Some birds from Deffi Park area in Jubail – Arnoly Uy

Arnold sent me some photos of birds taken in the Eastern Province last week. He visited Deffi Park in Jubail and managed to photograph a Common Chiffchaff. This species is an abundant migrant and common winter visitor to the Eastern Province but they are fast moving and difficult to get good photos of so Arnold did well with these photos. Arnold also saw a pair of Eurasian Stonechats at Abu Hadriyah and took a couple of photos of these as well. I thank Arnold for sending me the details and photos and for allowing me to use them on my website. Thanks to Yoav Perlman for pointing out the Stonechat was a Eurasian Stonechat due to streaked rump, short primary projection and all orange belly.

Striped Hawk-moth – Record by Mansur Al Fahad

I received an e-mail a few days ago with a great photo of a Striped Hawk-moth Hyles livornica from Mansur Al Fahad who photographed the moths in Zulfi last summer. He recorded them four times around his house and in his moth traps and method they were common in the area. The Striped Hawk-moth is the most common Hawk-moth in Arabia, it is an insect of the open desert where it breeds on a number of different plants. It flies at night and migrates to other countries reaching as far north as Scandinavia.  A successful breeding season often occurs after heavy rain with vast numbers of moths occurring. The thorax of the Striped Hawk-moth has four distinct white stripes running lengthways, and the antennae have white tips. There is a white dorsal stripe running along the abdomen and each of the underwings has a bright red patch. Mansur kindly allowed me to use his photo on my website which is shown below.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk in Dhahran – Record by Paul Wells

Paul Wells was out birding in the foggy early morning weather we had recently and managed to find and photograph a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Paul mentioned there were two of these birds in close proximity and thought it was maybe it was because of the fog they had stopped over in Dhahran. Eurasian Sparrowhawk is a common passage migrant and winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia although they are always good to see and watch. Dhahran camp is a very good area to see the birds with the golf course area the prime site. Paul saw his birds at the edge of the golf course so it is good to know they are back for the winter. I thank Paul for sending me details and allowing me to use them on my website.

Dark Grass Blue in Dhahran – Record by Vinu Mathew

Vinu Mathew took a few macro photographs of some Dark Grass Blue Zizeeria karsandra in Dhahran recently. Dark Grass Blue is a small butterfly found in the Southern Mediterranean, in a broad band to India, Sri Lanka, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia. It belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family. As the common name suggests, this species is found in open grassy habitats but can occur anywhere where grasses occur. I thank Vinu for sending me the details and for giving mr permission to use them on my website.

Migrants and residents in Jeddah – Abdulraouf Banaja

I received a few e-mails and photos from Abdulraouf Banaja who has just started developing an interest in bird watching. He lives in Jeddah and was happy to have access to my website and was really surprised to see the varieties of birds that occur in the kingdom.  He mentioned It is definitely going to make his new hobby much more exciting than he thought first. It is great news more and more local people are getting interested in birds with Abdulraouf being one of many. He has seen a number of common migrnats such as Common Whitethroat and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater as well as some residents such as Nile Valley Sunbird and (Arabian) Green Bee-eater. I thank Abdulraouf for allowing me to use some of his photos on my website that are shown below.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater 

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Nile Valley Sunbird

A few herons – Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area recently I saw a few interesting herons. Many Grey Herons and Western Great Egrets were flying around but also in amongst them was a single Purple Heron. Numbers of Squacco Heron are also increasing as winter arrives with many juvenile birds. Wader numbers are decreasing but the odd Greater Sand Plover can still be found amongst the commoner Little Stints and Kentish Plovers. Otherwise it is resident species that are making up the numbers with Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers being seen in good number as are Grey-headed Swamphens.

Western Great Egret

Purple Heron

Greater Sand Plover

Indian Reed Warbler

Grey-headed Swamphen

Western Cattle Egrets retuning to Jeddah – Bird record by Abdulraouf Banaja

Abdulraouf Banaja sent me some photos of a few Western Cattle Egrets in a roadside park in Jeddah. Western Cattle Egrets start building up in numbers at this time of year with birds seen feeding along the grass verges of roads and in parks. I thank Abdulraouf for allowing me to use his photos on my website some of which are shown below.

Breeding Rueppell’s Weaver in Southwest Saudi Arabia – Bird records by Jean-François Frey

Jean-François Frey sent me some e-mails and photos of birds he saw in southwest Saudi Arabia recently. He mentioned he is not equipped at all for the bird photography but was very lucky with the Rueppell’s Weavers as he has to stop because I receive a phone call whilst driving his car. After stopping he noticed the weavers only two meters away from him. He mentioned he had to hide nearby and observe and be ready when the bird was coming. This is a species that does not occur in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom where I do most of my birdwatching. In Saudi Arabia Rueppell’s Weaver is a common and widespread breeding resident species in the southwest of the Kingdom occurring north to south of Jeddah. Apparently it is only a summer breeding visitor to Hejaz and Asir mountains preferring to spend the winter at lower elevations and is not found on summits or in juniper and is less common here than in the lowlands. I thank Jean-François for allowing me to use his photos on my website.

Various species in Dammam – Records by Arnold Uy

Arnold Uy has sent me a number of photos recently from his birding in the Dammam area. He has kindly allowed me to reproduce them below. Common Whitethroat is a common passage migrant in the spring and autumn as is Pallid Swift. Pied Wheatears are less common although still common at this time of year.

Common Whitethroat

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Pallid Swift

Pallid Swift

Ringing typical east coast wetland birds - Jubail

Nicole and I went ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl 28 October and caught the typical wetland birds we normally catch with plenty of Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers and a few Common Kingfishers. We also caught a single Great Reed Warbler, two Caspian (European) Reed Warbler, several Graceful Prinias and two Little Bitterns. Other birds trapped included a Turkestan Shrike and the first Bluethroats of the autumn. It was quite hard work ringing in the high humidity but we ended up with 34 birds trapped and ringed in total so not too bad. Numbers decreased markedly around 10:00 hrs as normal so we left the site by 12:00 hrs.

Graceful Prinia

Graceful Prinia

Great Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Little Bittern

Common Kingfisher - male

Common Kingfisher - female

European (Caspian) Reed Warbler

European (Caspian) Reed Warbler

Turkestan Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

House Sparrow