Jack Snipe in the ditch - Dhahran Hills

Whilst birding the ‘patch’ 12 November I came across a Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus. This is an unusual but annual occurrence in the area but normally they are flushed from the long grass of the wet spray fields in mid-winter. This bird was pretending to be a bit of grass in a small patch of cover by the side of the wet ditch. Initially it was feeding out in the open but at some distance so eventually I tried to move closer to it when it took up it hiding posture, even though there was virtually nothing to hide behind. I took a couple of photos, although the light was not very good, and then left it still hiding in the same place. The Jack Snipe is a winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where it is scarce in marshy areas away from the coast from early September to early April. In the rest of Saudi Arabia it has been recorded most frequently in the Riyadh and Tabuk area and rarely in the Tihamah in the southwest.

Yellow-bellied House Gecko – Dhahran Hills

This Yellow-bellied House Gecko Hemidactylus flaviviridis was found and caught inside my house in Dhahran in September. It had been living in the house for some time and skilfully avoided being caught for some weeks before I eventually managed to trap it. They are a relatively large lizard which demonstrates distinct variation in body colour depending on the time of day. At night, they are typically greyish, olive or brown, patterned with indistinct bands on the back and yellowish on the underside; however, when seen during the day, the gecko is usually much darker in colour, with contrasting, chevron-shaped bands on the body. The yellow-bellied house gecko is covered in small, keeled scales and the head and body are flattened, while the tail is fat and swollen at the base, with enlarged tubercles (wart-like bumps and ridges) along the upper side whilst the toes have broad pads and small claws. Active at night, they feed primarily on insects which congregate around sources of light, aided by its extraordinary capability to climb vertical walls and walk on ceilings. This amazing feat is achieved by having specialised toe pads, which are covered in small scales called ‘scansors’. On the underside of the toe, each individual scansor can have up to 150,000 microscopic, highly branched, hair-like structures, known as setae, which form hundreds of saucer-shaped ‘end plates’. This gives the Yellow-bellied House Gecko an enormous surface area in relation to its body size, enabling it to grip all kinds of surfaces. They have particularly large and sensitive eyes, with pupils which open wide at night to let in maximum amounts of light, giving it excellent vision in the dark. The pupils contract to vertical slits during the day to protect the retina (the light-sensitive part of the eye) from harsh sunlight, while the eyelids are fused to form a transparent cover, called a spectacle, for additional protection. Any dust or debris in the eye is licked away by the gecko’s extremely mobile tongue. It is found throughout parts of the Arabian Peninsula, Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan and Somalia. They are particularly associated with man-made structures such as houses, warehouse complexes, hospitals and schools (3), where it is commonly observed on walls and ceilings. During the day, the yellow-bellied house gecko will retreat to undisturbed crevices, often hiding in or behind fixtures and fittings such as air conditioning units and picture frames, or under the eaves of buildings.

Red-tailed Wheatear back on the boulders – Dhahran Hills

Whilst birding the ‘patch’ on 11 November I saw the Red-tailed Wheatear that Phil had found at the weekend. I was busy with the family so unable to make it birding for the last few days so this was my first opportunity to look for the bird. Luckily it was still on the same boulders, an area where it or another bird has spent the last two winters. As the nights are drawing in as winter approaches the light is not good for photography in the evening any more with the below images the best I could manage. Hopefully the bird wil stick around all winter as in the last two years as they are great little birds to sit and watch. The Red-tailed Wheatear Oenanthe chrysopygia is a scarce winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with birds occurring from late September until early April, especially in the vicinity of jebals, other rocky outcrops, dry scrub areas and semi-desert. It breeds in an area from north-east Turkey through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and western Pakistan while it winters to the south from southern Iraq, across the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-west India. Although they breed from 1200 – 4000 metres above sea level they winter down to sea level with this bird seen only 100 metres above sea level.

Bluethroats returning in numbers – Sabkhat Al Fasl

My last ringing trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl was almost cancelled due to the wind. The forecast all week had been strong winds continuing until Friday, the only day I could go ringing. I was very kken to go ringing though as I can only go once a week and due to the lack of ringers sometimes the weekends are not possible if Nicole or I are away or busy. As a result we set off the 135 kilometres to our ringing site (where the Saudi Wildlife Authority have given me permission to ring) and got there before first light. We had an extra pair of hands in form of the Harald the son of a birdwatcher on camp who was visiting for the school holidays. It was quit windy as expected but we set all our nets as usual with the exception of the most exposed one as this would have been to windy. One net set in a thick reed bed was the least exposed and as suspected caught the most birds most of which were Bluethroats. Bluethroat is an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor to Saudi Arabia where they prefer damp areas. Both Red-spotted and White-spotted birds occur with Red-spotted being much the commoner of the two forms. In winter it is difficult to differentiate between the forms as only adult summer males can be told apart in the field. We do catch these sometimes but more often in spring than autumn. The first Bluethroats were seen almost a month ago but this ringing trip we managed to catch four birds and see and hear many others indicating they are back on their wintering grounds in good numbers. It will be interesting to see if we re-trap any of these birds over the winter months at the site. Apart from the Bluethroats ringing was quite difficult but we did manage to catch both Great Reed Warblers and Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers as well as Graceful Prinia. All in all it was a worthwhile exercise going ringing and we all returned home happy.

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Great Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Indian Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose at Jubail – Bird records by Lou Regenmorter

Lou was in the Eastern Province for the weekend and after spending some time at Sabkhat Al Fasl ventured into Jubail towards Deffi Park. Here he found a small wetland area with a few birds on it including a juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose. Lou managed to take some nice photos of the bird as it was fairly tame but the fact it was a juvenile and the time of year points more towards a wild origin than a captive one. Lou has kindly given me permission to reproduce the photos on my website, two of which are shown below. This bird appears to be of the sub-species Anser albifrons albifrons, sometimes known as Russian White-fronted Goose. The confirmed records from the Eastern Province were two immature birds seen on a small treated sewage effluent pond at Dhahran Camp 14th November 1985, four birds at Sabkhat Al Fasl 16th November 2007 two of which were shot by a hunter, nine birds at Dhahran Hills percolation pond 13th to 22nd February 2008, a second calendar year Anser albifrons albifrons was at Sabkhat Al Fasl 17-18 February 2012 and nine shot by a hunter in early winter 2013 at Al Asfar Lake, Al Hassa.

Records from elsewhere in Saudi Arabia include the following:-

One near Jeddah prior to 1981

Immature, Jeddah, 24 December 1982 to 4 March 1983

Singles, Yanbu, 1 January 1983, with another photographed at Yanbu in January 1983 plausibly ascribed to A. a. erythrops, 17 December 1984 to 2 February 1985, and 25 December 1985

First-winter, Mansouriyah near Riyadh, 21 December 1984 to 25th January 1985

Up to 11 first-winters, Riyadh area, 8th November 1985 to late February 1986

One, Mecca bypass, winter 1987/88

Four, lower reaches of Riyadh watercourse, November 1990, had increased to 11 by 1st February 1991

One Jeddah 19 January 2011

Common Fan-footed Gecko near Al Thweer – Records by Mansur Al Fahad

Mansur Al Fahad sent me a number of photos of different lizards he took near his Village of Al Thweer which is located about 40 kilometres northwest of zulfi town in the deep of sands called Nafud Al Thwart. Mansur has kindly allowed me to use his photographs on my website with the Common Fan-footed Gecko ptyodactylus hasselquistii reproduced below. The Common Fan-footed Gecko has distinctive long legs that end in widely splayed toes, tipped on either side by a wide, fan-like fringe. The body colouration is pallid, helping camouflage it amongst its rocky habitat. Markings can vary between the sexes and between the subspecies with orange cross bands as well as reddish, black and pale spots all occurring on different individuals. They are exceptional climbers that are able to run across vertical rock faces and even overhangs and cave roofs due to their specialised toe scales, known as scansors, which bear thousands of microscopic, hooked hair-like projections that enable the toes to grip even the most slippery surfaces. They are a nocturnal species, emerging after dusk from daytime refuges such as caves and crevices to feed on insects and arachnids and are often encountered in small groups. They are a widespread species occurring throughout North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. Populations occur from Morocco east to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Oman through Saudi Arabia north as far as Iran, and south as far as eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. They are common in their range and inhabitant arid, rocky environments including boulders, rock faces and in caves located amongst valleys, hills and mountains up to elevations of 2,000 metres. This species is also sometimes found in buildings.

Black-necked Grebes on the pond – Dhahran Hills

A visit to the ‘patch’ on 7 November to help show Lou, a birder from Riyadh, Common Pochard and Gadwall, two new species for him in Saudi Arabia proved to be quite good. When I arrived I found all the duck from the last few days still in place and also a Black-necked Grebe quite close to the edge. After some time it was joined by a second bird. This is only the second time I have seen the species on the ‘patch’ with the first being on the settling pond. Duck numbers remained high with plenty of Common Pochard, Ferruginous Duck and Northern Shoveler. A single Pintail, one Tufted Duck, two Gadwall and two Eurasian Wigeon were also present. Other birds of note included five Little Egrets, two White-winged Terns, a Gull-billed Tern and a flyover flock of about twenty Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. Two Clamorous Reed Warblers were also seen in the reeds and the first five Great Cormorants of the winter flew in to roost. The only waders seen were five Black-winged Stilts and three Ruff.

Black-necked Grebe

Common Pochard

Gadwall

White-winged Tern

Great Cormorant

Male Common Kingfisher Al Khobar – Bird records by Tyrone Diesca

Tyrone Diesca sent me some photos of a Common Kingfisher he saw with his birding friend Sisar Solesta and has given me permission to use them on my website. The photos were taken on the morning of 7 November 2014 at south corniche lagoon, Al Khobar with a 200mm lens. The Common Kingfisher is a common winter visitor to Saudi Arabia where it is always seen near water and mostly near to the coast. Interestingly most birds seen are females and at Sabkhat Al Fasl, Jubail, Eastern Province we catch and ring quite a few birds with almost all being females. The photo that Tyrone has sent shows a male as it has a completely black bill and these are seen much less frequently than females although they are also regular.

Amazing number of Common Pochards and other ducks – Dhahran Hills

As I have mentioned a few times this autumn has been a bit disappointing for birds but to help rectify the situation duck numbers have been very good with record counts of Ferruginous Ducks on the ‘patch’. On 5 November I  also had a record count of Common Pochard with 39 birds seen. A single bird was seen several weeks ago that was quickly joined by a second bird. Then about a week later numbers had increased to ten birds and now to 39. Also good numbers of other ducks were present with 45 Northern Shoveler, two Gadwall, one female Pintail and 11 Ferruginous Ducks. Gadwall and Pintail are scarce birds on the pond so it was a good evenings count of ducks. Unfortunately there was nothing else of note at all possible due to the high winds we have been experiencing recently.

Northern Shoveler

A few migrants near Tabuk – bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson has been sending me a few photos of his recent birding trips and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website. He has been seeing quite a few migrants in the last couple of weeks many of which I am struggling to see in any numbers in the Eastern Province this autumn. Migrants seen include Squacco Herons, Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstarts, Barn Swallows, Common Kestrels, Pallid Harriers & Yellow Wagtails.

Squacco Heron

Barn Swallow 

Pallid Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Yellow Wagtail

Spotted Flycatcher

Common Redstart

Common Kestrel