Birds of Saudi Arabia: Turkestan Shrike

Showing posts with label Turkestan Shrike. Show all posts

23 April 2024

Some good migrants – Al Uqair

I forgot to post these photos taken recently at Al Uqair where wesaw a lot of good migrants. The best birds for us were a male Semi-collared Flycatcher and three White-throated Robins with good numbers of Masked Shrikes at the small date plantation. The magic barbed wire fence held lots of birds as always with European Roller, Turkestan and Great Grey Shrikes and Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush amongst the best. Migration seems to finally have arrived and im looking forward to seeing if anything unusual turns up this spring.

Masked Shrike

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Semi-collared Flycatcher

Turkestan Shrike

White-throated Robin

European Roller

Great Grey Shrike

01 October 2023

A scattering of migrants – Jubail

My last visit to Jubail at the end of September turned up a small number of migrants. Shrikes are always common in this area of Jubail throughout the migration period with quite a number staying to winter. This trip I located a few Daurian, Turkestan and a single Red-backed Shrike. I spent quite abit of time trying to get good photos of Graceful Prinia and saw a number of this species as well as Caspian Reed Warbler and Clamorous Reed Warbler. A single Tree Pipit was very good at avoiding being photographed but the hundreds of Yellow Wagtails were slightly more obliging. A single first calendar year Citrine Wagtail spent a bit of time at close quarters but was never in favourable light for good photos. Barn Swallows and Sand Martins were around in large numbers but not easy to photograph until I found a couple of Barn Swallows resting on a stick that allowed close approach. Trying to get photos of the Sand Martins in flight proved too difficult and I soon gave up. Grey Herons, Purple Herons and Squacco Heron numbers are building up and I managed to get quite close to a Squacco Heron this trip.

Yellow Wagtail

Turkestan Shrike

Squacco Heron

Red-backed Shrike

Squacco Heron

Daurian Shrike

Barn Swallow

26 March 2023

Back birding in Jubail

I have just been given permission again to bird a restricted site in Jubail from the NCWD in Riyadh. As a result, I went back for the first time in a month. Birding was good with obvious migration occurring. The most obvious migrant was Common Chiffchaff wit 66 birds seen, mainly in the Tamerisk but also along all the red bed edges. In with all the Chiffchaffs was a single Plain Leaf Warbler in a Tameisk next to three Chiffchaffs. I saw and took a poor photo of a Caspian Reed Warbler that I had ringed three weeks earlier, in almost the same place it was trapped, so nice to know it is still doing well. Clamorous Reed Warbler were very vocal, singing from many different reed heads along the red beds and a single male maura Eastern Stonechat was also present. This is a species I have not seen so often this year bit they are always great to see. Shrikes were around in reasonable numbers with tens of Daurian Shrike, three Turkestan Shrike and a single Great Grey Shrike (Arabian Shrike). A group of five Common Myna were seen at the edge of the area, a species that was seldom seen here, but is now becoming more common. The wetlands held plenty of Grey-headed Swamphen, Squacco Heron and Western Great Egret. A group of 26 Common Pochard were very distant out on a flooded sabkha area. Birds of prey seen included five Western Marsh Harrier, three Greater Spotted Eagle and a single Western Osprey. The only other birds of note were a few small groups of waders scattered round including Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Ruff and Green Sandpiper.

Squacco Heron

Turkestan Shrike

Grey-headed Swamphen

Great Grey (Arabian) Shrike

Eastern Stonechat

Common Myna

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Caspian Reed Warbler - ringed bird

16 March 2023

An amazing barbed-wire fence – Al Uqayr

I arrived at first light at Al Uqayr in early March and as the sun was not up decided to drive along a fenced off area with a small area of trees enclosed. As I was driving, I came across a Great Grey Shrike sitting on the fence and this was closely followed by four Eurasian Hoopoe and a male Namaqua Dove. The light was not good as otherwise I may have got some good photos of these species. A few small warblers were also seen flitting about, but I could not get close to make any positive identifications. As it appeared migrants were about, I went to a nearby small farm for a few hours and returned to the fence at about 10:00 hrs. The light was better but not ideal and more birds were seen lined up along the fence. Two Asian Desert Warbler were noted and further down the fence a Daurian Shrike was perched. It took flight before I could get close but luckily flew straight towards me and perched almost directly beside the car. As I watched this bird another Shrike joined it which was a nice Turkestan Shrike also very close to the car. The amazing fence then had a male Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush on it that allowed me to get very close. This bird was even doing some sub-song that I recorded on my I-phone. Lastly three Pied Wheatears were also on the wires of the fence making an amazing hour or so of birding.