ringed at the location for two days starting before first light and finishing around midday when it became too hot and windy to continue ringing. We caught 37 birds in total including four African Collared Doves, 28 Mangrove Reed Warblers, four Clamourous Reed Warblers and one Mangrove White-eye sp. Many of the birds were extremely worn due to the time of year and harsh conditions they live in here in Saudi Arabia. The area we trapped in was about 500 metres by 50 metres showing the high population density of Mangrove Reed Warblers at the site. We caught adult and juvenile birds showing breeding had successfully taken place here in 2015. Blood samples were taken for DNA analysis of Mangrove Reed Warbler, Clamourous Reed Warbler and Mangrove White-eye sp so hopefully over time we will be able to classify the birds correctly to species / subspecies.

African Collared Dove

African Collared Dove

African Collared Dove

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Mangrove Reed Warbler