Crested Honey Buzzards at Dhahran golf course – Bird records by Harald Ris

Harald Ris is a young and very keen birder and son of a birder who lives in the camp. He has just been over to Dhahran for a couple of weeks during the school holidays and saw a few good birds during his visit. The best was probably two Crested Honey Buzzards over the golf course on 8 January 2014 where the birds came down and landed in a nearby tree allowing Harald the chance to get a photograph of them perched. These two birds are part of the three (one adult female and two second calendar year birds) birds that have been about since the 30 November at least. The golf course is the best place to see the birds as they appear to use the large trees there to roost in, with all three birds still present until last week at least. I thank Harald very much for sending me his photos from Sweden and allowing me to use them on website. Crested Honey Buzzard has a status in Saudi Arabia as a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor rare in summer and always makes my day when I see one.

A scattering of interesting birds - Dhahran

A single Crested Honey Buzzard was over the Dhahran Main camp school early 10 January and two others over the golf course that same day. The next day all three birds were seen over the golf course showing that the three birds seen 30 November 2013 are still about and wintering in the vicinity of the camp. Four birds wintered here last year and used the gold course trees as a roosting site at night. Another good bird was a Western Osprey seen over the percolation pond 11 January and the Western Marsh Harrier was seen again over the spray fields on a few occasions. Eurasian Sparrowhawks have been seen regularly in different places around the camp and a male Pallid Harrier was present 12 January.

Crested Lark

Crested Lark

A single Common Black-headed Gull was on the percolation pond with eight Great Cormorants but not much else. Crested Larks are being seen more regularly the last few days and some have been very confiding, maybe due to the cold weather? It is still very quiet on the camp but I am looking forward to the start of the spring migration that starts very early in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Sabkhat Al Fasl – Bird records by Phil Roberts

Phil visited Sabkhat Al Fasl over the weekend and mentioned it was a quiet day with poor light and distant views on most birds. The best bird he saw was a Northern Lapwing but he also saw a few other birds including a nice male Common Kingfisher that he photographed. Phil kindly sent me the photo and has allowed me to use it on my website. Other birds seen included three Greater Spotted Eagles, 10 Western Marsh Harriers, four Western Great Egrets, 15 Purple Swamphens, eight Squacco Herons, 50 Common Redshanks, eight Common Greenshanks, five Green Sandpipers, 100+ Slender Billed Gulls, 100+ Black-winged Stilts, 100+ Great Cormorants nine Caspian Terns, two Bluethroats, four Siberian Stonechats, 11 Little Egrets, one Clamorous Reed Warbler (plus 5 or 6 singing but not seen), one Daurian Shrike and two Song Thrushes.

Common Kingfisher - male

Little Bitterns – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I ring mainly at a small marsh on the east side of Bahrain. The marsh is less than one kilometre square, possibly half this size and comprises areas of deep water and extensive phragmites reed beds. There are a few scattered tamarix bushes within the marsh and wet areas with muddy edges near the sides. Many areas are too deep to access but we have a small area were it is possible to set nets. Reed cutters come every weekend to cut reeds for their animals and this helps maintain the marsh in a suitable condition to ring as the reeds grow extremely fast and swamp the area in a very short time if not cut. The marsh is good for typical marsh birds with herons numerous. The Indian Reef Herons and Little Egrets have yet to be caught but we have started to catch a few Little Bitterns. They are relatively common on the marsh and are seen almost every visit, particularly just after first light. Below are photographs of two male Little Bitterns we caught last weekend and photos of a female can be seen in my last post on ringing at the marsh.

Eurasian Penduline Tits near Qbah – Bird records by Mohammad Al Mohatresh

I received details of a group of about eight Eurasian Penduline Tits Remiz pendulinus near Qbah, Hail Province, Saudi Arabia from Mansur Al Fahad. His friend Mohammad Al Mohatresh found the birds in a place called Wadi Al Haski between Qbah and Al Zabirah on 11 January 2014. The site is in the northern central area of Saudi Arabia and here Mohammad took some excellent photographs of both adult and immature birds and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website. The species is an uncommon winter visitor to the Tabuk area and is a vagrant in the Eastern Province with the only records I know being two or perhaps three at Dammam marsh 12 December 1981, three Abqaiq lagoons 1 April 1983, three Abqaiq lagoons 28 December to 1 February 1885 three, an adult and two immatures at Abqaiq lagoons, on 1 February 1985 and two at Sabkhat Al Fasl 20 November 1991 with three there the next day.

I thank Mansur very much for informing me about the birds and arranging permission for me to use the photos and also thank Mohammad for allowing me to use his pictures. It is great that I am now getting news from around the country and not just my records from the Eastern Province as all the data helps build up a picture of what is occurring in the country and when.

Laura the satellite tagged Baltic Gull update – Bird records by Per Hansson

Per has sent me the latest location details of Laura the satellite tagged Baltic Gull that has spent the winter south of Jizan in south-west Saudi Arabia. Per mentioned it would be easiest to search for Laura in the morning near Al Sehi which is positioned south of Jizan towards the Yemen boarder. Laura has spent the entire winter in a very small area around Al Sehi but it is not the easiest of locations to get to as there are not raods just tracks across the sabkha in that area. Pers data on Laura is really useful in showing that Baltic Gulls from Northern Europe spend the winter in this area of Saudi Arabia. Baltic Gull is much scarcer on the Eastern side of the country and I am still yet to see one in the Eastern Province although they do occur further north in Kuwait in small numbers.

Pied Kingfisher & Common Kingfisher – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Whilst ringing at Alba Marsh over the weekend I saw a Pied Kingfisher at the marsh. The bird flew over and perched on top of one of the net poles but did not go into the net. Pied Kingfisher is a scarce winter visitor to Bahrain with the last record I know of being a bird at the same site in winter 2011/12. I have only seen a single bird in Saudi Arabia at Sabkhat Al Fasl in winter the same winter as the Bahrain bird above. Along with the Pied Kingfisher were at least three Common Kingfishers and although I did not photograph the Pied Kingfisher I did get some pictures of the Common Kingfishers. Other good birds seen included a Marsh Sandpiper, one Common Redshank, 10 Black-winged Stilts, four Little Bitterns and a Marsh Harrier.

Common Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

Little Bittern - adult male

Still very few birds – Dhahran Hills

The winter has been very quiet this year and very few birds are about. Birds of prey seen have included two immature Crested Honey Buzzards over the golf course and surrounding areas for the last week or so. A Western Marsh Harrier has been over the spray fields and a few Eurasian Sparrowhawks have also been seen at various places including a very close encounter of a bird with a fresh kill at the golf course. The spray fields still have the smart adult male NCT Stonechat and a female nearby that may of the same sub-species but little else is in the fields with the best other birds seen being a Song Thrush. The settling pond has plenty of birds including good numbers of Water Pipits and White Wagtails, several Little Grebes. Cattle Egret numbers have now reached 107 birds and several Great Cormorants are now roosting in the trees as the percolation pond has been refilled. The best birds seen here have been a Night Heron and a male Northern Shoveller. Common birds seen everyday include White-eared bulbuls and Common Mynas.

White-eared Bulbul

NCT Caspian & Common Stonechats – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend I saw a good number of wintering Stonechats. Most were NCT Caspian Stonechats (Eastern Siberian Stonechat) but I also saw a single male Common Stonechat. Both these species winter in Saudi Arabia with Common Stonechat much scarcer in the Eastern Province than Caspian Stonechat. The male Stonechats add a splash of colour to the drab winter scenery of many of the areas I bird and trying to work out what species or sub-species you are looking at adds a challenge to birding. The status of Common Stonechat is not very well know as all old data includes Siberian Stonechat with Common Stonechat under one species as they were previously regarded as the same species. Since I have been in Saudi Arabia, at least in the Eastern Province it is clear then Siberian Stonechat maura is an uncommon passage migrant and uncommon winter visitor, varigatus also has the same status but is less common on passage migrant and more common in winter. Common Stonechat appears to be a scarce passage and winter visitor but more data needs collecting on its status.

Common Stonechat - male

Common Stonechat - male

Common Stonechat - male

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat - male

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat - male

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat - male

Little Bittern, Common Kingfisher & more – Ringing at Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I went to Alba Marsh for our first ringing trip of the year. Mid-winter is not a peak time at the marsh but we have caught a few good birds in the past in January. We set up our nets in the normal areas although the reeds had been cut back since our last visit making the nets quite open and the wind was stronger than we had hoped. Very few birds were noticeable whilst setting up the nets even though we were there before first light and after two hours we had not caught a bird and thought it may be a waste of time. We stuck at it and caught 11 birds of seven species including re-trapped Common Kingfisher, Water Pipit and Graceful Prinia all ringed at the same site in late winter 2013. The best bird we caught was an adult female Little Bittern that was only the fourth caught at the site. Other birds caught included Bluethroat, Clamorous Reed Warbler and House Sparrow.

Little Bittern - adult female

Common Kingfisher - female

Bluethroat

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

House Sparrow - male (left) & female (right)

Water Pipit