Red-backed Shrike & Eurasian Hoopoe with Food

13/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

Birding today produced another male Red-backed Shrike, or probably the same bird as seen two days ago. It was in the spray fields, showing migration is not quite fully over yet. I also saw a Eurasian Hoopoe with a tasty morsel of food although not quite sure what it is - anyone have any ideas?
Forgot to mention I had an adult Little Tern on the percolation pond yesterday (12-06-2011).

Breeding Bird Records Required - Atlas of Breeding Birds of Arabia

13/06/2011 – ABBA Breeding Bird Records Required

Mike Jennings the coordinator of the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Arabia, which was published in July 2010, has sent the following request to all birders active in Arabia.

Although the ABBA atlas has been published, the project continues and is definitely not finished. I am still actively collecting information on bird distribution, habitat changes and species ecology in Arabia for the period since July 2010. The project will also of course gratefully receive information relating to the older period not previously reported. There are detailed instructions for contributors if you wish to contribute records to the project, and I hope you will consider taking part during 2011 and maybe future years. Apart from the instructions there is a list of breeding species, details of the Breeding Evidence Code and the distribution of the ABBA grid squares, available. There is also a blank reporting form for you to reproduce and use as well as an example of a completed report form for your guidance. If anyone would like to help in the ABBA project and needs the forms or anything else please let Mike know at <ArabianBirds AT dsl.pipex.com>

I intend in due course to completely revamp the database going over to a more interactive windows system which will offer more opportunities for people to share the data collected for their own purposes. There will also be a new website as the old website has not been updated since about 2002. Phoenix will of course continue. This year is a bit of a halfway house with tinkering to some of the aspects of the existing system. For instance the breeding bird list has been updated to Howard and Moore order, more recent English names are used and new taxonomic order codes have been allocated to all species.

Because birds are very mobile in range and population and are currently subject to a number of pressures in Arabia, such as climate change, habitat change and conservation pressures, it is important that changes are documented. I am seeking to collect distribution data each year to up-date information held on common species everywhere in Arabia, to add additional birds discovered breeding in new areas and even new breeding birds for Arabia. If you could let me have a page or two of records from your local area in Arabia, indeed any other areas you visit if this is possible, I can keep the range maps up to date. This will help record changes that can be made available to anyone who needs it, including yourself, as well as encourage publication in Phoenix or for longer papers, Sandgrouse and other scientific journals. I would appreciate it if you could record any breeding details so far this year, then add to them as the 'breediing season' progresses and let me have your final sheets in the summer. Note that remarks against a record can be as long as you like. You can send in hard copies or attach them to an e-mail. Next year you can either complete new report sheets or provide information on changes.

All bird records should be sent to the local bird recorder. The ABBA project seeks to have a good working relationship with all the national and regional recorders in Arabia and I would therefore appreciate it if you could ensure that you copy any reports you send to ABBA to your local recorder. However, recorders are very busy volunteers and therefore a detailed breeding record passed to the recorder may not always find its way to the ABBA database in the same form. Let me know if you are unsure who is your local recorder. Please note that it is not possible to review all the ornithological websites collecting Arabian data or personal blog sites, so records posted on such sites will probably not be picked up by the ABBA project..

 Kentish Plover - Breeding Species in Dhahran

Little Grebe - Breeding Species in Dhahran

Please pass these details to anyone else you think may be interested

Good birding

Thanks for your help

Mike Jennings

Warners Farm House

Warners Drove

Somersham

Cambridgeshire

PE28 3WD

UK

House Sparrow - Collecting Nesting Material

12/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills
Small flocks of non-breeding House Sparrow are gathering in the spray fields and other similar areas of Dhahran at the moment. There are, however, still birds collecting nesting material and preparing to breed.

Red-backed Shrike – Late migrant

11/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

Birding today produced a couple of late migrants in the form of a male Red-backed Shrike and two Sand Martin. Otherwise things are very quite in Dhahran birdwise.

Ten Birds from Africa

11/06/2011 - Ten Birds from Africa

James Wolstencroft is trying to pull together summaries and comparative opinion from as 

many correspondents, in as many countries as possible, regarding the abundance or paucity this spring of the following "out-of-Africa"  species:

·        Great Snipe

·        European Turtle Dove

·        Common Nightingale

·        Thrush Nightingale

·        Wood Warbler

·        Icterine Warbler

·        Marsh Warbler

·        Woodchat Shrike

·        Red-backed Shrike

·        Lesser Grey Shrike

Three other species that are keen contenders for discussion are:

·        Corncrake

·        Lesser Whitethroat

·        Spotted Flycatcher

He started the blog http://afrotropical.posterous.com/is-a-natural-east-africa-going-going-gone,

a couple of weeks ago to see if their comparative abundance or rarity, i.e.   their occurrence when viewed right across the Western Palearctic region during this spring season of 2011, is reflected in what we know of rainfall distribution across sub-Saharan Africa during their 2010-2011 non-breeding season.

So even a one line statement, concerning any of these species which might have occurred in your area, during any part of the period April - June, would be of some help to me:- James Wolstencroft <gonolek AT gmail.com>

My records for James, which are included on his website were:-

Great Snipe is a rare vagrant here.

No sightings

Turtle Dove is a regular and at times abundant passage migrant and migrant breeder

The first birds seen by me were on 28^th April when small groups of up to ten were seen. They were then seen almost daily in numbers of less than ten until the 28^th May. None were seen then until the 8^th May when a single was located.

Rufous Nightingale is a scarce passage migrant

First seen on 12^th April. Only six sightings of individual birds. Last sighting 26^th April.

Thrush Nightingale is a rare to scarce passage migrant

Two sightings of possibly the same bird, on two different days 14-15^th April. The bird(s) were seen in two different, but relatively close locations.

Wood Warbler is a rare vagrant

No records

Icterine Warbler is a vagrant

No records

Marsh Warbler is a passage migrant

Plentiful over a very short period in early May with up to ten birds seen in a single day. First recorded on 1^st May and last recorded on 12^th May. Many more birds possibly of this species were seen over a wider date range but the dates mentioned were good views of birds of this species.

Woodchat Shrike is a regular passage migrant

First bird was seen on 17th March and the last and adult on 1^st May. Seen almost daily but never common with a maximum daily count of four birds and generally only singles. All adults.

Red-backed Shrike is a regular passage migrant

Red-backed Shrike was seen by me first on 28^th April when an adult male was seen. They were then seen daily in small numbers (<4) until May 5^th when eight were seen. All birds seen until 8^th May were adults when the first, first-year bird was seen. The last sightings by me were a first year on 28^th May and an adult on 11th June.

Lesser Grey Shrike is a scarce but regular migrant

First recorded 2^nd May. Seen daily until 18^th May. The largest number seen in a single day six birds, but regularly three or four birds. All adults.

Corncrake is a scarce passage migrant

No records

Spotted Flycatcher is a common migrant

First bird was seen on 29^th April from when they became quite common with more than ten seen daily until mid May. Then numbers dropped to one or two birds with last record on 28^th May. No more sightings were made until a very late bird was seen on 8^th June.

The status mentioned for each species may not be accurate as it is from Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia by Bundy, Connor & Harrison which was published in August 1989. Mnay things have changed over the years since this book was published.

Steppe Buzzard

10/06/2011 - Dhahran Hills

At the scrubby desert area I saw a Stepp Buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpinus) flying over and landing. As I have realised whilst being here in Saudi Arabia, the birds of prey are very wary of people and as a result I went back to my car in the hope I would be able to get closer to the bird. I drove back to where I had seen the bird land but on the way I saw the bird in flight again and managed to take a single photograph (top flight photograph). The bird appeared to be carrying something but it was a long way off. Fortunatley the bird landed agin within the camp grounds and this time I managed to very close with the car as the bird was preoccupied with eating its prey. I managed to take the below photographs before a group of runners disturbed it and it took flight. The bird is a second calender year bird due to its pale eye and heavy streaked breast, but it has a well marked trailing edge to the wing similar in nature to that of an adult.

Large numbers of this sub-species of Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo), which is a long distance migrant, pass between the central Palearctic and thier wintering grounds in eastern Africa down to the Cape. Their main migration route is trough Eilat (Israel) mainly in the spring, with others passing the Red Sea at Bab-el-Mandeb (Yemen) mainly in the autumn, a loop migration around the Red Sea. It is recorded in Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia by Bundy, Connor & Harrison published in August 1989 as generally very scarce in eastern Arabia, although I have seen a number of birds this spring:-

2nd Calendar Year - 9th & 10th May
2nd Calendar Year - 13th May
2nd Calendar Year - 28th May
2nd Calendar Year - 10th June

Some birds winter in the Arabian Peninsula but most of those recorded in Saudi Arabia are in the western parts. From the migration routes used (some Saudi Arabian Birds have been Satelite tracked), it would appear records should be commonest in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea coast and in the north. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) it is an uncommon to rare autumn migrant, rarely wintering Pedersen, T & Aspinall, SJ (comp.) 2011. EBRC Annotated Checklist of the birds of the United Arab Emirates. EAD, Abu Dhabi. I would like to thank Tommt Pedersen for kindly sending me the Annoted Checklist. This shows that the lower part of eastern Arabia, including Dhahran are not prime sites, although as wintering numbers build up in Arabia sightings should increase.

Caution is needed with these Buzzards as they can easily be confused with Long-Legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) which breeds in small numbers in Eastern Saudi Arabia.

Little Ringed Plover - Probably Breeding

09/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

Just outside our house is a large drainage channel which is always running with a small amount of water used for irrigation of the playing fields behind. Today as I was just about to go out birdwatching I heard a Little Ringed Plover calling from the ditch and took a few photographs of the bird. It was calling and trying to draw my attention, so I assume it had young nearby. I did not want to disturb the bird so did not make any attempt to check but will look in a few days time when the young will be bigger.

Late Spotted Flycatcher

08/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

Today there were a few interesting birds about including a late Spotted Flycatcher, European Turtle Dove and two Indian Silverbills. The Spotted Flycatcher was the first one I have seen since 28th May, which was also the last time I saw European Turtle Dove.

Eurasian Hoopoe

07/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

A pair of Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops), which is a resident species which also breeds in Dhahran Camp, were enjoying moving various stones from one place to another. The first noted case of a pair breeding in Dhahran Camp was in mid April 1998 when two birds repeatedly entered a nest site beneath the roof of an unoccupied building. This was the first reported case of the species breeding in East Saudi Arabia (Phoenix 15: 10).

Black-winged Stilt - Out of it's Depth

06/06/2011 – Dhahran Hills

At the percolation pond in the evening I saw this strange sight of a Black-winged Stilt chick, almost under-water. The bird was trying to get back to the safety of the bank and I managed to get a couple of pictures to show the commical sceen.