Daurian Shrike (Re-trap) - A'Ali Farm Bahrain

Further to my post below on the Daurian Shrike Abdulla and I caught on Friday 14th October at A'Ali Farm, I have found out from Brendan that he caught and ringed the bird in the same place on 2nd October 2009 (almost two years to the day). This shows that the bird is site faithful, although we do not know if the bird winters in the area or just uses it for migration.

Daurian Shrike (Re-trap - adult female)

Bahrain – Ringing at A’Ali Farm

Abdulla and I went ringing at A’Ali Farm on Friday and although we did not catch many birds we did catch a couple of good ones. We set up two 18 metre mist nets in the trees in the hope of catching a few birds as there were a lot of birds in the area although most were keeping high in the tree tops. Graceful Prinia and White-cheeked Bulbul were the most common along with various doves. The mist nets and had caught a Daurian Shrike and a (Caspian) Reed Warbler with the Daurian Shrike being a re-trap which had a BTO ring on its leg and was almost certainly ringed by Brendan or his team, but we are awaiting details from Brendan on this when he gets back from Qatar. Once I know the details I will put them on the website. The second mist net failed to catch any birds unfortunately.

 Caspian Reed Warbler

 Caspian Reed Warbler

 Daurian Shrike (adult female)

 Daurian Shrike (adult female)

Daurian Shrike (adult female)

Jeddah - September bird records from Tony Blake

Tony Blake went birding in the Riyadh River area on 15^th September and sent me these details which he kindly said I could put on my website.

7.00am – 8.00am

Site 1 – area near “bird ringing programme” sign, c8km to east of Al Hair

Night Heron	c.2
Purple Heron	c.3
Laughing Dove	P
Namaqua Dove	3 – two females and one male
Little Green Bee-eater	1
Crested Lark	c.3
Swallow	1
Yellow Wagtail – heard only	2+
White-cheeked Bulbul	A
Reed Warbler (heard only)	1
Spotted Flycatcher	1
Masked Shrike	1 – adult male
House Sparrow	P
Indian Silverbill – several flocks seen, but only one bird seen perched.  ID’d as Indian on range	P

                                               

8.00am – 9.00am

Site 2 – further east, and down road to south towards water works

Night Heron – picked up with broken wing by driver	1
Moorhen – juvs	3
Laughing Dove	P
Namaqua Dove	2
Crested Lark	1
Swallow	P
Sand Martin	1+
Yellow Wagtail	2 juv
Graceful Prinia	2
Avadavat	1 - male

Also here, c.20 Clouded Yellow type butterflies, and a Brown Argus type butterfly, but quite grey-cast and extensively speckled on underwing.

9.15am – 10.15am

Site 3 – date farm area to south west of Al Hair, and to south west of the watercourse, turning off south

Moorhen	1
Laughing Dove	P
Little Green Bee-eater	1
White-cheeked Bulbul	A
Golden Oriole – at least two seen	2 – male and female
Common Mynah	1
House Sparrow	P

10.30 – 11.00

Site 4 – c2km further west, along road

Harrier sp – juvenile.  At range, through poor quality bins, could not clinch ID.  But clearly slimline, so Monty’s or Pallid.	1
Laughing Dove	P
Namaqua Dove	c.3
Little Green Bee-eater	1
African Rock Martin	1+

11.30am – 12.00pm

Site 5 – Wadi Hanifa – signposted area adjacent to watercourse, near Mansouriah

Squacco Heron	1
Grey Heron	2
Little Stint – juv.  In roadside pool.  Dark “ridge” on crown, slightly split super and white Vs seen.	1
Common Sandpiper – flushed as I walked across watercourse.	c.5
Laughing Dove	P
Namaqua Dove	c.3
Little Green Bee-eater	1
Crested Lark	1
Yellow Wagtail	1 – adult ( feldegg).  Dark crown, slightly paler ear coverts

A'Ali Farm - Bahrain

On Friday I went ringing with Abdulla at A'Ali Farm and whilst ringing we managed a bit fo birding at the site. It is a government run garden / farm and has supurb cover for birds including grassy areas and tall trees. There were plenty of migrants about including 10 Daurian Shrike, one Steppe Grey Shrike, three Isabelline Wheatear, six Pied Wheatear, one Desert Wheatear, one Eurpoean Roller, two Common Kestrel and a Long-legged Buzzard. Long-legged Buzzard is not a common bird in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia although they do breed here and it is also not common in Bahrain although at least one bird has been in the A'Ali area for the last two winters and Abdulla caught and ringed one last year at the same site.

Daurian Shrike (first year)

Sabkhat Al Fasl

Another early morning start to Sabkhat Al Fasl on Thursday turned up a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle sitting on a street light at first light which was a good start to the mornings birding. Shooting was agian occurring but was not too bad today. A few migrants were about with seven Daurian Shrike, Great Reed Warbler, two Pied Wheatear, three Isabelline Wheatear and a few Yellow Wagtails. Clamorous Reed Warbler where seen a few times in the reeds with up to five birds seen. Waders included two Marsh Sandpiper, two Temminck's Stint, hundreds of Little Stint, Dunlin, Common Ringed Plover and Kentish Plover, one Common Greenshank, five Common Redshank, 138 Pied Avocet. The White-tailed Lapwing was still about in the same place as last week but unfortunately for photography had not become any tamer. 10+ Caspian Tern and seven Western Marsh Harrier were flying about and at least one Western Osprey was sitting on the mud flats. A group of 19 Northern Pintail were the first of thss species I have seen in Saudi Arabia although they are a common winter duck here and 20+ Eurasian Teal were also present. Two Common Kingfisher and 26 Purple Swamphen were also seen. A single large juvenile gull was present whichmay have been a Steppe Gull but I am not confident in identification of these birds yet.

We went to have a look at the Jubail Sanitary Landfill site on the way home but there was a hugeline of trucks waiting to enterthe site so we could not go in. This place may be good for Gulls and birds of prey as the winter progresses so we will go back one day a bit earlier in the day.

 Pied Wheatear

 Pied Wheatear

 Pied Wheatear 

 Little Stint

 Temminck's Stint

 Purple Swamphen

 Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Golden Grass Mabuya - Dhahran Hills

A few more Skinks have been seen in the garden where they particularly like resting from the sun under or behind our large plant containers. Luckily Abdulla saw one of these lizards in Bahrain on 24^th September when we were ringing together and showed it to me. I asked him if he knew the name of the species as I had seen one before in Dhahran but could not find out what species it was, so when he got home he kindly sent me the Latin name of it. The Latin name has since changed as these lizards were formally known as Mabuya aurata and were generally regarded as three subspecies that were recognized on the basis of colour pattern and number of gular and ventral scales. Mausfeld et al. (2002) partitioned the genus Mabuya into four genera and restricted the application of the name Mabuya to the South American clade of these skinks. Therefore the skinks known formerly as M. aurata are assigned with the generic name Trachylepis. Trachylepis septemtaeniata (Reuss, 1834) is the valid name for the populations, which are characterised by third supraocular shield being in contact with the frontal shield (see diagram) and by pattern of four longitudinal rows of small dark spots on the dorsum (the spots can fuse anteriorly and disappear posteriorly). This species is known from Eritrea, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan (Moravec et al. (2006).

Moravec, J.L., Franzen, M. & Böhme, W. (2006): Notes on the taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution of the Trachylepis (formerly Mabuya) aurata (Linnaeus, 1758) complex. Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Societas Europaea Herpetologica. pp. 89-93

Mausfeld, P., Schmitz, A., Böhme, W., Misof, B., Vrcibradic, D., Rocha, C.F.D. (2002): Phylogenetic affi nities of Mabuya atlantica Schmidt, 1945, endemic to the Atlantic Ocean archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil): necessity of partitioning the genus Mabuya Fitzinger, 1826 (Scincidae: Lygosominae). Zool. Anz. 241: 281- 293.

Difference in head scalation between Trachylepis aurata and T. septemtaeniata. Third supraocular shield separated from the frontal shield in aurata (left) and in contact with the frontal shield in septemtaeniata (right).

Bahrain - Yellow Wagtail (lutea)

At Alba Marses there were still quite a few Yellow Wagtail about which roost in the extensive reed beds there. I photographed this bird on the edge of the water at about 15:00 hrs and it appears to be a lutea type due to its very yellow colouration.

Yellow Wagtail (lutea)

Wood Sandpiper - Dhahran Hills

The last two days have seen small numbers of migrants passing through with passerines being seen in small numbers in the bushes. These included Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat & Spotted Flycatcher. A single Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was flying over along with 30+ Sand Martin & 10+ Barn Swallow. The spray fields held three Isabelline Wheatear and a male Western Marsh Harrier was seen going to roost in the reeds of the percolation pond. These reeds also had 20+ Yellow Wagtail and two Clamorous Reed Warbler. A single Purple Heron and single Little Egret were on the muddy edge of the pond with a few waders including four Wood Sandpiper, two Common Snipe, two Common Redshank and a Green Sandpiper. The only other good bird seen was a Little Tern sitting on the muddy edge and later on the wooden raft in the pond. The Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin is still actively feeding around outside my office window, I wonder how much longer before it moves on.

Wood Sandpiper

White-tailed Lapwing - Sabkhat Al Fasl

White-tailed Lapwing is a scarce bird in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and occurs as a migrant and has winter previosuly. I saw one last weekend at Sabkhat Al Fasl and agian this weekend (6th October) I saw another, or more likely the same bird again. This time I managed to get much better views of the bird and was able to take a few photogrpahs of it on the ground at the edge of the main lake as well as in flight. The weekend before it was very distant on a newly flooded area at the back of the reserve. Although much closer this weekend it was very flighty as there were quite a few hunters shooting in the area and I could not get really close.

Jeddah - September bird records from Graham Langley

Graham Langley went birding for a day in Jeddah on 13th September and mentioned he got up very early and took a taxi to the Southern Corniche, where there were shorebirds, gulls and tern everywhere although passerines were sadly short in number. Graham sent me his reocrds and kindly said I could put them on my website so here they are:-

 Indian Reef Heron (Grey Morph)

Indian Reef Heron	common on shoreline, mostly dark phase birds
Little Egret	2 seen although I didn't bother sorting most from the above
Eurasian Spoonbill	At least 25 on the pools near at the Corniche
Greater Flamingo	Only two seen at the Corniche
Western Marsh Harrier	A female northern end of Southern Corniche
Crab Plover	One bird on sandbar offshore from Corniche
Black-winged Stilt	Regular along the Corniche and at airport pools
Spur-winged Plover	Six sen on Jeddah airport approach road
Kentish Plover	Several at Corniche and on brackish pools inland
Common Ringed Plover	Common on shore at Corniche
Grey Plover	One at northern end of Southern Corniche
Eurasian Curlew	One on sandbar offshore from Corniche
Common Redshank	Several at Corniche. One at airport pools
Common Greenshank	Several at Corniche. One at airport pools
Marsh Sandpiper	One at Corniche, bizarrely on a seaweed covered shoreline pool
Sanderling	Several on shoreline at Corniche
Little Stint	Two on airport pools, scattered individuals at Corniche
Curlew Sandpiper	Two on a brackish pool at Corniche
Ruff	One on Airport pools
Ruddy Turnstone	Very common on Corniche
Lesser Crested Tern	Common offshore at Corniche
Swift Tern	At least two birds probably this species not the above at Corniche
Saunder’s Tern	Several 'little' terns at Corniche. At least one was a Saunders
Whiskered Tern	Very common at the Corniche
White-winged Tern	Several seen with Whiskered terns at the Corniche
Sooty Gull	Regularly seen all along the Corniche
Caspian Gull	One on a lamppost at northern end of Southern Corniche
White-eyed Gull	a few seen along The Corniche
Slender-billed Gull	regular individuals and small groups along the Corniche
Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse	2 at Jeddah airport
Rock Dove	Very common
Eurasian Collared Dove	Common throughout
Laughing Dove	A few seen, mainly on edge of the city and around the hotel
Namaqua Dove	5 seen on road from Corniche to Khoumrah town
Desert Lark	Several seen on  road from Corniche to Khoumrah town
Crested lark	Common along road from Corniche to Khoumrah town
Black-crowned Sparrow Lark	Flock of six on  road from Corniche to Khoumrah town
Barn Swallow	two birds heading south along Corniche
African Rock Martin	Two birds around the hotel, nesting.
Yellow Wagtail	A group of at least 10 over pools by Corniche, subsp unknown
Southern Grey Shrike	One on fence near Jeddah Airport approach road
Masked Shrike	One on fence between Khoumrah and the coast
Yellow-vented Bulbul	Several on Airport approach road. Two at hotel
Arabian Babbler	Two in acacia scrub between Khoumrah and the coast
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler	One in trees in hotel car park
Spotted Flycatcher	One in trees in hotel car park
House Sparrow	Common everywhere
Ruppell’s Weaver	Two 'singing' in car park trees in hotel
Common Myna	Common everywhere
House Crow	Common everywhere
Brown-necked Raven	Two with house crows at Jeddah Airport terminal
Fan-tailed Raven	One with house crows on rubbish dump at edge Khoumrah town