Black Redstart at Deffi Park - Jubail

Whilst birding Deffi Park in recent weeks it has become obvious a female Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros is wintering in the park. The bird can be seen on every visit feeding around on the ground under the trees. Black Redstart is an uncommon migrant and winter visitor to most areas of Saudi Arabia. They are more common winter in the mountainous Hejaz and Asir regions than elsewhere with most records referring to Eastern Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros phoenicuroides. As the bird is a female it is very difficult to assign to race but is an interesting bird to see and study. In Riyadh they are an uncommon migrant and winter visitor, passing between March and April, then again October and November. Winter visitors encountered mainly December to February, usually in ones and twos only. Both nominate and P. o. phoenicuroides occur. In the Eastern Province it is a scarce but widely distributed winter visitor from October to March where they are normally seen in well vegetated places such as parks and gardens. Females are less common that males.

Quiet mornings birding - Jubail

Phil Roberts and I went to Jubail to see if we could find anything interesting but it ended up as a very quiet mornings birding. Easily the best bird seen was a Common Blackbird a bird that has been around since 29 December 2016 but views were brief and no photographs were obtained. The next best bird was a Steep Eagle, a common winter visitor elsewhere in the Kingdom but not common in the Eastern Province and rare in Jubail. The most obvious birds were Grey Headed Swamphens with over ten seen but otherwise the best birds were a male Citrine Wagtail, 100+ Common Shelduck, 100+ Pied Avocet, five Gretaer Spotted Eagles and one Daurian Shrike.

Grey-headed Swamphen

Daurian Shrike

Masked Shrike and more at Deffi Park – Bird records by Munzir Khan

Munzir kindly sent me a few photos he took at Deffi Park recently. The fact I found Black-throated Thrushes there a few weeks ago has meant that a few more birders and photographers have visited recently. Munzir went and found the Masked Shrike that has wintered in the park and managed to take a great photo of it, much better than anything I have managed so far. He also photographed the Common Kingfisher and White Wagtail that are regularly seen in the park. Masked Shrike is an uncommon passage migrant with a few birds wintering each year and Deffi Park being a site they favour. I thank Munzir for sending the details and allowing me to use his excellent photos that are shown below.

Masked Shrike

Common Kingfisher

White Wagtail

Fat Sand Rat near Jubail – Record by Vinu Mathew

Vinu Mathew managed to find a colony of Fat Sand Rats near Jubail and take some great photos of them. He has kindly allowed me to use them on my website some of which are shown below. The Fat Sand Rat Psammomys obesus is a stocky, gerbil-like rodent, native to desert regions. Its upper parts are reddish-brown, reddish, yellowish or sandy buff and the underparts are yellowish, buffy or whitish. The subspecies that lives in Saudi Arabia is P. o. dianae. The sturdy limbs bear blackish claws and the short, stout tail that is fully haired and has a black terminal tuft. The small, rounded ears are covered with dense whitish to yellowish hair. This species communicates through high-pitched squeaks and by drumming its feet. They have a total length of 25.1 - 35.6 cm with a tail length of 10 - 15.7 cm and weigh 32-43 grams. They are found in North Africa and the Middle East and have been recorded in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. They inhabit deserts, semi-desert, rocky habitats and grasslands, provided that succulent shrubs, on which the rat feeds, are present. They live in colonies in complex burrow systems, which have separate areas for nesting and the storage of food. Compared to other members of the Muridae family (the mice, rats and gerbils), the fat sand rat is rather unusual as it is diurnal and wholly herbivorous; most other species in this family are nocturnal and feed primarily on grains. In winter their main activity is during the day, but during the summer months they prefer the shade and can be found inside the burrow or in the shade of the surrounding bushes. Its diet consists of leaves and stems and, unlike high-energy seeds, these foods are rather low in energy. As a result, it has to eat around 80 percent of its body weight in food each day to obtain sufficient energy. The fat sand rat does not need to drink water, a useful adaptation in arid habitats, and instead can get all the water it needs by feeding on the leaves of the saltbush which are up to 90 percent water and licking morning dew. However, this water has an extremely high concentration of salt, and so the fat sand rat must produce very salty, concentrated urine in order to expel the salt from its body

Five Sociable Lapwing - Haradh

Whilst birding the pivot irrigation fields of Haradh on 3 February 2017 we came across a minimum of five Sociable Lapwings Vanellus gregarius. Some were in breeding plumage with others still in their winter dress. The birds were associating with large numbers of Northern Lapwings and were probably part of the seven we saw two weeks previously indicating the birds are wintering in the area. The Sociable Lapwing is globally threatened, and categorised as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red-list of threatened species. It is a migratory species breeding in the central steppes of Kazakhstan, with small numbers in southern Russian. The majority of the population migrate through south-west Russia, into Turkey, through the Middle East region including Saudi Arabia, before spending the winter in north-east Africa (mainly Sudan) and the Arabian Peninsula. There is an additional flyway where birds migrate south-east through central Asia into Pakistan and north-west India. The birds that winter in the Arabian Peninsula do so mainly in Oman with others in the United Arab Emirates. A few winter in Saudi Arabia with birds mainly in the northwest of the Kingdom around Tabuk. The birds we have seen in the Eastern Province in the last two winters constitute a new wintering area for the species. They frequent large pivot irrigation fields where they favour newly ploughed areas. This type of habitat is becoming more frequent in the Kingdom and probably explains the increasing numbers of birds wintering in Saudi Arabia.

Song Thrushes and more at Deffi Park - Jubail

Whilst birding Deffi Park I found a large group of at least 25 Song Thrush the first time I had seen this species at the location. They were not easy to get close to as they kept flying up into the trees but were great to watch feeding around even if at a distance. The wet stream held both Indian Reef Heron and Little Egret as well as Common Kingfisher and Greenshank. Several Common Chiffchaffs were calling from the threes and a Masked Shrike was seen wintering for the third year running.  Photography was difficult due to the early morning time and lack of light.

Song Thrush

Song Thrush

Song Thrush

Common Kingfisher

Common Greenshank

Birding the pivot fields – Haradh

The winter months are a good time to visit Haradh pivot irrigation fields as they hold a lot of good birds at this time of year. Large numbers of wintering Harriers, particularly Western Marsh Harrier and Pallid Harrier occur here and I saw well over thirty birds of both species during my visit. Another group that frequents the fields in winter are Lapwings and I saw at least 26 Spur-winged Lapwing a species that has started using the fields only in the last few years and well over 350 Northern Lapwings the second largest group ever seen in the Kingdom. Western Cattle Egrets are beginning to use the fields in good numbers in recent years and we saw well over 300 birds feeding in the short cut fields. Other good birds seen along the field edges included Asian Desert Warbler, Desert Wheatear, Common Kestrel and several Mauryan Grey Shrikes and a single Southern Grey Shrike. All in all I had a great days birding these fields and saw plenty of good birds. These fields hold a lot more birds than similar fields closer to my home of Dhahran so the longer journey is well worth the effort.

Western Marsh Harrier - male

Pallid Harrier

Western Cattle Egret

Northern Lapwing

Asian Desert Warbler 

Mauryan Grey Shrike

Desert Wheatear

Common Kestrel

Large group of Mallards in a field – Haradh

Whilst birding at Haradh n 13 January Phil Roberts and I found 60 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos in a wet pivot irrigation field. This is easily the largest number I have seen as a single time in the Kingdom and was very unusual as the location is well over 100 kilometres from the coast. Mallard is a common resident and winter visitor in the Central Province, normally recorded from November to February. Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) said the species is a localised breeding resident and winter visitor. First bred on the Riyadh watercourse in 1984 and has continued to do so each year since in steadily increasing numbers. Young appear from early April onwards and by mid to late July are starting to flock. Winter visitors arrive in October and depart in May. In the main they congregate in small scattered groups along the watercourse but flocks of 300-400 have been recorded. In the Eastern Province they are an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor that generally occurs from late August until May, with peak numbers from September to March. It occurs mainly in the coastal zone where they often frequent coastal areas and inland pools. The only regular sites are the Dammam area where birds are often seen in Tarout Bay. Sabkhat Al Fasl regularly has small flocks of up to 35 birds in the winter. Inland records have come from Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp percolation pond and Abqaiq lagoons where birds are seen each winter in numbers up to 15 birds so this record of 60 birds well inland at Haradh is an unusual occurrence.

Eversmann’s Redstart - Jubail

Whilst birding at Jubail I found a female Eversmann’s Redstart, a new species for me. Birding up to that point had been rather poor due to the overcast and windy conditions but it was made up for with this bird. I noticed a redstart on the track between the large reed beds and it almost immediately flew up into the reed bed but luckily stayed on the edge. Initially I could only see it through the windscreen of the car making views poor but it looked very interesting due to the pale panel in the closed wing. I moved the car slightly to get a view through the window and got a few photos of to look at when I got home but the combination of wing markings and covert edges made the identification as a female Eversmann’s Redstart look very positive. I have never seen this species and on checking details in books and photos on the internet combined with Yoav Perlman’s confirmation of my identification I was happy I had found a very good vagrant for Saudi Arabia as well as another new species for my Saudi Arabian list. This was the third new species I had found in ten days after Black-throated Thrush and Redwing.

The only records I know of for Saudi Arabia are as follows:

Five at Ras Tanurah in December 1970 until January 1971 - Eastern Province

One Haradh 31 January 1980 - Eastern Province

One Kurais 14 November 1980 - Eastern Province

One at Dhahran from 21 January to 28 February 1982 - Eastern Province

A male at Thumamah, Riyadh, in alfalfa fields 8 December 1990 to 11 January 1991 - Central Province

Two at Jubail near the Holiday Inn on 17 November 1991 one remaining until 19 November 1991 - Eastern Province.

A female was found on 27 January to 9 March 2000 at Thumamah - Central Province

Twelve Black-throated Thrushes in Deffi Park - Jubail

After finding four Black-throated Thrushes at Deffi Park, Jubail on 20 January I went back a week later to see if I could get better photos and see if anything else had turned up. On arrival, at first light, I saw plenty of Song Thrushes feeding around under the trees and in with them a least three Black-throated Thrushes. As I stayed and looked around more I counted more and more birds and finally ended up with twelve. This is an unprecedented number in recent years and made an amazing sight with the twenty or so Song Thrushes and two Redwings also present. Photography is difficult as light is poor in the early morning, they generally stay in the shade and the birds are constantly disturbed by walkers later on in the day, but occasionally they would come out into more open areas. There has been a major influx of this species into Arabia with 20+ birds seen in Qatar in late December where there had only been one previous record and others in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.