Red-rumped Swallows – Dhahran

Whilst birding the Dhahran Hills Waste Water Lake last weekend I saw a small flock of about six Red-rumped Swallows with a single Barn Swallow flying around in the very early morning. The species breeds in the southwest highlands and locally in central Arabia and is an uncommon migrant elsewhere. They are early spring migrants with birds seen most years in February and numbers peaking in March with the last records in mid-April. Numbers are much reduced in autumn passage with only a few birds seen and rarely flocks like those that occur in spring with birds occurring from August to October. There are a handful of records in the winter months of November, December and January but they are scarce during this period. These birds are always difficult to photograph due to their quick flight action and rapid movements but I managed to take a few shots shown below. 

Birding the Abha Area

Whilst birding the Abha area recently we went to Azeeza to look for Blandford’s Short-toed Larks as birds had been seen here by us in previous years. The area has had some building and construction work done in the last couple of years and despite quite extensive searching we failed to find any birds. Very little occurs in this relatively barren and stony area, with Long-billed Pipit and Common Kestrel the only birds of note seen. Luckily we found a new site for Blandford’s Lark (see earlier post) so were not so disappointed with our failure. After this we went to look for Olive Pigeon in a step sided valley where birds had been seen some years previously by local birders but again our luck was out. We did see some good birds here including Arabian Woodpecker and Arabian Serin. Other good birds included Dusky Turtle Dove and adult and Juvenile Red-rumped Swallow that clearly breed nearby.

Common Kestrel

Arabian Woodpeckers

Arabian Serin

Red-rumped Swallow - juvenile

Red-rumped Swallow - adult

No Arabian Golden-winged Grobeaks again - Al Atta

Whilst birding in the Taif area for the weekend of 3-4 Junly 2015 Phil Roberts and I went to Al Atta. The location is basically a set of fields where roses are grown with a few overhead power lines where the Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeaks were seen perched previously. There is also a wooded valley with relatively steep sides and tracks running up both sides. Despite spending many hours here we did not see or hear the Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeaks and to be truthful the site does not look too promising with much better looking areas nearby. This location is a good birding site with plenty of Arabian Wheatears and Yemen Linnets. Philby’s Partridge was heard and plenty of Tristram’s Starlings were flying around calling. Other good birds seen included a single Brown Woodland Warbler, Arabian Warbler, Little Rock Thrushes, Long-billed Pipits, Red-rumped Swallows, Pale Crag Martins, Little Swifts and Palestine Sunbirds. Although we did not see the Grosbeaks birding here was much more pleasant than when I came previously in January 2015 when the low cloud made birding extremely difficult. At least this time the sun was shining and you could see more than a few metres so birds could be seen and located. A dark phase Long-legged Buzzard was also seen on the way to the site just after Bani Saad.

Arabian Wheatear

Arabian Wheatear

Gambaga Flycatcher

Little Swift

Little Swift

Little Swift

Red-rumped Swallow

Long-legged Buzzard - dark phase

A flock of Red-rumped Swallows – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at the weekend I saw a flock of Red-rumped Swallows with a few Barn Swallows mixed in over the power station. The species breeds in the southwest highlands and locally in central Arabia, but is an uncommon migrant elsewhere. They are early spring migrants with birds seen most years in February and numbers peaking in March with the last records in mid-April. Numbers are much reduced in autumn passage with only a few birds seen and rarely flocks like those that occur in spring and birds occurring from August to October. There are a handful of records in the winter months of November, December and January but they are scarce during this period. The birds were the first ones I have seen this spring and numbered about 15 birds. These birds are always difficult to photograph due to their quick flight action and rapid movements but I managed to take a few shots shown below. The flock was still present the next day in the same area but birds like this tend not to stay around very long particularly in the spring.

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Barn Swallow

Red-rumped Swallows – Dhahran Hills

Red-rumped Swallow is common annually in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in February and March and is one of the earlier migrants. Birds often travel with other hirundines such as Barn Swallow or House Martins and can number up to 100 birds. The last week or so small numbers have been seen over the spray fields and percolation pond with some birds giving good views and allowing photography. It is very difficult to try to work out how many birds have been involved in passing through as it is difficult to know if they have moved off or completely or just away from my ‘patch’ and return again the following evening? Trying to photograph the birds is also far from easy with a large and heavy 600mm lens but some acceptable shots were eventually taken. The streaks on the underparts can be seen in some of the photos which are very difficult to see on the birds in flight through binoculars.
Other birds seen included the Great Crested Grebe back on the percolation pond after an absence of a few weeks, a Common Snipe and a Grey Wagtail in the wet ditch and a Woodchat Shrike in the spray fields.

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Common Snipe

Common Snipe

Some signs of migration – Dhahran Hills

A walk around the percolation pond was quite interesting with the first true signs of migration being seen. There were ten plus Common Chiffchaffs present in the tamarisk at the side of the pond and two Eurasian Reed Warblers were also seen, one in full song. Clamorous Reed Warblers were also singing from the trees and reed-beds, although these birds are resident breeders at this site. A really smart adult male White-spotted Bluethroat in full breeding plumage was seen in the same area which is only the second bird I have seen of this sub-species since I have been in Saudi Arabia. Luckily it was an adult male, as identification of adult males out of breeding plumage is not possible. This sub-species is probably a scarce spring visitor although lack of information on birds seen in the past, makes assessment difficult. Other signs of migration included a group of 11 Pallid Swifts flying around calling loudly with six Red-rumped Swallows and ten Barn Swallows and an increase in the number of Daurian Shrikes with four now present in the spray fields and around the percolation pond. Two Western Marsh Harriers were seen briefly over the spray fields including the adult female that has been around for a week or so. A single Eurasian Sparrowhawk was also seen; again this bird has been around for a few weeks.

Daurian Shrike

Pallid Swift

Pallid Swift

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Large flock of Red-rumped Swallows - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday on the 'patch' the large numbers of warblers seen two days before had mainly passed on with only three Common Chiffchaff left out of over 100 birds. Bird numbers were much lower but a large flock of Red-rumped swallows totalling over 70 birds was seen hunting the mosquitoes around the pond. With this flock were a similar number of Plaid Swifts and 20+ House Martins and a single Barn Swallow. The pond itself still had the four Common Pochards from two days previously but they had been joined by four more birds making a good total of eight birds.

 Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

A walk around the spray fields was a wet affair as the wind was blowing spray all over the place, but allowed me a photograph of a rainbow created from the spray. The spray fields were being watered and a large lake had formed which was a favourite place for the Cattle Egrets to feed with a total of 79 birds present. Three Song Thrushes, six Tawny Pipits and a Siberian Stonechat were the only passerines of note in the fields. On the edge were a good number of Wheatears with the first two female Pied Wheatears of the year being seen along with a male Desert Wheatear and six Isabelline Wheatears showing some passage was happening. A common Kestrel was hunting over the fields and a Green Sandpiper was on a flooded pool.

Rainbow at the Spray Fields

Cattle Egrets - Dhahran Hills

On the way to my normal birding spots I stopped at the housing area for single staff and looked at the grass area which sometimes holds good birds. There was a single Isabelline Wheatear and a single Western Cattle Egret. The Cattle Egret allowed close approach and I took a few photographs of the bird some of which are shown here.

 Western Cattle Egret

 Western Cattle Egret

Western Cattle Egret

I then went to the spray fields but spraying was going on so I was unable to enter the area and therefore spent my time at the percolation pond where I checked all the gulls. There were 300+ Common Black-headed Gulls, six Caspian Gulls and 12 Steppe Gulls. Other birds on the pond were five Eurasian Coots, three Common Moorhens, seven Little Grebes, one Grey Heron and 27 Western Cattle Egrets. A walk around the pond checking the trees and other vegetation allowed me to see two Bluethroats, five Common Chiffchaff, one Daurian Shrike and a Common Snipe. I also found a dead Steppe Gull which I checked to see if it had been ringed anywhere but it had not. The Pallid Swift flock had reduced in size to about one hundred birds and in with them were there Red-rumped Swallows and seven Common House Martins.

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Red-rumped Swallow