Last of the Yellow Wagtails – Dhahran Cricket Field

Yellow Wagtails have been plentiful this spring, with hundreds seen on some days. Over the last week numbers have been declining but there are still tens to be seen most days including various sub-species such as Grey-headed, Yellow-headed and Sykes’s Wagtails. I have not been able to get to the area at first light recently and by the time I have arrived the light has not been so good but I still managed to take a few reasonable photos of some of them. The autumn is not as good as the spring for this species and birds are nt in as good plumage either so I have spent quite a lot of time enjoying the birds over the past month or so.

lutea Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

Birding the football fields near Dhahran Wastewater Lake at the end of March produced fifteen Yellow Wagtails. One of the Yellow Wagtails was a bright adult male lutea Yellow Wagtail. It was feeding around the grassy football fields but came close to the edge near the road allowing some close-up photos to be taken. The plumage variation of the male lutea in summer can by divided into three main types: a) wholly yellow head, b) yellow supercilium and forehead, and largely yellow ear-coverts & c) yellow supercilium, greenish forehead and crown, largely greenish ear-coverts, and distinct dark loral stripe. The bird seen had a wholly yellow head and was a very bright individual. In Saudi Arabia, it is uncommon and usually occurs singly or a few individuals in flocks of M. f. flava. They occur in the central regions from March to May and again from August to November. In the Eastern Province, birds occur from March to mid-May where it appears to be the least common western yellow wagtail along with the superciliaris. In the western part of Saudi Arabia, four males were captured in Hadda (Makkah Region) on 3rd April 1948 (Meinertzhagen, 1949) and there is a record from Wadi Muhayil (Asir Province) on 8 May 2002.

 

 

 

lutea Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

Birding the football fields near Dhahran Wastewater Lake in 6 May produced twenty plus Yellow Wagtails. One of the Yellow Wagtails was a bright adult male lutea Yellow Wagtail. It was feeding around the grassy football fields but came close to the edge near the road allowing some close-up photos to be taken. I rarely see this sub-species and was pleasantly surprised when I located the bird on the field. The plumage variation of the male lutea in summer can by divided into three main types: a) wholly yellow head, b) yellow supercilium and forehead, and largely yellow ear-coverts & c) yellow supercilium, greenish forehead and crown, largely greenish ear-coverts, and distinct dark loral stripe. The bird seen had a wholly yellow head and was a very bright individual. In Saudi Arabia, it is uncommon and usually occurs singly or a few individuals in flocks of M. f. flava. They occur in the central regions from March to May and again from August to November. In the Eastern Province, birds occur from mid-April to mid-May where it appears to be the least common western yellow wagtail along with the superciliaris. In the western part of Saudi Arabia, four males were captured in Hadda (Makkah Region) on 3rd April 1948 (Meinertzhagen, 1949) and there is a record from Wadi Muhayil (Asir Province) on 8 May 2002.

Hundreds of Bee-eaters - Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm

Whilst birding Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm recently we were surprised by the number of Bee-eaters present. We have seen European Bee-eaters before at the location in small numbers but this trip there were several hundred European Bee-eaters and well over ten Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. Good numbers of European Bee-eaters have been passing through a wide area of the Eastern Province in the last few weeks but these were the first Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters either Phil or I had seen. Apart from the Bee-eaters that were all migrants several other migrants were seen. One was a smart male Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush on a stump by the side of the road but unfortunately it was always into the sun so the photo is not the best. Several other good birds were my first European Turtle Doves of the year when two were seen in a dead tree and two Ortolan Buntings in a spray field. Ne spray field had over 100 Greater Short-toed Larks and another plenty of Yellow Wagtails of several different races including lutea, beema and thunbergi. Another filed had eleven Lesser Kestrels sitting on the spray bars as well as flying over the field. Several other good birds were seen including good numbers of Spanish Sparrows, four Pied Wheatears, one Northern Wheatear, one Whinchat and two calling Common Quail. The pond had a Western Osprey plus several Little Terns and Barn Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins were flying over. Although there was nothing really good on the farm we saw plenty of interesting species and it is always a good place to bird. Now we have written permission to enter the location from the farm manager it is also a lot easier to access.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

European Turtle Dove

Lesser Kestrel

Ortolan Bunting

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush

Yellow Wagtail - lutea

lutea Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

Although the number of Yellow Wagtails has dropped off considerably over the last week or so from 50+ birds to just five, one of them is a quite bright adult male lutea Yellow-headed Wagtail. It was feeding around the muddy edges of the settling pond for a couple of days. I had only seen one Yellow-headed Wagtail in Dhahran prior to this year, but this year I have seen eight different birds. I am still to see one of the really bright birds with little or no green no the crown clearly making it a lutea but have seen a number of males like the one in the photograph. These birds are lutea on range but are very similar to the UK race of Yellow Wagtail flavissima.

lutea Yellow Wagtail (Yellow-headed Wagtail)

lutea Yellow Wagtail (Yellow-headed Wagtail)

 Other interesting birds included a Sedge Warbler, one Lesser Grey Shrike, two immature Purple Herons and an Upcher’s Warbler in the spray fields. Six Little Stints, one Little Ringed Plover and three Kentish Plovers were feeding along the edge of the settling pond, with the Little Stints all in a small group in the shallow water. A couple of other good birds for the ‘patch’ were seen this week with a fly over female Golden Oriole by the percolation pond and a Gull-billed Tern flying over the pond with two Little Terns. Both Golden Oriole and Gull-billed Tern were new for the year for me in Dhahran but not for Saudi Arabia, as I have seen many of both species at Sabkhat Al Fasl during the winter and spring.

Purple Heron - immature

Little Stints

Plenty of birds passing through – Dhahran Hills

There have been plenty of birds passing through Dhahran Hills in the last few days, with new birds seen on a daily basis. Shrike numbers have decreased but at least two Masked Shrikes, including one stunning adult male, have been seen in the tress surrounding the percolation pond. The pond itself has been quiet but two Garganey were still present and a male Mallard had joined them. A Squacco Heron was seen and a Purple Heron was seen flying over that had been disturbed from its original place of the flooded area of the spray fields. This is the first Purple Heron I have seen this spring, which is unusual as they are normally quite common and was a spectacular bird.

Purple Heron

Squacco Heron

The spray fields have held the majority of the birds over the last few days with 15+ Ortolan Buntings, 50+ Red-throated Pipits, 15+ Yellow Wagtails including Blue-headed Wagtail (beema), Black-headed Wagtail (feldegg), Yellow-headed Wagtail (lutea/flavissima) and Grey-headed Wagtail (thunbergi). Willow Warblers were around in the long grass in large numbers with a minimum of 30 birds seen. A group of 30+ Sand Martins were hunting insects over the flooded area and a single Red-rumped Swallow was seen flying over with a few Pallid Swifts.

Yellow Wagtail - lutea/flavissima

Yellow Wagtail - lutea/flavissima

Bee-

Corncrake a new ‘patch’ species – Dhahran Hills

The ‘patch’ has been alive with birds the last few days, probably caused by the inclement weather we have been having with rain, wind and dust all combining to make it a period when bird would rather be resting than continuing their migration. One such bird was a Corncrake that was a new ‘patch’ species for me. The bird was flushed from the spray fields as I was walking across them to try to get a better look a small flock of Yellow Wagtails I could see from the edge. The flock of Yellow Wagtails had mainly thunbergi but one beema was present and two female type lutea were also present. Whilst walking through the field I also flushed a Common Quail and a Jack Snipe.

Corncrake (taken at Sabkhat Al Fasl May 2012)

Yellow Wagtail - lutea

The spray fields also had 75+ Red-throated Pipits and 10+ Ortolan Buntings as well as a single Tree Pipit. A large flock of 30+ Barn Swallows and five Sand Martins were hawking insects over the newly flooded back part of the fields. A female Western Marsh Harrier was also seen hunting over the fields. Three Whinchats were still present along with five Turkestan Shrikes and a Daurian Shrike.

Ortolan Bunting

The scrubby desert area had a very confiding Upcher’s Warbler that came within minimum focusing distance of the camera as well as a couple of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters which were the first ones I have seen in Dhahran this spring.

Upcher's Warbler

Upcher's Warbler

Upcher's Warbler

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater