Birds of Saudi Arabia: Montagu's Harrier

Showing posts with label Montagu's Harrier. Show all posts

21 November 2019

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

Little Rock Thrush

Long-Legged Buzzard

Montagu's Harrier

20 April 2019

Winter Birds - Tabuk

Whilst birding the Tabuk area recently I saw a few good winter species such as Montagues Harrier. It was the commonest harrier although both Pallid and Marsh Harrier were also seen. Several Long-legged Buzzard were also around the large fields. Three Cream-coloured Coursers were seen along the edge of a large pivot irrigation field but trying to obtain good photos proved extremely difficult. Other birds seen commonly were Crested Lark and Eurasian Hoopoe.

Cream-coloured Courser

Crested Lark

Eurasian Hoopoe

Long-legged Buzzard

Montagu's Harrier

05 February 2019

Winter Harriers - Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh recently I saw plenty of Harriers including a female Montagu’s Harriers in a pivot irrigation field. Male Montagu’s Harriers are easily identified by their upperwing pattern amongst other details but Juvenile and female Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers are difficult to identify with certainty and good views are needed. Montagu’s Harrier are uncommon passage migrants in the Eastern Province mainly from April to May and from September to October with a few birds apparently wintering and up to eight seen in a day at Haradh in September. Pallid Harrier is a more common species than Montagu’s Harrier with the species an uncommon passage migrant from late February to early May and again from September through November. Haradh is the best locality for seeing the species and previously during winter almost all records refer to adult males over cultivated fields, although now females appear to outnumber males. Western Marsh Harrier is also seen regularly over the pivot fields in Haradh where we saw an adult male and several females. Normally they occur near water but in Haradh spend the time hunting over the grassy fields. This species is a common winter visitors to areas such as Jubail and other inland water areas like Al Asfar Lake near Hufouf. They arrive in September and remain until late April or early May.

Montagu's Harrier - female

Pallid Harrier

24 February 2018

Winter Harriers - Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh recently I saw plenty of Harriers including at minimum of two Montagu’s Harriers over the pivot irrigation fields. Male Montagu’s Harriers are easily identified by their upperwing pattern amongst other details but Juvenile and female Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers are difficult to identify with certainty and good views are needed. Montagu’s Harrier are uncommon passage migrants in the Eastern Province mainly from April to May and from September to October with a few birds apparently wintering and up to eight seen in a day at Haradh in September. Pallid Harrier is a much more common species than Montagu’s Harrier with the species an uncommon passage migrant from late February to early May and again from September through November. Haradh is the best locality for seeing the species and previously during winter almost all records refer to adult males over cultivated fields, although now females appear to outnumber males.

Montagu's Harrier

Pallid Harrier

05 November 2017

Female Montagu’s Harrier – Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh 20 October I saw plenty of Harriers including at minimum of two Montagu’s Harriers over the pivot irrigation fields. Male Montagu’s Harriers are easily identified by their upperwing pattern amongst other details but Juvenile and female Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers are difficult to identify with certainty at times and good views are needed. Face pattern and neck collar amongst other features are useful for identification on perched birds where the underwing cannot be seen. The birds were mainly at some distance but luckily one was found under a bush resting from the still very high temperatures. Normally the birds fly well before getting close to them but this one stayed and allowed close approach but as it was in the shade the light was not too good for very good photos. Birds are uncommon passage migrants in the Eastern Province mainly from April to May and from September to October with a few birds apparently wintering and up to eight seen in a day at Haradh in September. Birds of the Riyadh Region by Stagg 1994, says they are a common passage migrant and increasingly frequent winter visitor that passes March and again late August to mid-October. Since 1988, winter visitors have taken up residence around alfalfa fields south of Riyadh during December and January. Other records have come from all areas from the southwest to the northeast of the Kingdom although the species is not common anywhere.

27 October 2016

Large numbers of Harriers - Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh 14 October I saw plenty of Harriers including at minimum of ten Western Marsh Harriers, mainly female/immatures but a smart male was also seen. Montagu’s Harriers were also present including an adult and several Pallid Harriers with a male and several juveniles seen. In total we saw over thirty harriers all of which were hunting over the pivot irrigation fields of the farming areas. October is the best month to see harriers on migration and Haradh is the best location in the Eastern Province but the total seen was very high even for this time and location.

Western Marsh Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

23 October 2016

Male Montagu’s Harrier - Haradh

Whilst birding the NADAC Farm area of Haradh 14 October I saw plenty of Harriers including at minimum of five Montagu’s Harriers including adult and juvenile harriers over the pivot irrigation fields. Male Montagu’s Harriers are easily identified by their upperwing pattern amongst other details but Juvenile Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers are difficult to identify with certainty at times and good views are needed. The birds were mainly at some distance but luckily for me the one bird that chose to come close was a fine adult male bird. It was hunting over the fields catching large Migratory Locusts by dropping into the pivot fields and catching them on the ground and then either eating them there or flying to the field side and doing likewise there. Birds are uncommon passage migrants in the Eastern Province mainly from April to May and from September to October with a few birds apparently wintering and up to eight seen in a day at Haradh in September. Birds of the Riyadh Region by Stagg 1994, says they are a common passage migrant and increasingly frequent winter visitor that passes March and again late August to mid-October. Since 1988, winter visitors have taken up residence around alfalfa fields south of Riyadh during December and January. Other records have come from all areas from the southwest to the northeast of the Kingdom although the species is not common anywhere.

15 April 2016

Plenty of migrants near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv went birding to his local wetland area that is now growing significantly in size. It has started attracting good numbers of birds including plenty of migrants. Whilst there he saw a good number of water birds including both Grey Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron, the later species not so common in the Kingdom although regular in small numbers. Other water birds seen included mixed flocks of waders and terns as well as ducks with Northern Pintail being the commonest. Also a few Spur-winged Lapwings were present in the area. Both Common Kestrel and Lesser Kestrel were in the trees and flying over as well as two or three Montagu’s Harriers. Passerine migrants included Ortolan Bunting and Great Reed Warbler.