A few migrants in Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv has been sending a few photographs of birds seen in his local area around Tabuk in northwest Saudi Arabia. Some of them are still wintering species such as White Wagtail, Western Marsh Harrier, Black Kite, Red-spotted Bluethroat and Common Chiffchaff whilst others are migrants such as Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Pallid Harrier, Ruff, Turkestan Shrike and Black-headed Wagtail. I am not sure of the status of White-tailed Lapwing and Common Kestrel in the area as they could be either winter visitors or passage migrants.

Black Kite

Red-spotted Bluethroat

Common Chiffchaff

Western Marsh Harrier

White Wagtail

Black-headed Wagtail

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Pallid Harrier

Ruff

Turkestan Shrike

White-tailed Lapwing

Common Kestrel

Little Ringed Plover a new ringing species for Saudi Arabia – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl we caught and ringed a Little Ringed Plover. This is the first time we have caught this species in Saudi Arabia and was a new ringing species for Nicole. We caught the bird in a small 12 metre double panel mist net set for pipits, in a relatively open area, and the bird was accidentally flushed into the net as I was walking to see what was in the triple 18 metre five panel nets set over the water. The bird was in a small wet area near to the small net and flew fast a low straight into the net when flushed. At first I thought it was a shrike as it was so white on the underside but as I got closer to the net it became obvious it was a wader and a Little Ringed Plover. We had probably seen the same bird earlier in the morning sitting on top of the mound of sand I park by when we arrive at the location. Little Ringed Plovers are early passage migrants occurring in February, with some birds staying to breed in the area.

Three species of Shrike including Long-tailed – Dhahran Hills golf course

A quick visit to Dhahran Hills golf course at lunchtime 9 March produced few birds but a few shrikes were about including the Long-tailed Shrike which is gradually re-growing its tail. The bird is difficult to locate and extremely wary of people and it is almost impossible to get close to it. Shortly after I arrived a golf buggy scared the bird out from its resting place and it flew up on top of a tall tree. It stayed only briefly before flying off and disappearing not to be re-found. It was clear the tail has grown quite a lot in the last four days and now it appears to have a long tail again although not as long as the full grown tail it had when it was originally found. Two other species of shrike were also seen including a Turkestan Shrike and a Woodchat Shrike. This is the first Woodchat Shrike of the year on the patch for me although I have seen them the last couple of weekends at Sabkhat Al Fasl. Both of these shrikes were feeding from the hedges along the middle section of the golf course and were too distant for photography. The small pond has dropped in water level as some work is being done in removing the phragmites reeds surrounding it in some areas but a few Common Moorhens and Great Cormorants are still about. Apart for this very little else was seen with the exception of a few White Wagtails feeding on the short cut grass of the fairways.

Long-tailed Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

Great Cormorant

Black-crowned Night Herons – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Black-crowned Night Heron is an unusual species to see at Sabkhat Al Fasl and although they are recorded annually they are not easy to see due to the large areas of cover. On 5 March Phil Roberts and I saw a small group of seven birds flying over and circling around before landing deep in the reed beds. Most of the birds were juveniles but at least two adults were also present in the group. This is only the second time I have seen the species at the location so was a very pleasing sight. Black-crowned Night Heron is an uncommon passage migrant that is scarce in winter and rare in summer. The are noted more often in autumn than spring with juveniles occurring from September to November and sometimes into February and can be seen anywhere where water and trees occur even in parks such as Deffi Park in Jubail. Spring occurrences are irregular from March to May and rarely summer records in June or July occur. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia they are only seen regularly in the southwest of the country.

Things hotting up – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl 6 March a lot more migrants were seen than in previous trips. Things started off well with three Pied Wheatears seen on arrival at the site just after first light and got better with a singing Savi’s Warbler shortly afterwards. Plenty of shrikes were seen including Daurian, Turkestan and Woodchat (see previous post) and good numbers of Common Swift, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow and Sand Martin were also seen. Good numbers of Black-headed Wagtails along with White Wagtails were also present and a few wintering Water Pipits and Red-spotted Bluethroats were also around the reed edges. Clamorous and Caspian Reed Warblers were singing from almost every stretch of reed-beds showing the breeding season is here or nearly so. A few more Pied Wheatears and several Isabelline Wheatears were hopping around on the bare earth and several waders species including Kentish Plover, Ruff, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper were seen. Only one Greater Spotted Eagle and less than ten Western Marsh Harriers were seen showing birds are moving off back to their breeding grounds. Common Kingfishers were still present in small numbers as were Eastern Stonechats and resident species such as Purple Swamphen and Caspian Terns were seen.

Black-headed Wagtail

Isabelline Wheatear

Wood Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Common Kingfisher

Purple Swamphen

Caspian Tern

Some good birds at Udhailiyah – Bird records by Nishan Xavier

A male Eastern Black Redstart was found at Udhailiyah on 7 March. This is a good bird and one not seen so easily in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. It is also a bird that is not so easy to photograph so Nishan has done well to get a couple of nice photographs of the bird showing its features. Eastern Black Redstart is a winter visitor to the Kingdom. Another bird Nishan found was a female Blue Rock Thrush. This is again a bird that is not common in the region but is an early migrant occurring from February until late March or early April. Birds are normally seen hopping around on rocks or rough ground but can also be seen in trees occasionally as the one Nishan photographed was. These two species of bird would liven up any mornings birding in the Eastern Province and are good finds in Udhailiyah. Finally Nishan sent me a photograph of a House Sparrow a common resident in the area and found anywhere where human activity takes place including the desert near Bedouin camps.

Eastern Black Redstart

Eastern Black Redstart

Blue Rock Thrush - female

Blue Rock Thrush - female

Blue Rock Thrush - female

House Sparrow - female

Daurian, Turkestan & Woodchat Shrikes – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl 5 March I saw a good number of shrikes with 20 Daurian Shrikes, one Turkestan Shrike and four Woodchat Shrikes seen. Numbers of passage birds have now joined the wintering Daurian Shrikes in the area. The status of Daurian and Turkestan Shrikes in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia is not well documented but since I have been here there seems to be a distinction between the arrival dates and occurrence of the two species. Daurian Shrike is a passage migrant and winter visitor. In autumn the first birds are seen in September and remain until March. In late February and early March a good number of passage birds joint the smaller number of wintering birds making sightings common in parks, and wetland areas with reed beds. Turkestan Shrike is less common than Daurian Shrike and is a passage migrant from September to October and from Early March until May. As a result there are only a couple of months when both species can be seen together in the area with these being March, September and October. Woodchat Shrike is an uncommon passage migrant passing in mid-February until mid-May, peaking in April, and again from mid-August to mid-October peaking in September. Variable numbers occur each year with some year’s birds being plentiful and in others uncommon.

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Eastern Black-headed Yellow Wagtail melanogrisea – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl 6 March I found two Eastern Black-headed Yellow Wagtail melanogrisea feeding along a path and near the waters edge.  This subspecies is not as common as Black-headed Wagtail feldegg in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia but arrive in early march similar to feldegg. Some individual Black-headed Yellow Wagtails, more common in the eastern part of their range, show some white on sides of the throat (often also on upper throat) like the ones I saw and have been named melanogrisea. Melanogrisea is said to breed from the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea south to northern Afghanistan and the Tian Shan, and east to Lake Balkhash, Tarbagatay and Dzungaria and winter mainly in India. Plumage wise it is close to feldegg but slightly brighter and paler green on the back, paler yellow below with the chin white instead of yellow and the yellow throat separated from the black ear-coverts by a more or less narrow white line lacking in feldegg. The hood also does not reach the back onto the mantle. These differences are not consistent according to Alstrom and Mild ‘Pipits & Wagtails’ and they do not think it is a valid subspecies saying birds showing characteristics of melanogrisea are uncommon spring migrants in East Africa and comprise 10% of the feldegg passing in spring in Israel and many birds in spring in India appear to be typical feldegg. Birds on the breeding grounds of melanogrisea also lack the white stripe and some birds in the European breeding range of feldegg also have a white stripe. As a result Alstrom & Mild regard melanogrisea as a plumage variant within feldegg that becomes clinally commoner in the eastern part of the breeding range. This is probably correct as the birds I saw show signs of melanogrisea but lack the white throat mentioned for that type.