Late Western Cattle Egret – Sabkhat Al Fasl

The status of Western Cattle Egret has changed considerably over the years in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. In 1981 it was a rare visitor to the Gulf but by the end of the 1980’s it had become a migrant occurring from March through May and from August through November mainly in the coastal zone, but also inland especially at Abqaiq. Some birds over-summer and others overwinter. This had canged again by the end of the 1990’s to the species being a regular winter visitor with the maximum mid-winter roost being recorded at Dhahran percolation pond of 244 birds on 27 January 2008. Numbers are now in excess of 100 birds each winter in Dhahran. Numbers are lower at Sabkhat Al Fasl but up to ten can occasionally be seen. It was therefore a surprise to find an adult at the site on 13 June as over-summering birds are still scarce in the region. This was the first time I have seen the species in the summer at this location and shows going out, even in the worst conditions and time of year can still pay dividends with knowledge gained on status of the birds of the region.

Pair of second calendar year Crested Honey Buzzards at Dhahran Hills – Bird records by Mats Ris

Mats Ris was birding in Dhahran in the earl morning of 8 June when he came across two Buzzards sitting in a tree. He managed to get a few photos with his small pocket camera and sent them to me and the bird he photographed birds appear to be a second calendar year female Crested Honey Buzzard a species becoming more common in Saudi Arabia. Most records involve birds on passage and in winter but there have now been three records of summer birds including this one. I found an adult male in July in Dhahran 2012 and a female at Tanumah (southwest Saudi Arabia) in July 2013. The birds Mats saw may possibly be two of the birds that spent the winter in Dhahran this winter? Mats was out again I the early morning of 14 June and saw one of the birds by the golf course where it came out of the trees and again later in a small wadi at Dhahran Hills. This time the bird photographed was a second calendar year male indicating a pair are present. This is the same area where the birds have been present the last two winters and there have been male, female and juveniles. It would be amazing if these birds were breeding in the area but this will be difficult to prove, as there is no access to the area of trees where these birds spend most of their time.

Last few migrants – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Birding has slowed down considerably now and the summer heat has reached 48 degrees Celsius but there are still a very small number of migrants around. The only ones we saw on 8 July were two Barn Swallows and a single extremely late Northern Wheatear. The best birds seen were a juvenile Red-wattled Lapwing a scarce visitor to the Eastern Province and a second calendar year summering Greater Spotted Eagle about which I have posted detail already. Tern numbers had dropped off significantly with most birds now on their Gulf coral island breeding sites although a few White-cheeked Terns and some Common Terns were seen along with a group of 25 Caspian Terns and several Little Terns. Herons as always were conspicuous with plenty of Little Bitterns seen including males, females and juveniles indicating a successful breeding season for the species. Squacco Herons in full breeding plumage were also seen in good numbers with about 15 birds seen. Other birds included thousands of Greater Flamingos, the regular summering Caspian Gulls (adult and second calendar year) and numerous Graceful Prinias, Caspian Reed Warblers and Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers. Two second calendar year Black-headed Gulls were also seen on the flooded sabkha.

Barn Swallow

Northern Wheatear

Greater Spotted Eagle - 2nd Calendar Year

Greater Spotted Eagle - 2nd Calendar Year

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

Little Bittern - male

Squacco Heron

Late Greater Spotted Eagle – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl 30 May 2014 I found a 2nd Calendar Year Greater Spotted Eagle along the edge of one of the main reed beds that looked in good health & could fly normally. It was quite a worn a faded individual and created an impression of a Lesser Spotted Eagle but the underwing barring was fine and did not reach the end of the feather as would have been the case for Lesser Spotted Eagle (Dick Forsman pers comm). The bird was in the same place on 8 June and this is quite a late record for the species. They are a regular passage migrant and winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with numbers increasing in recent years in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia suggesting the wintering population in the Arabian peninsula is increasing. Birds are generally present from late September until late April, with late April being quite late for migrants but Dick Forsman mentioned to me that young birds often linger in spring unlike adults, and late April is not too late for juvenile Great Spotted Eagles to be seen on their wintering grounds. This record from the end of May is vey late for a bird to still be on its wintering grounds and may indicate the bird will over-summer. There are only a few summer records of the species from Saudi Arabia with most summer records from Sabkhat Al Fasl, all of which were 2nd calendar year birds. Specifically: one seen 29 June, 13 July, 27 July, 10 August and 17 August 2007; one 28 August 2009 and one 12 August 2010 and 21 July to 18 August 2011. Sabkhat Al Fasl is a man-made wetland site that is located in the central coastal lowlands on the southwest border of Jubail industrial city. It consists of a large sabkha (salt flat) area surrounded by landfill and divided up by sand dams, fed by excess treated organic wastewater from Jubail industrial city. Some water is present at this site all year and some parts of the edge of the latter, and of the sabkha, are vegetated by large stands of Phragmites reeds and Tamarix scrub. This habitat is the favoured site for the wintering birds and would presumably be attractive to summering Greater Spotted Eagles. The only other published information regarding summer records of the species in Saudi Arabia was a mention of immature birds being present at Qatif, 70 km south of Jubail, involving three birds with one seen on 26 and 27 June 1980 that was thought to be a second summer (3rd calendar year) individual. The other two records were immatures seen in Qatif where one was seen 30 May 1980 and the other 15 May 1982. It was thought likely that a few non-breeding immature birds summered in the area when the habitat was more favourable, unfortunately the site was developed from late 1981. I have only been able to find one summer record of the species from other Arabian peninsula countries and this came from Bahrain where one was recorded throughout June 1984 at Al-Areen, and what was presumed to be the same bird again present from August 1984–March 1985 in a small grove by Ra’s Tubli. About 15 pairs of Greater Spotted Eagles formerly bred in northern Israel but this population is now extinct with the last nests recorded in the 1960s. There appear to be eight summer records of the Greater Spotted Eagle in Saudi Arabia, suggesting a very small number may spend the summer in the region.

White-tailed Lapwings & Squacco Herons breeding at Tabuk? – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv sent me an update and a few of his photos from Tabuk taken last week that he has kindly allowed me to use on my website. Viv mentioned six White-tailed Lapwings were hanging around that he had not seen before and thinks they may have bred there? This would be a great record if proved as Mike Jennings Atlas of Breeding Birds of Arabia has the species as ‘Has bred eastern Saudi Arabia and UAE wetlands, otherwise a widespread but scarce migrant’. Tabuk is in the northwest of the country well away from the Eastern province. Viv also photographed a number of Squacco herons including some in full breeding plumage that may also have bred at the wetland site? Again this species has only been recorded breeding occasionally in the Eastern province and the Riyadh area but not in Tabuk. Viv saw Egyptian Nightjars here last year but failed to locate any this trip although it may be a little early in the year for them to be about in numbers as we normally see them in the Eastern Province in July and August.

White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwings

White-tailed Lapwing

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron

Squacco Herons

House Sparrow and Dragonfly

Yellow Wagtail

Thousands of Greater Flamingos – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Last weekend at Sabkhat Al Fasl we saw 7000+ Greater Flamingos. This is the highest count I know of for this site and it is in June an unusual month as they are normally winter visitors. There is a chance that the birds may breed here if they are undisturbed as conditions are ideal with shallow water with plenty of food and muddy areas to build nests on. It is not too late for birds to nest as nest building has occurred in Arabia in August. The site is probably too disturbed for successful breeding but this huge number leads one to wonder if it may be possible. Nesting has not been proven in Saudi Arabia although it was thought possible at the same site a number of years ago. Birds do breed in the United Arab Emirates to the south of Saudi Arabia as well as to the north occasionally in Kuwait.

The Milky Way from Tabuk – Photos by Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson sent me a couple of beautiful images of the Milky Way he had taken in Tabuk recently and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website. Please be aware the copyright of these photos belongs to Viv Wilson. Viv said the photo was taken towards the south and the black lines are dust lines. There is a meteor in each photo as well as a couple of satellites. The photos contain Scorpio, Sagittarius and Aquila and were taken with a Canon 6D and a Samyang 14mm 2.8 lens at 30 seconds with ISO8000. One of the good things about living in Saudi Arabia is light pollution is low as the landmass is large and population relatively small, which allows good views of the stars. The Milky Way is a large spiral galaxy with the Sun and its planets including Earth lying in a quiet part of the galaxy, about half way out from the centre. The Milky Way spiral rotates once every 230 million years and is made up of at least 100 billion stars, as well as dust and gas. It is so big that light takes 100 000 years to cross from one side to the other. Unlike a regular spiral, the Milky Way is a barred spiral and contains a bar across its center region, and has two major arms, two significant minor arms, as well as two smaller spurs. One of the spurs, known as the Orion Arm, contains the sun and the solar system. The Orion arm is located between two major arms, Perseus and Sagittarius. Tucked inside the very center of the galaxy, like most galaxys is an enormous black hole that consumes whatever stars it can. The Milky Way contains over 200 billion stars, and enough dust and gas to make billions more with more than half the stars found in the Milky Way being older than the 4.5 billion year old sun.

Juvenile Red-wattled Lapwing – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl on 8 June 2014, I found a juvenile Red-wattled Lapwing. The bird was always into the sun and unfortunately a bus came by and scared it into flight, where it was mobbed by Black-winged Stilts, that had young nearby, and driven off. This is an interesting record as Lou and Brian found an adult at this site 15 February 2014 raising the possibility that birds may have bred at Sabkhat Al Fasl this year? As a result I asked Simon Price and Neil Morris from Qatar about their breeding birds and when they disperse. They mentioned their birds are still present with two adults and a juvenile and Simon sent me a photo showing the juvenile bird that appears to be quite a bit younger than the juvenile at Sabkhat Al Fasl. The birds in Qatar were hatched in the first week on May so the bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl must have hatched in April sometime but who knows where. As mentioned previously the species is scarce in Saudi Arabia with records from Riyadh, the Empty Quarter and the Eastern Province. This species is a resident breeder at wetlands in eastern Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, and is gradually colonizing westwards. It would be great to think that the birds breeding to the north and south of us are trying to join up their breeding ranges, but so far it has not yet been recorded to breed in Saudi Arabia. In the Eastern province it is regarded as a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor and there have been fifteen records prior to this one of single birds from October to December (especially November), but also January, April and July. Birds have been seen at Nayriyyah in the north, three times at Haradh in the south with the last records being sixteen 24 November 1983, four times at Abqaiq and four times in Dhahran with the last record 13 December 1985. The most recent records for the Eastern province was an adult Lou and Brian found on a birding trip to the Eastern Province at Sabkhat Al Fasl 15 February 2014 and an adult at Dhahran 1 June2014

Little Grebes breeding on the percolation pond – Dhahran Hills

The percolation pond has been very quiet for birds since it was drained last year with very few birds of note being seen. There has, however, been a steady build up in the numbers of Little Grebes seen and they now number well over forty birds. A few of them have started building nests from the weed that is abundant in the pond and soon there will be little stripy chicks following their parents. Now, at least the adults are sitting on eggs and enlarging their nests. The Little Grebe is a common breeding species on a number of wetland sites in the Eastern Province with Dhahran and Sabkhat Al Fasl being the best locations for them to breed.

Squacco Heron breeding? – Sabkaht Al Fasl

Last weekend Phil and I went to Sabkhat Al Fasl and found five Squacco Herons in full breeding plumage. The species is very common at the site on spring and autumn migration as well as in the winter but is scarce in summer. Birds do occur here year round and are suspected to breed but we have found no positive evidence yet that they do. These summer records add more circumstantial evidence of breeding. Other herons we saw included five Little Egrets and several Indian Reef Herons of both white and dark morphs. Migrants included two Red-backed Shrikes, several Barn Swallows and six Common Swifts. Singing Caspian Reed Warblers and Clamorous Reed Warblers were in evidence all over the site and must breed in large numbers. A single Eurasian Spoonbill was seen, two Black-headed Gulls and a Caspian Gull were still present and plenty of waders. Most were Black-winged Stilts and Kentish Plovers but there were also several Terek Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones and one Lesser Sand Plover. Terns were still common with most being White-cheeked and Little Terns. Just before we left we saw an adult male Black-crowned Sparrow Lark and uncommon species for the site.

Squacco Heron - breeding plumage

Indian Reef Heron - dark morph

Red-backed Shrike

Common Swift

Terek Sandpipers

Terek Sandpiper

Lesser Sand Plover

Little Tern

Black-crowned Sparrow Lark