Northern Shovelers – Dhahran Hills

The duck numbers are slowly building up on the percolation pond and different birds are appearing daily at the site. Over the last few days there have been three Mallards, 18 Northern Shovelers, seven Gadwalls, 11 Northern Pintail, eight Eurasian Wigeon and 30+ Eurasian Teal. The duck were frightened at one point by a motorcycle trial bike and flew almost over my head allowing me to grab a few flight shots of the birds. There is not much else about on the pond apart from Great Cormorants and Little Grebes. Two Grey Herons were flying about which is an increase of one compared to last week. Small numbers of Pallid Swift and a single House Martin were over the pond and 25+ Water Pipits were still using the reed beds to roost in. The settling pond had two Black-wined Stilts and a Common Redshank and the there were five (Black-headed) Yellow Wagtails on the wires around the pond. These are the first returning Yellow Wagtails I have seen this spring. The Red-tailed Wheatear was still present in its normal spot but there was no sign of the Blue Rock Thrush

Northern Shoveler - male

Northern Shoveler - male

Northern Shoveler - male & female

Northern Shoveler - female

Black-headed Wagtail - feldegg

Black-headed Wagtail - feldegg

Some good birds about – Dhahran Hills

On the way back from work as I was driving home, at the bottom of the golf course, I saw a bird of prey land on a roadside light out of the corner of my eye. I could not identify the bird as the view was so poor and very brief, but I turned the car around and came back to see if it was still there. Luckily it was and there was a parking area close by. I always carry my binoculars with me so they were in the car and I was able to get very good views on the bird which turned out to be an adult male Crested Honey Buzzard. This species was unrecorded until the 20th Century but has been seen fairly regularly since I have been in Saudi Arabia. It is certainly far more common then European Honey Buzzard, although I have seen this species as well here.  The Arabian (Southern) Grey Shrike is still present in the same area of the jebals where it has been sitting regularly in the same bush for two weeks. A few Isabelline Wheatears are also now scattered over the jebals and rough desert areas showing the migration is slowly starting to take place.  The female Blue Rock Thrush remained in place the day after it was found and the Red-tailed Wheatear was also in the same place, looking like it did not mind sharing its home with the new arrival.

Caspian Stonechat – Dhahran Hills

A Caspian Stonechat has been in the spray fields for the last few weeks and although it has been there for some time I have failed to get any decent shots of the bird. As the spray heads were turned completely off yesterday I managed to get a few photos of the bird that is very different to the other Common Stonechats present. Trying to photograph the white in the tail proved very difficult and hence the out of focus photo below. A few other good birds were seen in the spray fields including two Song Thrushes that are the first two I have seen this winter. This species is normally fairly regularly seen along the grass verges and in the spray fields during winter but this year they have been absent until now. A Common Quail was calling loudly from the long grass and four Eurasian Skylarks were flushed from the grass along with 10+ Water Pipits. An odd looking lark, only seen in flight, may have been something interesting but we were unable to relocate it even though we saw where it landed. Two Jack Snipe were also flushed from right underfoot, giving good views as they flew off and landed further in the fields. This is an uncommon bird in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, probably more so due to their secretive nature than their real status.

Wader numbers increasing - Dhahran Expro Wader Roost

An early morning trip to the Dhahran Expro Wader Roost produced a good number of birds. The number of waders built up significantly in the last two weeks with hundreds if not thousands of birds present. The majority of birds here are small waders but they are now reclaiming the inlet leading to the roost and have completely blocked this off from the sea, so now the large waders and Greater Flamingos are using this area to roost on. Large waders included 100+ Bar-tailed Godwits and 50+ Eurasian Curlews with 17 adults and one juvenile Greater Flamingos. Small waders were mainly Dunlins and Little Stints with 500+ of each. Small groups of both Greater Sand Plovers and Lesser Sand Plovers were seen including a few Greater Sand Plovers in adult breeding plumage. 50+Common Redshanks and 30+ Marsh Sandpipers were present with the later being the highest count of this species I have seen in one place in Saudi Arabia so far. Kentish Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and Grey Plovers made up the remaining waders seen. 

Little Stint

Dunlin

Ruddy Turnstone

Greater Sand Plover

Common Redshank (left) & Marsh Sandpiper (right)

Some signs of migration – Dhahran Hills

A walk around the percolation pond was quite interesting with the first true signs of migration being seen. There were ten plus Common Chiffchaffs present in the tamarisk at the side of the pond and two Eurasian Reed Warblers were also seen, one in full song. Clamorous Reed Warblers were also singing from the trees and reed-beds, although these birds are resident breeders at this site. A really smart adult male White-spotted Bluethroat in full breeding plumage was seen in the same area which is only the second bird I have seen of this sub-species since I have been in Saudi Arabia. Luckily it was an adult male, as identification of adult males out of breeding plumage is not possible. This sub-species is probably a scarce spring visitor although lack of information on birds seen in the past, makes assessment difficult. Other signs of migration included a group of 11 Pallid Swifts flying around calling loudly with six Red-rumped Swallows and ten Barn Swallows and an increase in the number of Daurian Shrikes with four now present in the spray fields and around the percolation pond. Two Western Marsh Harriers were seen briefly over the spray fields including the adult female that has been around for a week or so. A single Eurasian Sparrowhawk was also seen; again this bird has been around for a few weeks.

Daurian Shrike

Pallid Swift

Pallid Swift

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Corn Buntings – Dhahran Hills

The spray fields have been very wet recently and spraying has been going on almost constantly. This is good in it makes the area green and good for birds, but bad in the fact that you can not bird the area properly as it is impossible to enter the fields without getting a soaking. Yesterday the spray heads were only putting out a small amount of water and as I saw the Caspian Stonechat I thought I would attempt to enter the fields in the hope of getting a few pictures of the bird. This idea did not work out as planned as I found two Corn Buntings in the field and started following them instead. Corn Bunting is still an unusual bird in Dhahran although i have seen a few every winter/spring I have been in Saudi Arabia. I managed a couple of photos but unfortunately they were slightly into the sun but turned out reasonable. Then I could not find the Caspian Stonechat just a Common Stonechat that would not allow close approach at all. Other birds in the spray fields included 20+ Water Pipits and three Tawny Pipits. A few Caspian Gulls and Steppe Gulls flew over going to roost somewhere and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk put in a fast flypast across the fields before circling up high in the sky and off.

Corn Bunting

Corn Bunting

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Not many signs of spring yet – Dhahran Hills

There are very few migrants about at the moment with most birds being seen being winter visitors. A group of seven House Martins, three Barn Swallows and six Pallid Swift were migrants moving through; with the House Martins being the first of the spring but very little else has been obvious. A few birds like the Stonechats and Shrikes are difficult to tell if they are migrants of local movements of wintering birds. Four Siberian Stonechats, one Caspian Stonechat and one Common Stonechat are in the spray fields along with a Daurian Shrike. A very smart adult female Western Marsh Harrier has been hunting over the spray fields and percolation pond in the last few days and duck numbers are building up. Eurasian Teal numbers are over 20 birds now, with seven Garganey and seven Gadwalls. White Wagtail numbers are decreasing as birds presumably move off for the breeding season elsewhere after having spent the winter in Dhahran. A female Desert Wheatear has taken up residence along the perimeter fence area which is another species that may be a migrant or may be a locally moving winter visitor. The Red-tailed Wheatear was still present in the same place and has now been about for over a month. One winter visitor who’s numbers are increasing on the pond is Great Cormorant with over 300 birds now using the trees surrounding the pond to roost.

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

White Wagtail

White Wagtail

Red-tailed Wheatear

Red-tailed Wheatear

Blue Rock Thrush New ‘Patch’ Species – Dhahran Hills

A visit to the ‘patch’ last night produced a new species for me for Saudi Arabia, but more importantly for me a new species for my local ‘patch’. It has been a good start to the year with three new species seen already this year, which were Red-tailed Wheatear, Tufted Duck and Blue Rock Thrush. The Blue Rock Thrush was a female and was my 188 species in Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp. The bird was seen on the large boulders behind the percolation pond in the same area as the Red-tailed Wheatear, which was still present. I saw the Blue Rock Thrush and Red-Tailed Wheatear almost together at one stage. Blue Rock Thrush is an uncommon passage migrant to the Eastern Province and is not often seen on the coast with most birds moving well inland before settling. A few birds have been seen recently in the Riyadh area but none in the coastal part of the Eastern Province. This is not the first record for the area, however, as Phil Roberts has seen one before here. The bird was quite confiding and allowed reasonably close approach even on foot, but was quite active moving around continually in search of food.

Spur-winged Lapwing colonising the Eastern Province (Haradh) - Bird records by Rob Tovey

Rob Tovey & Lou Regensmorter visited NADEC dairy farm at Haradh, in the Eastern province on Thursday. Within the NADEC confines there are several individual farms separated by more natural terrain, which is semi desert. Apart form the natural semi-desert and the fodder fields, the third main habitat in NADEC is wetland produced by run off from the cattle farming areas. In one wetland the water was more processed than in the other and ironically perhaps, the wetland with the less processed water had more diversity. This wetland had at least 15 Spur-winged Lapwing, which were very skittish but Rob managed a couple of photographs showing the birds in flight as well as on the ground. For more details on Rob & Lou’s visit to Haradh see here. As I pointed out in a post recently ‘this species is still an extremely rare bird in the area but sightings are becoming more common and birds may be starting to colonize the region?’. This record confirms my suspicion and as Rob said “They are not a vagrant in this part of the Eastern Province”. Rob also pointed out to me “Spur-winged Lapwing are very common in Kharj in all the diary farms. NADEC is about 100 km east of the last of a string of dairy farms east of Kharj. Its not far for them to jump over and find these run off wetlands at NADEC”. Thanks to Rob for allowing me to use his records and for letting me post his photographs as well. I have not visited this part of the Eastern Province and it shows how little we know about the bird life of this region.

Increase in Duck Numbers – Dhahran Hills

A couple of very early morning tips to the percolation pond have produced a growing number of duck in recent days. I am assuming this is the start of return migration for these birds? All duck in Saudi Arabia are very flighty and it is extremely difficult to get anywhere near them as they are shot at constantly when away from safe areas such as Dhahran Hills. Unfortunately for me the duck do not realize they are in a safe area on the pond and fly as soon as they see anyone or anything. As a result trying to get photographs of them is extremely difficult and this one is the best I have managed recently! Eurasian Wigeon numbers are now 15, but Eurasian Teal numbers have increased to +/-60. They are difficult to count accurately as many hide in the reeds. Other duck have included a pair of Mallard, seven Garganey including two really smart males, eight Gadwall that have been around for most of the winter, a flock of 13 Northern Shovellers, 11 Tufted Ducks, one Common Pochard and one Northern Pintail male. Six species of duck on the pond at the same time is very good but they do not stay very long as many of them fly off at the first disturbance. When you add to this the Ferruginous Ducks I saw earlier in the winter, to those mentioned above, then there have been ten species of duck on the pond this winter which is a larger number than I have seen in previous winters.

Tufted Ducks & Common Pochard

Tufted Duck & Eurasian Wigeon

Eurasian Wigeon (left) & Northern Pintail (right) - males

Eurasian Wigeon