Birding the Judah and Hanidh areas

In late January Phil Roberts and I set out early to go to Judah and Hanidh. We stopped at Judah first, but it was very slow going without a bird being seen for the first thirty minutes excluding feral Rock Dove. The pivot fields that used to attract a lot of birds to this area are now dismantled and the vegetation around the bottom of the escarpment is either dead or dying and this is even after a lot of heavy rain in recent weeks. We did eventually see Desert Lark and Pale Crag Martin, two common birds in the area and as always in winter Desert Wheatear and Eastern Morning Wheatear. This is probably to best site to see the later species in the Eastern Province with birds being very confiding when found. We moved on Hanidh in the hope of seeing more birds with the total species count from Judah amounting to nine. We went to a couple of large pivot irrigation fields a couple of which we gained permission to look around. Best birds seen were nine Common House Martin, a very early migrant species in KSA, as well as European Stonechat, Daurian Shrike, Tawny Pipit, a single Northern Lapwing, several Eurasian Skylark, Asian Desert Warbler & Menetries’s Warbler. Whilst driving along a road we saw a single Steppe Eagle in flight, which along with a single Common Kestrel were our only birds of prey.

Desert Wheatear

Eastern Morning Wheatear

Eastern Morning Wheatear

Eastern Morning Wheatear

Eastern Morning Wheatear

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Tawny Pipit

Asian Desert Warbler

 

Steppe Eagles – Ushaiqer Dump Site

The Ushaiqer dump site is at the end of a 5 km graded track that splits off from the road between the towns of Ushaiqer and Shaqra (25.326°N, 45.173°E)  and heads west (Figure 1a). The site at Ushaiqer previously received large amounts of chicken offal, which attracted the largest number of eagles ever recorded at a single site in winter 2019 with approximately 7500 birds recorded. Now, however, the dumping of food waste is no longer permitted and the eagle numbers have significantly decreased with only several hundred seen last winter. Early morning 23 September Phil Roberts and I went to the site to see if any eagles had returned. Although the date was quite early, with main migration through Saudi Arabia in October, we managed to locate up to 50 Steppe Eagles. Most birds were adults with only four first year birds seen. It will be interesting to see over the winter if birds remain at this location or move elsewhere due to lack of food. This location is also a good place to see various species of lark, and this trip we saw both Desert Lark and Greater Hoopoe-lark with a nice flock of 20+ Trumpeter Finch.  

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Desert Lark

Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Raptors in October – Eastern Province

Whilst birding several areas of the Eastern Province in October I have come across and photographed a number of raptors. In Haradh I saw two Pallid Harriers over the pivot irrigation fields. This is a regular species at this time of year with some remaining for the winter. Another bird of prey seen in Haradh was an adult Steppe Eagle. It was located circling high above the ground but luckily, we managed to drive the car to be directly underneath the bird. Steppe Eagle is a common passage migrant and winter visitor to the Kingdom and can be seen at Haradh throughout the winter. Common Kestrel is as its name suggests common in the Kingdom. Many are seen over pivot irrigation fields but the one I photographed was in Daffi Park, Jubail, perched in a tree. Jubail also held several Black Kites and by mid-October good numbers of Greater Spotted Eagles. Greater Spotted Eagles will now remain over winter and can be seen at most large wetland areas where they are often seen perched on power line structures.

Pallid Harrier

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Common Kestrel

Black Kite

Black Kite

Greater Spotted Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

Steppe Eagles – Ushaiqer

The Steppe Eagles at Ushaiqer are moving off and numbers have declined considerably from the peak of 6000 birds in January/February 2020. Most birds that are still present, are juveniles with the adults migrating back to their breeding grounds. The high count was 1000 – 1100 birds in early March. Phil Roberts was at the location recently and provided the information above.

Steppe Eagle - Dumat Al Jandal

Steppe Eagle is now a common winter visitor to Saudi Arabia, with thousands wintering in certain locations. A singe bird was seen in the Al Jouf area but gave great views flying around overhead. We originally saw the bird flying near a roadside pool but it was later seen flying further down the road where it gave better views. Steppe Eagles are globally Endangered so to see birds in Saudi Arabia, like any eagles, is always enjoyable.

Huge numbers of Steppe Eagles – Ushaiqer

Phil Roberts and I visited Ushaiqer dump site 175 kilometres northwest of Riyadh at first light on 15 November 2019. We failed to locate the main track to the site so drove over the rough boulder strewn plain to the waste collection site. We saw little for the first three kilometres but then started seeing tens of Steppe Eagles and as we approached the main dump saw thousands of Steppe Eagles. We counted birds through a telescope and binoculars and came to a rough estimate of 6000 birds. We spent many hours driving around the site and also recorded 15 Eastern Imperial Eagles, four Greater Spotted Eagles and two Eurasian Black Kites. On the way out, down the main track they recorded 24 Steppe Eagles sitting on a single telephone mast showing just how common the birds were. It was a truly memorable experience seeing so many Steppe Eagles in a single place.

Hundreds of Steppe Eagles - Riyadh

Whilst driving back from Riyadh to Dhahran I came across a new landfill site on the side of the expressway. The site had plenty of Steppe Eagles in flight above it and almost as many sitting on the ground and scavenging in the rubbish. I estimated over 100 birds were present. I tried to gain access to the actual site which is fenced off but as it was a Friday the manager was not available to grant access and security would not allow entry. I do not know if it will be possible to enter even if the manager is there but if it is possible this will be a great location for photographing the birds. I was told the birds arrived in mid-October, fitting in nicely with their expected peak migration period of late September and early October.