Thick-billed Larks – Az Zulfi area

During the Saudi National Day weekend Phil and I went to Az Zulfi and met up with Graham Gordon, a British birder in Saudi Arabia doing environmental surveys for a possible windfarm in the area. The last time I had seen Graham was 35 years before in 1986 on Fair Isle, an island bird observatory off the northern coast of Scotland. We were hoping to see Thick-billed Lark and migrants, as the area is perfectly located and the time of year was good for passage birds. We had two days of birding to try to locate the larks and see as many migrants as possible. Although we had seen and photographed Thick-billed Lark previously in Saudi Arabia it was 7 years ago, and the photos were not of a very high standard. As a result, it was a species I was keen on seeing again. I had been informed that Thick-billed Lark had been seen by Graham a few times in the spring and he was coming back in the autumn. The Saudi National Day weekend seemed like an ideal time to try to locate the larks but unfortunately Graham’s sightings of the birds had dried up slightly and our expectations of success thus dwindled to virtually zero. On the first day we arrived at mid-day and met Graham and went out to the desert. We went to a nice-looking canyon area with a small amount of water, the only water in the area. It looked a really good area but there were few birds seen. The next morning, we went to another area with a few large acacia trees and bird life there was a little more, although like all desert areas still very low. We walked the low-lying wadi area looking for larks and were only rewarded with a few Desert Larks and three Greater Hoopoe-larks. The massive area and difficult terrain made me suggest the best bet would be to drive the area as we could cover a much larger area and if we were lucky enough to see any we could stop and walk to try to get close views. This was a wise move as we drove a short distance until we saw a few large acacias growing in a small wadi. Graham pointed out three birds sitting in the shade of the last large Acacia tree, quite some distance away, and on looking they turned out to be three Thick-billed Larks. This was a location where he had not seen the species before but the large stony desert nearby and small wadi with semi-soft sand and Acacias seemed like a good location for them. We managed to drive closer to the birds, but they did not allow close approach and soon flew to a nearby rocky area where, trying to see them well proved very difficult. We managed to get a few photographs and were very happy to have seen and photographed the birds. Driving around we located a Desert Wheatear and Two Temminck’s Larks. We then moved on to the bottom of the canyon area we had visited the day before and this area had more cover and some small fields. We flushed two Thick-billed Larks driving along a small track, both of which flew in opposite directions and continued out of sight. We stopped the car and walked around the area in the hope of relocating them. I went up a steep rocky hill and located a few Desert Larks and after a while was joined by Graham. We then flushed a nightjar from the rocks that flew away quite some distance and landed under a palm tree in a small palm grove. We got closer to the bird before it flew again, where we could confirm it was an Egyptian Nightjar. This is the latest record (24 September), apart from wintering birds, I had seen in Saudi Arabia, with the previous record being the 23 September, and was a new species for Graham. We could not locate the Thick-billed Larks and returned to the car. On walking back down the track I saw a Thick-billed Lark close to the track on the stony slope and this bird allowed us some excellent views and closer photographs before we left the bird and moved further down the valley. This second site was also a new location for Graham for Thick-billed Lark. This entire area looks good for larks but trying to locate them is a difficult, time consuming but ultimately rewarding task. Thick-billed lark is a large, nomadic lark with a unique heavy bill and is a monotypic species found in northern Africa from Mauritania and Morocco to Libya as well as in Israel (irregular breeder), Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It is a vagrant in Oman and Yemen and rare in Kuwait. Wintering birds occur in central Saudi Arabia and breeding birds occur in rocky, pebble and gravel deserts of the extreme north of Saudi Arabia. It is a desert specialist with a nomadic lifestyle, and numbers in any particular region, can vary greatly from year to year as it exploits the available food sources.

Thick-billed Lark

Thick-billed Lark

Thick-billed Lark

Thick-billed Lark

Thick-billed Lark

Thick-billed Lark

Desert Wheatear

Temminck's Lark

Temminck's Lark

 

Plenty of Larks – Judah

On a winter trip to Judah, also known as Jebal Hamrah, Phil and I came across a good number of larks. They were mainly on a rough stony area between large pivot fields and consisted of a new species for Saudi Arabia for me Temminck’s Lark. There were five birds present but they never allowed close approach so only record shots were taken of them. Also alongside them were Bar-tailed Larks a species seen almost every time we go to this site and one not easy to see elsewhere. Unfortunately no Arabian (Dunn’s) Larks could be located alongside them as has happened many years previously. Other larks noted were Eurasian Skylarks and Lesser-short-toed Larks making the trip and very enjoyable one.

Bar-tailed Lark

Bar-tailed Lark

Eurasian Skylark

Lesser Short-toed Lark

Temminck's Lark

Temminck's Lark

Temminck’s Lark and more near Zulfi – Records by Mansul Al Fahad

Temminck’s Lark Eremophila bilopha is a scarce and erratic winter visitor to most northern areas of the Kingdom. It is also a breeding resident, locally common in Central Deserts. I have looked for this species quite a few times in various areas but have so far not managed to see any. I obviously need to visit the north again this year and hope to better than previously. Mansur managed to see some birds near Zulfi in late November and sent me one of his great photos of it along with a couple of other photos of Steppe Eagle and Common Quail taken in the same area at the same time. I thank Mansur for kindly allowing me to use his photos on my website which are shown below.

Temminck's Lark 

Steppe Eagle

Common Quail

Birding the northern desert – Bird records by Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts went with some friends to a desert area some distance northeast of Riyadh, near the village of Hazwa which is close to the boarder of the Eastern Province and Riyadh regions. He spent two days in the desert looking for birds towards the end of March 2015. The main aim was to try to locate Eurasian Stone Curlew which was not achieved but the trip was successful in all other respects. The area Phil went to was really good and he saw a lot of migrants plus a few residents including 50+ Lesser Kestrel, 1000+ Greater Short-toed lark (they were everywhere), one Bimaculated Lark, two Temminck's Lark, Northern Wheatear, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Pied Wheatear, Desert Wheatear, 4 Cream Coloured Courser, Pallid Harrier and Tawny Pipit. Phil also thinks this area may be better as the migration season progresses as he feels sure more birds will arrive in the area. Phil has kindly sent me a few photographs of his trip, that was not great for photography, and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website and which are reproduced below.

Temminck's Lark

Pallid Harrier

Common Kestrel

Some bird records from the Dibdibah Plains from the 1980’s - Bird records by Cliff Peterson

The following are some more bird records by Cliff Peterson who birded Saudi Arabia in the 1980’s. These are from the stony desert in the northern part of the Eastern Province. I personally have not seen any of these species with the exception of Bimaculated Lark, a species Phil and I found a flock of in a large Pivot irrigation field in spring 2013.

Bimaculated Lark – Seen on the Dibdibah during the winter, a good place to go to bag several of the unusual larks.  We counted 300 one December.  I did find this species once in Wadi Nisah in February.

Dunn's Lark - Again, the Dibdibah during winter has the highest probability of producing this species. However, this image is one of 60 that we located while camping at Hamra Judah.  They are nomadic: there had been good rains at Hamrah Judah that produced seeds.  This image is from November 1984.  Note the large bulbous bill and prominent eye set into a relatively large amount of white on the sides of the head.

Temminck's Lark - I have records from Haradh and the Dibdibah November to April.

Eurasian Dotterel - This species was only found on the Dibdibah (northern Eastern Province).  We did not see it every year but did locate flocks of up to 400 during December 1983.  By March their numbers are greatly diminished as they returned to high Arctic habitats in Eurasia to breed.

Some good breeding birds at Zulfi – Bird records by Mansur Al Fahad

Mansur Al Fahad has recently sent me more of his excellent photos from the Zulfi area of north central Saudi Arabia taken mainly during August 2103. These photos are of resident breeding species to the area and include two species I have yet to see in Saudi Arabia and which have not been showcased before on my website. These are Western Barn Owl which Mansur saw at one of the farms near the city. He first saw the bird in June this year but did not manage to get a very good photograph of it so went back in August and saw it again this time getting a great photo using a Canon 600EX Speedlight flashgun. The second species is Temminck’s Lark that he saw on the eastern plateau (including Al Kaseer &  Soblah NP) where the species is very common. Both of these species occur widely in Saudi Arabia but are not easy to see with the lark being difficult in the Eastern Province although areas to the far north such as the Dibdiba Plains hold them in good numbers in certain years.

Western Barn Owl

Temminck's Lark

 Other breeding birds seen and photographed by Mansur included European Collared Dove which was seen in most areas including the sand dunes and plains, eastern plateau, the western part of the cliff and slope and gardens where they are common as well as the palm oasis where they were very common. Laughing Dove was uncommon on the eastern plateau but very common in the western part of the cliff and slope, gardens, palm oasis and farms. House Sparrow was very common in the western part of the cliff and slope, gardens, palm oasis and farms but uncommon in the sand dunes and plains and eastern plateau.

Eurasian Collared Dove

LaughIng Dove

House Sparrow

Another breeding species that is not easily seen in Saudi Arabia, although is widespread, has been seen by Mansur over the years at Zulfi - the Pharaoh Eagle Owl. He has located birds in the area over the last two years noting that have changed positions from time to time. He has seen birds in three different areas the sand dunes and plains where they are uncommon or local, and the eastern plateau and the western part of the cliff and slope where they are rare. The excellent photos of the Pharaoh Eagle Owl were taken with a 1.4x extender attached to the 600mm lens.

Pharaoh Eagle Owl

Pharaoh Eagle Owl

The other breeding birds Mansur photographed were Crested Larks that were common on the western part of the cliff and slope and gardens, very common on the eastern plateau and farms and rare on the western part of the cliff and slope. Greater Hoopoe Lark was common on the sand dunes and plains and very common on the eastern plateau. Again I would like to thank Mansur for allowing me to use his excellent photographs the copyright of which remain with Mansur.

Crested Lark

Greater Hoopoe Lark