Egyptian Nightjar - Sabkhat Al Fasl

I made a very early start to get the Sabkhat Al Fasl for first light. The driving was not pleasant as there was a strong Shamal wind blowing (north-westerly) which was causing a lot of sand and dust to be blown around. At some stages visibility was down to about twenty metres but I made it safely to the site even if at a slower pace than normal. There has not been too much about at the site for the last few weeks but today I found a resting Egyptian Nightjar sheltering from the sun and wind under a small shrub. It was in the same general area where we always see them but this is slightly earlier than previous records which are mainly in August. This is now the eight year in a row the species has been seen at this site and it is now almost guaranteed during July – August.


Egyptian Nightjar

The strong wind was keeping many birds down low and not much flying activity was seen. This concentrated a large flock of Saunder’s Terns and White-cheeked Terns in a small area and allowed for some chances of photographing the birds in flight. Both species had juveniles in attendance with adults so it looks like it was a reasonable breeding season for both species locally. Talking of breeding White-cheeked Terns our trip to ring them on Al Jarrim Islands tomorrow has had to be cancelled due to the strong winds, hopefully we can go next weekend if the weather is better.


Saunder's Tern (adult)

Saunder's Tern (juvenile)

White-cheeked Tern (adult)

 Migrants are slowly starting to trickle through with the Egyptian Nightjar being one. Other migrants seen included seven Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, one Green Sandpiper, three Wood Sandpipers, one Sand Martin and five Barn Swallows. 

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Abu Ali Island & Sabkhat Al Fasl - Jubail

I returned to Abu Ali Island at the weekend to see if I could relocate the Black Kites and 100% confirm they were Black-eared Kites lineatus. Unfortunately there was no sign of them and despite extensive searching I did not see any sign of them. Maybe they were late migrants rather than summering birds? I continued across the island to look at the pond at the far end near the marine loading pier and found similar birds to last weekend with the four Great Crested Grebes still present. 31 Greater Flamingos were in the pond with three more on the sea nearby. Six Eurasian Curlew and five Common Redshank were the only waders seen with the exception of Kentish Plover which breeds there. The island in the pond was full of terns again with all of them being either White-cheeked Tern or Saunder's/Little Terns.

White-cheeked Tern

Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover in flight

Saunder's Tern (adult)

Common Moorhen

A Greater Hoopoe-Lark was present at the edge of the pond, which I did not see last weekend, although I did see one in flight as I was driving across the island. The only other small land bird see apart from House Sparrow was Crested Lark which presumably bred on the island. After spending most of the day on the island I went to nearby Sabkhat Al Fasl. It was very hot by the time I reached the site and bird activity was very low. The water levels are very low now and the flooded sabkha area is now entirely dry so no waders there anymore. Birds of interest included an adult male Little Bittern near to where I saw the juvenile bird last weekend and three Purple Swamphens. Caspian, Little, Saunder's and White-cheeked Terns were about in good numbers and hundreds of juvenile Common Moorhens were on every patch of water. A single Western Osprey, sitting on a large wooden post was the only bird of prey seen all day.

Eurasian Spoonbill - Dammam Port Mangroves

I made another visit to Dammam Port Mangroves a couple of days ago at high tide and saw a juvenile Eurasian Spoonbill amongst the small wader flock. This site is the best place to see Eurasian Spoonbill in the Eastern Province as far as I am aware with birds seen regularly throughout the year. This species has obviously become more common in the Eastern Province over the years as I have seen quite a few now and they were a scarce bird in the late 1980's. Other birds seen here included 50+ Greater Sand Plovers, five Eurasian Curlew, 15 Saunder's Terns, one Western Great Egret and six Indian Reef Herons. One the way out of the site I saw a House Crow flying across the road.

Saunder's Terns

One word of caution for anyone who may be thinking of birding this site, and that is the local coast guard are very active here. They do not really like me being there and certainly object to the camera hence the lack of photographs from this site. They do tolerate me when I show my identification card but be aware they will more than likely stop you if you go there. They have always been very friendly to me but have asked me to lave on a few occasions, although allowed me to stay on many more occasions.

Which way to Tern? - Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost South

The tides have been good for the Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost South in the last few days so I went down again to see if I could see the Crab Plover again. The bird I saw a few days ago was not about when I got there but the tide was pushing birds in close to shore. The waders were mainly Greater Sand Plovers (300+) with a few (10) Lesser Sand Plovers mixed in, but there were also two Ruddy Turnstones and one Terek Sandpiper. Kentish Plovers were numerous with many birds with well grown young showing they had a good breeding season. The only large waders were 16 Eurasian Curlew and my first returning Bar-tailed Godwit of the year.

Greater Sand Plover

Kentish Plover

Terns were about in good numbers with 22 Caspian Terns, all adults and seven Gull-billed Terns including a family party of two adults and a begging juvenile. Saunder's Tern were also plentiful with 25+ birds including a well grown juvenile bird sitting on a sand bank. The only other birds of note were a single Sand Martin, one Grey Heron, five Western Reef Herons and a Western Osprey perched on a fence.

Saunder's Tern (juvenile)

Caspian Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Terns - family party

Western Osprey

Non Waders and Dammam -Al Khobar Wader Roost South

Although  the Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost South is a great place for seeing waders, in particular Crab Plover, it is also good for other species. Here are a few shots of non waders taken at the site over the last few days. The Saunder's Tern allowed good views of the rump in flight just after this shot was taken including some poor photographs allowing for identification as they are not easy in non breeding plumage.

 Black-crowned Sparrow Lark (female)

 Slender-billed Gull (adult)

 Western Osprey

 Western Osprey

 Western Osprey

Saunder's Tern

Bahrain - Shorebirds and Terns at Tubli Bay

I was not able to do the 'patch' today due to wrk commitments so here is something from the morning of 20^th August when I went to Bahrain to go birding and ringing with Brendan. We went birding in the morning as the tide was good for looking for shorebirds, Terns and Gulls. Unfortunately I arrived about thirty minutes late as the Saudi Arabia side of the Saudi Arabia / Bahrain Border was not working as the computer system had crashed. As a result I was stuck there for almost an hour and arrived a little late although as the tide was a very high one, the conditions were still good for birding. We saw plenty of the waders I have been seeing recently in Saudi Arabia but the number of Ruddy Turnstone where huge compared to Saudi Arabia and the number of Lesser Sand Plover seen was also much higher. After checking the main coastal sites around Tubli Bay we took a quick look at Alba Marshes where we were going ringing that evening and saw a Garganey which I have not seen in Saudi Arabia yet. After lunch and before ringing we went to some spray fields and other sites and saw quite a number of Grey Francolin another bird I have not seen in Saudi Arabia yet. Some waders seen in Saudi Arabia were not present in Bahrain such as Eurasian Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Crab Plover and others were in reduced numbers such as Broad-billed Sandpiper and Terek Sandpiper but both countries have their pluses and minuses regarding bird species and numbers.

 Gull-billed Tern

 Saunder's Tern

 Caspian Tern

White-cheeked Tern

 Greater Sand Plover

 Lesser Sand Plover

Whimbrel

Marsh Sandpiper - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday evening at Dhahran Hills percolation pond I saw a Marsh Sandpiper, feeding with the other waders on the muddy waters edge. It was a bit flighty and only stayed for a few minutes before flying off north over the camp. This was a new species for me on the local patch along with a single Saunder's Tern that also only stayed briefly although did land for a short period on the far side of the pond.. A few other migrants were about also such as a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and a Barn Swallow. A good number of waders including were present including two Green Sandpipers, Thirteen Wood Sandpipers, thirty three Kentish Plover, eighteen Little Ringed Plover, fifty six Black-winged Stilt, eight Little Stint and a single Ruff. Three European Turtle Dove were also present in the trees by the side of the pond.

 Marsh Sandpiper

Saunder's Tern

European Turtle Dove

Crab Plover again at Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost South

On 28th July I went again the the Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Rooast South at high tide. High tide appears to be about thirty minutes later at this site than the advertised high tide times but I was there to see the waders pushed in close to the shore. The site was absolutely loaded with birds and again a Crab Plover was seen in with the Bar-tailed Godwits. This site will, hopefully, become a regular site for Crab Plover in the Eastern Province. There were litterally hundreds of both Greater and Lesser Sand Plover as well as a couple Grey Plover and three Spotted Redshank.

Small groups of up to seven Crab Plover were seen north of Ras Tanajib during a wader survey in the spring from 12th April until 28th May 1991. Other groups of up to five birds were seen during the same survey period at Abu Ali and Batinah Islands near Jubail and Rahimah near Ras Tanurah all north of Dhahran. Tim Blackburn mentioned that he had seen four Crab Plovers on the Farasan Islands on a brief visit in March. Handbook of Birds of the World says that the Farasan Islands hold one of the 2 or 3 breeding colonies in Saudi, the others being Al Wajh bank and (possibly) Qishran Bay. All these sites are on the Red Sea side of Saudi Arabia with the Gulf coast side also holding a few breeding sites but none in Saudi Arabia. The nearest site is Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates where two offshore islands hold breeding birds and Ummal Karam in Iran where up to 1500 pairs bred in the 1970's but no recent surveys have been carried out to see if the situation remains the same.

 Crab Plover

 Crab Plover

Crab Plover

 Bar-tailed Godwit

 Greater Sand Plover

 Greater Sand Plover

 Whimbrel

Saunder's Tern (adult and juvenile)

Birds seen included:-
Curlew Sandpiper - 200+
Little Stint - 100+
Lesser Sand Plover - 200+
Greater Sand Plover - 200+
Kentish Plover - 20+
Grey Plover - 2 (one adult in summer plumage)
Crab Plover - 1
Broad-billed Sandpiper - 8+
Terek Sandpiper - 30+
Ruddy Turnstone - 2
Bar-tailed Godwit - 100+
Black-tailed Godwit - 2
Common Greenshank - 20
Common Redshank - 66
Spotted Redshank - 3
Eurasian Curlew - 75
Whimbrel 25+
Saunder's Tern - 6
White-cheeked Tern - 7
Gull-billed Tern - 4
Lesser Crested Tern - 8
Swift Tern - 2
Slender-billed Gull - 8
Indian (Western) Reef Heron - 12

Evening light at Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost

On 28th July I went to the Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost in the evening just as the tide was dropping and managed to see and photograph a good number of waders. The light was beautiful for photography and some of the waders were quite close to the roadside.

 Eurasian Curlew

 Common Greenshank

 Ruff

 Broad-billed Sandpiper

 Curlew Sandpiper

 Curlew Sandpiper

 Curlew Sandpiper

 Ruddy Turnstone

 Terek Sandpiper

Saunder's Tern