Birds of Saudi Arabia

20 February 2012

A Great Evenings Birding on the ‘Patch’ – Dhahran Hills

Yesterday I spent the evening after work on the ‘patch’. The weather had been quite overcast and windy the previous few days and although the wind had dropped there was still a lot of dust in the air and conditions did not look too good. I drove across the scrubby desert area on the way to the percolation pond and did not see much of interest with the exception of two Tawny Pipits. This is a wintering species and they will be moving off in the next couple of months. When I got to the pond there did not seem to be too many birds about as it was too early for the Great Cormorants to arrive and the gull numbers were significantly down on previous days. There was, however, one really obvious bird sitting amongst the smaller Common Black-headed Gulls and that was an adult Great Black-headed Gull in full summer plumage. This is an unusual bird inland and although Dhahran is only ten kilometres from the coast it is far enough to make the species very rare here, although I was lucky enough to see an adult in full summer plumage in March 2011 at the same site. The bird seemed quite unsettled and continually took to the air and circled around settling on the pond only briefly before flying again. After only five minutes the bird flew off over the base towards the sea and I did not see it again. You can see from the last two photographs on the bird sitting on the water how much bigger than Common Black-headed Gull the Great Black-headed Gull is.

Great Black-headed Gull (adult summer plumage)

The pond also held four Common Pochards including one adult male. This is a species that was previously common on the pond but is now uncommon with my last sighting in December last year. The four birds looked like they were quite happy on the pond and were still there at last light. This pond is one of the only really safe habitats for birds as no hunting is possible in the camp is it is very well protected and guarded by security, so it is always nice to see duck here as they will not be shot.

Common Pochard (adult male centre)

After spending an hour looking at the pond where there was little else out of the ordinary, with the exception of six Common Morehens which have reappeared after being missing for several weeks, I went for a walk around the pond looking to see if any migrants may have arrived. At the main wet corner outside the pond I was surprised to see that a fall of migrants had occurred and the Tamarisk trees and bushes were full of warblers. I saw 55 Common Chiffchaff, one Lesser Whitethroat and one Desert Whitethroat here as well with two Bluethroats were flitting around the wet area. After spending at least thirty minutes looking at all the warblers I moved on to see if birds were present elsewhere and Common Chiffchaffs were thinly spread around the whole pond edge in the trees. I counted 105 birds in total during the walk, but that will be a minimum as others were calling which I did not count as I did not see all of them. Whilst walking around after looking at the warblers, I saw a large bird of prey flying along the tree edge at the far side of the pond. This is where I had seen Crested Honey Buzzard before and the bird appeared to be large with well barred under-wings but the views were brief and into the setting sun. The bird appeared to land as I did not see it come out of the end of the trees so I walked around to see if I could get better views. As I was walking I flushed a large Eurasian Sparrowhawk from the trees. The bird flew across the pond and landed in a tree on the far side close to where the other bird of prey had landed. The next bird I saw was a Common Kestrel flying away that landed in the top of the only large tree in the scrubby desert area. There seemed to be birds everywhere as I walked to look for the birds of prey and I got good views of a Moustached Warbler sitting out in the open. This is only the second time I have seen the species in Dhahran with the last time being March 2011. After looking at a few more Common Chiffchaffs I saw the large bird of prey sitting in a tree, but unfortunately the bird also saw me a flew a short distance into the scrubby desert area. This time the bird did not look like a buzzard and I was slightly confused as to what it was. The Eurasian Sparrowhawk then took to the air and flushed the larger bird of prey from the scrubby desert area and I could see it better even though it was flying into the setting sun. It was a second calendar year Short-toed Snake Eagle and I managed to get a couple of poor shots as it flew off. This is a very scarce bird for the area although I have now had three different sightings in the same location in less than a year, one second calendar year 31^st March 2011 and two juvenile birds together 22^nd October 2011.

Short-toed Snake Eagle (second calendar year)

19 February 2012

Squacco Heron Fishing - Sabkhat Al Fasl

Friday was windy and overcast and this coupled with the early morning start to birding meant the light was not very good for photography. Nevertheless I managed to find a Squacco Heron in a good position at the edge of a small patch of reeds at Sabkhat Al Fasl, by a lake which I have just discovered. I slowly worked my way closer to the bird and eventually I got into a position where I could look at the bird and take photogrpahs whilst the bird did not seem unduely perturbed by my presence. The Squacco Heron was busy catching small fish and I took a number of photographs of the bird in the eact of fishing, but because the sun was behind clouds the shutter speed was not high enough to catch sharp pictures. I am not complaining as I enjoyed more than an hour watching and photographing this bird before a Marsh Harrier scared it away. The Squacco Heron is normally quite a timid bird and to be able to get this close for this long was a privaledge. The last photograph shows the Squacco Heron in an alert posture as the Marsh Harrier flew over, but on this occassion it did not flush the bird.

18 February 2012

Desert Hyacinth (Cistanche tubulosa) - Sabkhat Al Fasl

The Desert Hyacinth (Cistanche tubulosa) is a widely distributed annual that produces a dense pyramid spike of bright yellow flowers topped by maroon-tinted buds. The yellow flowers do not smell very nice and flies are attracted to the smell and carry the pollen on their legs from plant to plant helping with pollination. The many tiny seeds may remain dormant for years until the roots of the host plant are close enough to trigger germination. It is one of the showiest plants of Eastern Arabia with bright yellow, dense column of flowers sometimes approaching one metre in height. It has varying flower colour with the flowers either tightly packed in the spike or loose. They are widespread on sandy or sandy-silty ground and can tolerate saline environments as well as disturbed conditions, so are often seen growing near roads or tracks in the desert or along the shores of the Arabian Gulf. They are parasitic, one of several such plants in Arabia, and live off other plants to gain their nutritional needs, as they have no green parts or leaves to synthesise chlorophyll directly.

17 February 2012

Sabkhat Al Fasl

As mentioned previously when we went to Sabkhat Al Fasl there were few birds about apart from Greater Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles. A few migrants were present but in very small numbers with ten Barn Swallows hawking insects over the open water area. A lot of White Wagtail were also present with much higher numbers than normal and well over 200 birds seen, so I am assuming these are a few migrant birds joining the wintering birds and swelling the numbers. A single Yellow wagtail was a new migrant and the first returning bird I have seen this year and looked very out of place amongst the White Wagtails. Wintering species were still present in good numbers with well over 3000 Greater Flamingos in two large flocks. Six Gadwalls and a single male Eurasian Wigeon were seen on the open water and in the scrubby area there was a single Daurian Shrike and two Siberian Stonechats. Three wintering Chiffchaffs were seen flitting about the reed beds and Clamorous Reed Warblers were calling loudly from the tall reeds, as they are early breeders and are currently setting up territories. Numbers of Water Pipit seem to have dropped slightly from the last time I was at the site.

Siberian Stonechat

Very few waders were seen apart from the very large numbers of Pied Avocets which easily exceed 500 birds. Little Stints, five Green Sandpipers, two Common Ringed Plovers, eight Common Greenshank and 155 Black-winged Stilts were the only other waders seen. Black-winged Stilt numbers are picking up at present so maybe a few migrants, or at least some local movement, is happening?

Little Stint

A few Caspian Terns flying about, plunge diving and catching fish and 11 Gull-billed Terns over the flooded Sabkha. Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, 37 Steppe Gulls, six Caspian Gulls and two Heuglin’s Gulls were also present. Three Purple Swamphens and six Western Marsh Harriers were the only other birds of note.

Caspian Tern

16 February 2012

Garganey - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday on the percolation pond there were a few new birds. Six Eurasian Teal and a female Garganey were hiding in and around the reeds, which are now starting to grow quite nicely. Hopefully by the end of March they will be quite tall and able to hide a few migrants, although not well enough for me not to be able to see them! The Garganey is the first returning bird I have seen this year and is an early migrant. Six Eurasian Coot were still present all of which appeared to be paired off. White-eared Bulbul numbers seem to have increased in the trees around the pond but as they are a resident species this is unlikely. The reason they seem more common now is probably because they are singing in the hope of attracting a mate as it it the start of the breeding season for them.

White-eared Bulbul

The Pallid Swift flock was still present with about sixty Pallid Swifts, but today there were at least 75 Common House Martins, 21 Red-rumped Swallows and six Barn Swallows. These birds are having no problem finding good as there are millions of mosquitoes about as the evening draws in. The Grey Heron was present with six Western Cattle Egrets. Numbers of gulls were significantly down from the last few days but there was still one Heuglin's Gull, four Caspian Gulls and 21 Steppe Gulls.

Common House Martin

15 February 2012

Western Cattle Egret roost increasing in numbers - Dhahran Hills

The Western Cattle Egret numbers are growing at the roost in the reeds and trees of the Percolation Pond. Yesterday there were 42 birds present with a number of other individuals seen on the grass verges of the camp on the way to the pond. The Great Cormorant roost numbers are heading the other way with less than 800 birds now present from a peak number of 2500+. Some of the Western Cattle Egrets are gaining some summer plumage and getting orange-yellow feathers on the head, back and breast.

Western Cattle Egret

The strong north-westerly Shamal wind made birding difficult and the spray fields were flooded with water so the pond was the only place to bird. Not much was present with the exception of one Grey Heron, six Eurasian Coots and 15 Little Grebes. 300+ Black-headed Gulls, 108 Steppe Gulls, 12 Caspian Gulls and one Heuglin's gull were also using the pond along with two Great Crested Grebes. The gulls have started using the pond to rest and wash before going off to roost somewhere else, and the time they spend on the pond in the evening gives plenty of time to scan through the flock to see if anything unusual is in with them. So far I have not seen anything but I am sure this will change one day. The Pallid Swift flock was lower in numbers than the last few days with about 100 birds present and in amongst them was one Sand Martin and five Red-rumped Swallows.

Great Crested Grebe

14 February 2012

Ringing at Alba Marsh - Bahrain

An early morning ringing session at Alba Marsh, with Brendan, produced fewer birds than normal. This period is relatively quite as wintering birds start to move out and new spring migrants are still yet to arrive in numbers. This couple with a fresh wind that blew up whilst on the way to the site created less than ideal conditions for ringing. We persevered and set up three four panel nets and three smaller nets to see what we could catch. One pleasant finding whilst setting up the nets was the fact that the pollution which has been a problem at the site over the last few months now seemed to be less, or possibly stopped altogether. The first bird trapped was a new Red-spotted Bluethroat which was not in such good plumage as the birds we caught two weeks ago, but was still a nice start to the day.

Red-spotted Bluethroat

As birds were few we ringed some of the House Sparrows that we caught, including three males and a female. They are not very friendly birds in the hand and like to peck unwary hands. We caught a couple of additional House Sparrows but let them go without ringing them. At least they gave me additional ringing practice and allowed me to get a few photographs of them in the hand.

House Sparrow (male)

House Sparrow (female)

The number of Water Pipits we saw whilst setting up the nest and doing the ringing rounds were fewer than in previous weeks but we still managed to catch five birds making ten birds in total. The Water Pipits are coming into summer plumage with a nice warm buff colouration to the flanks which I have not seen before.

Water Pipit (A. coutelli)

A few good birds were seen at the site whilst ringing included a Little Bittern, one Common Kingfisher, two Jack Snipe and a Western Great Egret. A few Barn Swallows were present and waders included six Common Greenshanks, 15 Little Stint, four Common Redshanks and a Common Ringed Plover.

13 February 2012

Plenty of Eagles at Sabkhat Al Fasl

A weekend trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl produced few birds of note but the number of eagles present was spectacular. The commonest eagle seen at the site is Greater Spotted Eagle where birds winter in good numbers and birds are guaranteed to be seen from October until March with the majority of birds being juveniles, although a few adults are also present. Possibly because I arrived at the location later than normal, normally I am there for first light; I saw more eagles than normal. At least 13 Greater Spotted Eagles were seen with three circling on the thermals together and eight birds together on the flooded Sabkha area. This is the largest number I have seen on a single day and it would be very interesting to know how many individual birds use this location during the winter.

Greater Spotted Eagle

Also along with the Greater Spotted Eagles I also saw two 2^nd calendar year Eastern Imperial Eagles both circling with or near Greater Spotted Eagles. Eastern Imperial Eagle generally occur in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia from November until March and this is only the third time I have seen the species at this site, although they have been recorded regularly in previous years, with numbers thought to be declining in the region.

Eastern Imperial Eagle

A very interesting paper has recently been published entitled ‘A note on the occurrence at man-made habitats of wintering Greater Spotted Aquila clanga and Eastern Imperial Eagles A. heliaca in the coastal belt of eastern Saudi Arabia’ by Brian Meadows (Sandgrouse 33: 98-101). This paper suggests that Eastern Imperial Eagle numbers declined in the later part of the observation period of September 1984 to April 2004, whilst Greater Spotted Eagle numbers increased, possibly due to the drainage of significant areas of the Iraq marshes following the end of the Gulf war in 1991, which was previously a wintering stronghold for the species.

12 February 2012

Steppe Gull Spread Wing - Sabkhat Al Fasl

I have found two dead Steppe Gulls in the last week, one was on my local patch, but I did not find it until late in the evening and the photographs of the spread wing did not come out well as the colours are not accurate due to the late evening light. By the next morning it had be taken, presumably by the resident Arabian Red Fox that lives very close by to where I found it. Fortunately for me, but not for the bird, I found a second bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl on Thursday. This allowed me to take a photograph of the spread wing in good light which is shown here.

Steppe Gull - Spread Wing

The features showing this is a Steppe Gull wing-tip pattern include the following:

· Black markings on the primaries extend to P3 (counting primaries from outermost feather P10). This is often seen on Steppe Gull as well as Armenian Gull and Heuglin’s Gull but not in Caspian Gull where black generally only reaches P5.

· Equal pale tongues are visible on P7 & P8. Tongues are longer in Caspian Gull and not present in Armenian Gull or Heuglin’s Gull.

· Primary moult has finished on this bird which is normal for Steppe Gull (moult is still active in Heuglin’s Gull with P10 still growing and often P9 & P10 but is finished in Caspian Gull by January)

· This bird has only one primary mirror, 10 – 44% of birds have a second mirror measuring 3-19mm in size on the inner web of P9

· The dark on the wing is obvious but not as extensive as would be the case with an Armenian Gull. It is, however, more than would be expected for a Caspian Gull.

I would like to express my thanks to AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan (Kuwait) for discussion on this spread wing photograph.

11 February 2012

A few early migrants - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday at the 'patch' there were a few more migrants than previously but numbers are still low and only a trickle of birds are passing through. The spray fields still had three Corn Buntings, this time allowing much closer approach then previously, as well as 21 Eurasian Skylark, numbers of which are significantly up from the last week, probably as a result of the cold weather we have been having. Water Pipit numbers were also up with well over fifty birds seen in the long grass of the spray fields.

Corn Bunting

Birds seen at the edge of the spray fields included a single Isabelline Wheatear, two Lesser Whitethroats, two Song Thrushes, two Bluethroats and three Tawny Pipits. A few Water Pipits were feeding out in the open and I spent some time looking carefully at them in the hope of finding something different in amongst them. A large pipit flew over calling, which I am certain was a Richards Pipit, but as I have not seen the species in Saudi Arabia before I am not going to count it on my patch list. I am sure I will see one on the ground sometime.

Tawny Pipit

Large numbers of Pallid Swift were again catching insects over the pond, with more than two hundred birds in a flock but this time no other species were seen in amongst them. Two Common Chiffchaffs were in the trees at the edge of the pond with a single Bluethroat.

Pallid Swift

The pond held hundreds of gulls with 300+ Common Black-headed Gulls, 106 Steppe Gulls, 21 Caspian Gulls and two Hueglin's Gulls. The Great Crested Grebes were displaying to each other and six Eurasian Coots were still present.