Ringing in windy conditions - Jubail

Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 17 March we caught a few birds which was very surprising as the wind was very strong. The forecast had been for calm conditions with sunshine but it turned out to be overcast and strong winds. As we had driven along way we decided to set only four nets along a partly sheltered ride but held out little hope of catching anything. As it turned out we caught 15 birds including nine species so not too bad. Species trapped included Turkestan Shrike, Common Chiffchaff, Red-spotted Bluethroat, Little Bittern, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Indian Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Eastern Stonechat and Graceful Prinia. It was not the best ringing session but was not a waste of time either.

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Indian Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Eurasian Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

A good catch of breeding warblers – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Nicole and I went ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 29 May. This is much later in the year than we normally go, but as we have not been for a few weeks due to other commitments and windy weather we decided to give it a go. We were not expecting too much as the wind was forecast to be quite strong and the temperatures are high, combined with the fact that the migration season is almost over. We set the first five nets before it was light and started catching as soon as the nets were up. In fact we caught so many birds we had to close the nets and did not put up any more. We caught 40 birds in the first hour and a half and as we only have two ringers and we take a lot of data from each bird we did not finish processing them until 09:00, by this time the wind had increase and we had to call it a day. We caught eight species of birds including Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warblers, Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers, Graceful Prinias, Sedge Warblers, House Sparrows, Willow Warbler, Red-backed Shrikes and Turkestan Shrike. Most of the Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warblers and Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers had brood patches indicating they were breeding and we caught a very early fledged juvenile Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warbler as well. Despite all the birds caught we only had a single re-trap and that was an Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler originally ringed in early April 2015.

Willow Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Caspian Reed Warbler

Turkestan Shrike - male

Turkestan Shrike - male

Turkestan Shrike - male

A good catch on a windy day – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Ringing at the weekend provided a good catch of birds, particularly taking into account the relatively strong wind that was blowing. We set all our nets before first light and were rewarded for our persistence with 42 birds of 13 species caught that included the following:

1 Bluethroat L. s. magna

1 European Bee-eater

4 Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers

15 Caspian Reed Warblers

5 Sedge Warblers

1 Common Blackcap

4 Willow Warblers

1 Eurasian Wryneck

5 Tree Pipits

1 Barn Swallow

1 Turkestan Shrike

2 Great Reed Warblers

1 Common Redstart

Most birds, totaling 19, were caught on the first net round just after first light and showed the value of putting the nets up early. We then caught steadily until around lunchtime when the wind became too strong and we had to take all the nets down. We now have set places for our nets and are subsequently catching more birds each trip as we have, hopefully, identified the best locations for them. The weather has not been good for ringing this year with unusually strong winds preventing setting nets on quite a few days already this year. Soon the temperatures will be getting too hot to ring as well so ringing will stop for the summer by the end of next month.

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

Common Blackcap - male 

Great Reed Warbler 

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Willow Warbler

Plenty of birds caught whilst ringing – Sabkhat Al Fasl

The last two weekends we have caught plenty of birds at Sabkhat Al Fasl and are now averaging well over thirty birds per session with 43 caught and ringed on 27 March. Most birds, as always, were common reed loving species such as Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers, Caspian Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers but we also caught a few scarcer species such as five Savi’s Warblers and a Common Grasshopper Warbler on 27 March, indicating a small fall of Locustella warblers had occurred. As mentioned previously the Savi’s Warbler previously had a status as a scarce passage migrant but we have now caught nine different birds in just over a year ringing at this site showing the species is in fact an uncommon passage migrant through the Eastern Province at least. We are still catching small numbers of Common Chiffchaff, Red-spotted Bluethroat and Common Kingfisher, three wintering species that will be leaving the region in the next few days/weeks. Passage migrants are also being caught including both, Daurian and Turkestan Shrikes, the first Willow Warbler of the spring on 27 March, Meneteris’s Warbler and Eurasian Blackcap. Other birds caught are breeding residents such as Little Bittern, House Sparrow and Graceful Prinia.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Savi's Warblers

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Common Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Common Kingfisher - male

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Little Bittern - female

House Sparrow - female

The typical fare – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl we caught and ringed the normal fare but in greater numbers than normal. We caught 44 birds which was the highest number we have caught in a single ringing session either in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia so we were happy with the results. We set eight 18 metre five panel nets, two 15 metre five panel nets and two 12 metre two panel nets making a total of 198 metre of nets. We caught two re-trapped Red-spotted Bluethroats from early January and a re-trapped Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler from November 2014 all of which were ringed by us at the same site. The birds were a selection of resident, wintering and migrants and included resident Graceful Prinia, House Sparrows and Indian Reed Warblers, wintering Red-spotted Bluthroats, Water Pipits and Common Kingfishers and passage migrants such as Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers. Sedge Warblers are true passage migrants whilst Caspian Reed Warblers stay through the summer to breed. Most Common Kingfishers we catch are females as was the case this time but we did catch a single male bird as well. The Bluethroats as well as the Water Pipits are coming into nice spring plumage at the moment and hopefully they will stay for a few more weeks until they are in really good plumage.

Graceful Prinia

House Sparrow - male

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Common Kingfisher - male

Water Pipit

Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Shrikes, Warblers & Waders – Dhahran Hills

The number of arriving migrants has been steady throughout the last few days with many Shrikes, Warblers and Waders seen. The most common species, as has been the case for the last two weeks, are Red-backed Shrikes, but now plenty of females and immature birds have joined the adult males that comprised the first wave of this species when they arrived at the end of April. Other common birds seen were Willow Warblers and Common Whitethroats, but a few Sedge Warblers, Caspian Reed Warblers and Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers were in the reeds of the percolation pond along with a bird looking like a Basra Reed Warbler. This bird appeared to have a relatively long tail for the species, so as a result I am leaving it unidentified. Indian Reed Warblers are now singing from three different patches of reeds indicating breeding is again occurring on the camp. The breeding resident Graceful Prinias are active at the moment sitting in obvious places singing, most of them in the scrub surrounding the percolation pond. The other noticeable group of birds seen were Wood Sandpipers with a group of over 20 on the percolation pond and three on the settling pond. Small numbers of Kentish Plover are breeding in various areas of the camp some with well grown young. One or two other migrants were seen including a Northern Wheatear and a Whinchat but variety and numbers are certainly down this year when compared to previous years.

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Sedge Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Whinchat

Wood Sandpiper

Best ringing catch yet – Sabkhat Al Fasl

A very early ringing trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl on 2 May produced our best catch yet at the site. When we arrived in was quite windy and if we had only travelled a short distance we probably would have turned around and gone home. As we had gone 135 kilometres to reach the site we thought we should at least put up a couple of nets and see what happened. We tried to place the nets behind and very close to large reed beds to try to mitigate the wind and this proved very successful in the end. At the end of the mornings ringing we had caught 39 birds of eight species including a new species for Saudi Arabia in Common Whitethroat. Most birds caught were Willow Warblers and Caspian Reed Warblers with eleven birds each, with six Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers and four Great Reed Warblers. Also caught were a male and female Little Bittern, three Sedge Warblers, a Common Whitethroat and a Graceful Prinia. Out of all the birds we caught we had only one re-trap of an Indian Reed Warbler caught two weeks before at the same location. Breeding was proved again for Caspian Reed Warbler, Little Bittern, Indian Reed Warbler and Graceful Prinia with birds with brood patches seen for all these species.

Caspian Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Common Whitethroat

Little Bittern - female

Little Bittern - male