Winter Arabian Red Fox – Dhahran Hills

Whilst out birding the ‘patch’ the last couple of weeks I have had a number of sightings of Arabian Red Fox. These were not as tame as the ones seen regularly in the summer and had their winter coat on which was fortunate as the temperatures have been cool this winter and for a long period also. In winter the animals appear to blend into their backgrounds even more than in summer and unless they move or are sitting against the skyline they are extremely difficult to see. One good thing about them is they are inquisitive and often stop after moving off some distance to have a look to see what you are doing, which sometimes allows for good photos of heads of the animals looking over rocks, around hills or out of holes. I always enjoy seeing these animals and am always amazed how much different they look to the Red Foxes in the UK, of which they are the same species.

Some typical desert birds near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv was out in the desert again near Tabuk last week and took a few photographs of some of the typical desert species out there. He often goes to areas near jebles and recorded Tristram’s Starling in this area along with Brown-necked Raven. Tristarm’s Starling is restricted to the west of the country from Jizan north to Tabuk whereas Brown-necked Raven is widespread but not often seen with a range covering the entire Kingdom. Viv also saw Desert Larks, a species that is almost always encountered when you go to real desert areas particularly near Jebals, with various sub-species occurring with ground colour to match their surroundings. The Isabelline Wheatear seen was probably a migrant, as many birds are passing through the Eastern Province at least at present, but small numbers of this species winter in Saudi Arabia so it is difficult to say with certainty. Viv has kindly allowed me to reproduce a few of his photos below.

Tristram's Starling

Tristram's Starling

Brown-necked Raven

Brown-necked Raven

Desert Lark

Desert Lark

Isabelline Wheatear

Eastern Black-headed Wagtails – Dhahran Hills

Whilst birding the ‘patch’ yesterday I saw a few Yellow Wagtails flying over and then later a large flock of about thirty birds feeding around the edge of the settling pond. This flock contained mainly Eastern Black-headed Wagtails Motacilla flava ‘melanogrisea’ an eastern variant of the Black-headed Wagtail subspecies, which it closely resembles. The main difference is the white moustacial stripe below the black head, that is often difficult to see. Below are photographs of three different birds and these are the first decent photographs I have managed to take of this subspecies so I was quite pleased with my efforts. Also in the flock were two Grey-headed Wagtails and a Blue-headed Wagtail as well as five White Wagtails. Eastern Black-headed Wagtails are an uncommon passage migrant in the Eastern Part of Saudi Arabia and are mostly seen in mixed wagtail flocks like the one these birds were in. Black-headed Wagtail is the commonest subspecies of Yellow Wagtail occurring in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom and will become very common over the next few weeks.

More shrikes and a trickle of other migrants – Dhahran Hills

The last week on the ‘patch’ has seen a few new species arrive, in particular shrikes. The first Woodchat Shrikes have started occurring with many more Turkestan and a few Daurian Shrikes also included. Another sign of migration were small groups of Tawny Pipits and Eurasian Hoopoes in a couple of places. Very few wintering birds remain although there are still a few Water Pipits and White Wagtails now in fine summer plumage. The wintering Marsh Harrier has also been seen on a couple of occasions but very little else. Wheatears make up the majority of migrants with plenty of Pied Wheatears and slightly less Isabelline Wheatears mainly around the boulder area, but the Rock Thrushes all appear to have moved off now. Very low numbers of Barn Swallows and Pallid Swifts are still passing but there is not much other signs of spring yet.

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Tawny Pipit

Western Marsh Harrier

Red-vented Bulbul at Udhailiyah Camp – Bird records by John Snell

Following on from Nishan’s excellent photos of Red-vented Bulbul I posted a couple of weeks ago I just received an e-mail from John Snell who used to live and work in Saudi Arabia. He saw the post and mentioned he had just come across my site and sent me an image that he took in Udhailiyah camp in 2011. John also said he used to put food out when he lived in Dhahran Hills and occasionally had Red Vented Bulbuls arrive with the usual hoards of White Eared Bulbuls, just like happens in our garden in the same area occasionally.

Red Thumb - Sabkhat Al Fasl

The Red Thumb Cynomorium coccineum is a parasitic, leafless plant without chlorophyll. It is a fleshy, reddish, club-shaped perennial herb that can grow up to 30 centimeters high and is parasitic on the roots of desert shrubs. It is only visible above ground during its spring flowering period. The flowering stems may emerge from the ground singly but more often they are grouped several together. The interflorescence is dark-red to purplish and is made up of minute scarlet flowers that may be male or female. Flies are attracted by the smell given off from the plant and are thought to be pollinators of the plant which once pollinated turns black. They grow on sandy, saline, ground with this plant photographed at Sabkhat Al Fasl next to one of the main lagoons. The plant is known as 'tarthuth' by the Bedouin and is also known as Maltese Fungus and Desert Thumb and is used in many herbal medicines around the world. Due to its' dark red colour it was thought to be able to cure aneamia and other blood-related diseases and dried spikes were carried by the Crusaders in order to treat wounds. Research being carried out into the plants' actual medicinal properties seems to provisionally confirm several of the traditional uses with extracts of the herb appearing to inhibit HIV, improve blood flow and lower blood pressure.

Crested Honey Buzzard – Dhahran Hills

On 11 March as I was coming back home for lunch I saw a bird of prey flying quite high in the sky. As I was driving and it was unsafe to stop I continued until I got home and stopped and re-found the bird. It looked interesting and was obviously a buzzard of some sort but was very distant. Luckily if started thermally towards me so I went in and got my camera. It never really got very close but I grabbed a couple of photos before it flew back off in to the area where I had originally seen it. From the photos and views I got it was apparent it was a Crested Honey Buzzard and is possibly one of the three birds that has wintered at the Golf Course. Mats a local birder saw the three birds there on 8 March so it could well be one of these although March is a good month for passing birds as well. In Saudi Arabia they are scarce passage migrants and winter visitors that are rare in summer. Most records from the west coast are in autumn and winter and those from the Eastern Province in winter and spring. Data on Crested Honey Buzzard is scarce from Saudi Arabia with Porter & Aspinall (2010), the latest field guide to the region, stating it is a vagrant to the country. This is inaccurate and it is in fact a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor, rare in summer. The first records for Saudi Arabia were a second calendar year bird at the Raydah Escarpment in the Asir mountains near Abha (18.20N, 42.22E) 11 October 1994, with a second, second calendar year bird seen 5-10 kilometres south at Wadi Maraba on the same day. Both of these birds were in an extremely exhausted state with one being taken into care and subsequently released. There are only two summer records from the country of an adult male at Dhahran, Eastern Province, 30 July 2011 and a second calendar year female at Tanumah Park, Asir Mountains (18.9330N, 42.1535E).

Waders in flight – Dhahran Expro Wader roost

An afternoon at the Dhahran Expro Wader roost produced quite a good increase in wader numbers since my last visit. It looks like a few waders may be on the move as numbers of some species had increased significantly. Whilst at the site I took a few photographs of waders in flight, but as the light was not particularly good, due to the overcast nature of the afternoon, they are not as good as they could have been. I did manage to photograph Common Redshank that flew by calling as well as Ruff, Marsh Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Dunlin and Little Stint. There were quite a few other species present but none flew close enough for me to add to the birds in flight list.

Common Redshank

Kentish Plover

Marsh Sandpiper

Mixed Wader Flock

White-tailed Lapwing at Sabkhat Al Fasl – Bird records by Andre Marais

Andre went to Sabkhat Al Fasl on Friday 7 March and although he mentioned it was quiet he did manage to find a White-tailed Lapwing at the site. The bird was on the edge of the flooded Sabkhat and was seen from the road that follows the edge of the sabkha after the section where the road splits and the power-line road goes to the right to the power station and the road by the sabkha goes left. The bird was just where this roads become submerged in water. White-tailed Lapwing is a scare visitor to the Eastern Province although three birds were seen at Dhahran 22 February 2014, hopefully, indicating it will be a good spring for the species. Sabkhat Al Fasl is probably the best site in the province for seeing the species but this is still a good record. I thank Andre for allowing me to use his photo and sending me details of exactly where he saw the bird. Other birds seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl over the weekend include a couple of Woodchat Shrikes and both the Savi's Warblers from the previous weekend were still present calling in the same areas. Eurasian Reed Warbler numbers were higher than the previous weekend showing that migration of this species is well underway.

Desert White & Greater Tiger – Sabkhat Al Fasl

The range of the Desert White (Pontia glauconome) is quite extensive and goes from Somalia north to Libya, in Africa and east to Arabia and Central Asia including Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia this species is found almost anywhere where rocky outcrops occur, particularly on rocky plains and hills around Dhahran, Al Khobar and Al Hassa Oasis. It favours rocky wadis and areas and surrounding gullies preferably with the perennial Cruciferae or Brassicale Zilla present. The Desert White is a very fast, zig-zagging low flying species often settling on Cruciferae flowers or other vegetation. It is relatively common from early March to early December in a multitude of overlapping broods that differ from area to area depending on the rains. This year the poor rains have limited the early broods and only now are they being seen with some regularity. The Desert White is variable especially with regard to the amount of ‘green’ pigmentation on the underside that can be very heavy to almost absent. This variability can be large and can even occur between generations.

Desert White

The Greater Tiger Metasyrphus luniger is one of the most common hoverflies in Arabia and occurs between January and May. They are usually found in large numbers wherever vegetation occurs and as there have been good rains this winter in the Eastern Province there is plenty of flowering vegetation for the insects. Adults feed off nectar from flowers and the larvae are carnivorous and generally eat aphids. This photograph is of a male as the insect has two bands below the yellow spots like markings. Females lack these bands. Both these insects were photographed at Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend where there was plenty of insect and wildlife activity.

Great Tiger