Waders, Egrets & Herons - Dhahran Expro & Dammam Al Khobar Wader south roosts

The wader roost had plenty of birds on it during my last visit, but the light was poor and most of the birds were directly into the sunlight making them difficult to view. I did not see anything out of the usual during my three hours looking but saw a few reasonable birds including a good selection of waders, a Western Great Egret, Western Osprey and Indian Reef Herons of both white and grey colour morphs. The waders were mainly Ruff, Dunlin and Common Redshanks, although a few Eurasian Curlew, Black-winged Stilts and Little Stints were also around. Smaller numbers of Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone and Eurasian Oystercatcher were also seen.

Common Redshank

Eurasian Curlew

Ruff

Although there were no Lesser Sand Plovers seen at Dhahran Expro there were approximately 100 at Dammam / Al Khobar along with ten Grey Plovers which again were not seen at the former site. A slightly oiled Western Great Egret was fishing in one corner of the roost and a few Western Reef Herons were in the same area. Several Greater Flamingos were far out as the tide was not fully in and a Western Osprey flew over with its catch of fish. Gulls were plentiful with most being Black-headed Gull including an adult in full summer plumage, put a good number of Slender-billed gulls was also present. The only Large White-headed Gull seen was a Heuglin’s Gull. A very large gathering of 50+ Gull-billed Terns and seven Caspian Terns were also seen.

Western Great Egret - slightly oiled

Indian Reef Heron

Greater Flamingo

Western Osprey

Slender-billed Gull

Pheasant-tailed Jacana north of Al Hair– bird records by Bader & Muhammad Al Mohatresh

I received an e-mail from Mansur Al Fahad, an active birder from Riyadh a few days ago with a very interesting photo attached. Mansur mentioned is friend Mohammed and his younger brother Yazeed had come to Riyadh to see what could be seen in the area. On 31 January 2014 Yazeed is new birder and photographer and he and his brother Muhammad found and photographed a Pheasant-tailed Jacana North of Al Hair before it flew off into the reeds. This is probably only the second record for Saudi Arabia with the previous record in Riyadh at Wadi Hanifah ‘Acacia Grove’ in the early 1990’s. This is another great record by the local Saudi Birders who have found plenty of good birds recently, when you take Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Penduline Tits and Cinereous Vulture all in a few months. I thank Mansur for obtaining permission for me to use the photo and Yazeed for allowing me to use it.

White-throated Kingfisher at Udhailiyah – Bird record by Douglas Horn & Rachel Abel

A White-throated Kingfisher was found at Udhailiyah Golf Clubhouse duck pond a couple of weeks ago by Rachel Abel who works there. She told Douglas Horn, who also works there, and he went down a couple of times to try to find and photograph the bird. Yesterday he successfully managed to locate the bird in a tree on the middle island of the duck pond and took a photograph with his 200mm lens and 1.7x converter. Douglas kindly allowed me to use his photo on my website which is shown below. White-throated Kingfisher is not a common bird in the Eastern Province and this is the most southerly record I know of for the Province. Most records come from more northerly areas such as Sabkhat Al Fasl but they have been seen as far south as Dhahran in previous years. The winter of 2013-14 has been a good one for the species in the Eastern Province with an overwintering bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl from 31 August 2013 until mid-January 2014 at least, a bird seen at Qaryat Al Ulya on 27 September 2013 and this bird from Udhailiyah in January 2014. Up until the end of the 1980’s there had only been two records from the Eastern Province, both from the Dhahran area but there have been more sighting since all from the Jubail to Al Khobar region.

A better days birding – Sabkhat Al Fasl

The winter has been very poor in Saudi Arabia for birds so far with my last few visits to Sabkhat Al Fasl producing very little. The trip Phil and I made last weekend was a better days birding, although we failed to find anything significant. We had six Greater Spotted Eagles which although a low number for recent winters is the highest number I have seen at the site this winter. Most birds were distant but one bird flew right overhead giving good views. Other birds of prey included two Eurasian Sparrowhawks and 10+ Western Marsh Harriers including a fine adult male.

Greater Spotted Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

Clamorous Reed Warblers were singing loudly at every patch of reeds we passed and must have a very high breeding density here. Plenty of Common Chiffchaffs were seen and heard in the reeds and a male Daurian Shrike was also hunting from the tall reed stems. A few terns were flying over the reed beds with most Caspian Terns but one Gull-billed Tern was also seen.

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Common Chiffchaff

Daurian Shrike

Down by the scrape area we had a couple of Song Thrushes one of which stayed long enough for a distant photo. This is the first time I have photographed the species at this location as although I have seen them there before they are shy and retiring birds. In this same area a couple of European Stonechats and two North Caspian Taxon Stonechats were seen and hundreds of Water Pipits were also present. About four Bluethroats were seen with one being a fine Red-spotted male and all were seen above ground level in the red beds.

Song Thrush

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat

Red-spotted Bluethroat

Water Pipit - coutelli

Other birds seen included a large number of Western Great Egrets (20+), two Common Kingfishers, four Common Snipe, twenty Squacco Herons, 14 Western Cattle Egrets, 20+ Little Egrets, one Kentish Plover, one Green Sandpiper and a couple of Little Grebes. Approximately 5000 Greater Flamingos were present on the flooded sabkha which is still at a very high level after all the winter rain. The Flamingos, as can be seen from the photograph below, are wading in the water up to their bellies which is an unusual sight.

Greater Flamingo

Spanish Sparrows – Jubail area

The Spanish Sparrow is a difficult bird to pin down in the Eastern Province. You will occasionally come across one in an unusual place only for them to disappear again and not be seen for some time. I found one on the ‘patch’ in 2010 and not since and again found a few at Sabkhat Al Fasl in winter 2011, where they stayed for a few weeks, but were not seen again until winter 2013/14 when a few have reappeared in almost the exact same spot as 2011. Some areas like Haradh have large numbers but I do not bird this site so locating single birds at Ash Shagiryah Development Farm the last two visits has been encouraging. Last week we again saw a single male in amongst a very large flock of House Sparrows but Phil located a small flock of ten birds on a waste mud mound near a reed bed on the way out of the site, that included both male and female birds. Hopefully this means they will stay in the area and breed, as it is always good to see this species whilst out birding in my area of Saudi Arabia. The status is Saudi Arabia was as a winter visitor rarely in the Eastern Province more regular in Tabuk and the northern Hijaz (western Saudi Arabia), but they now breed in the several scattered areas.

European Goldfinch Dhahran Hills – Bird records by Mats Ris

Mats Ris is a birder in the Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp who is originally from Sweden. He goes out birding quite frequently and has seen some good birds in his time in the camp. Yesterday morning he saw a European Goldfinch in the sprayfields in the corner close to the new ponds being constructed, on a small road going across the sprayfield, parallel to the same road, going to the big pond. This is a very good bird for Saudi Arabia and one I have not seen on the camp, or in Saudi Arabia for that matter. Records are mainly seen in the north of Saudi Arabia with them being common in the Tabuk area in some winters. I hope the bird stays around until this evening and I have the opportunity of seeing it on the 'patch'. Mats kindly sent me a couple of photos he took of the bird with a small camera and allowed me to add them to my website below.

Masked Shrike at Udhailiyah – Bird records by Nishan Xavier

Nishan Xavier is a birdwatcher and photographer who is currently living in Udhailiyah Saudi Aramco camp that is south of Shedgum and north on Haradh, quite a way inland. Nishan sent me two of his photos of birds at the camp, one was a Masked Shrike taken on 28 January 2014 and the other a White-eared Bulbul taken on 19 January 2014 both at Udhailiyah camp. Masked Shrike is regarded as an uncommon passage migrant that is scarce in summer and winter. Most winter records have come from the South-west of Saudi Arabia with a few from the Eastern Province. Passage occurs from late March to early May and again in September so a January record will be a wintering bird. White-eared Bulbul is a common bird of the Eastern Province that can be found in varied habitat including urban areas. I would like to thank Nishan for allowing me to use the photos below.

Masked Shrike

White-eared Bulbul

Plenty of birds back on the Percolation Pond – Dhahran Hills

There are now a lot of birds on the percolation pond and the last visit produced very large numbers of Gulls. There were a minimum of 500 Common Black-headed Gulls, 15 Heuglin’s Gulls, ten Steppe Gulls and three Caspian Gulls. Five Great Cormorants were in the trees where a couple were drying out their wings and looking quite prehistoric in the process. Plenty of duck are still present with most being Eurasian Teal and Northern Shoveller but a new female Garganey joined them yesterday. The number of Little Grebes has built up to double figures with the Great Crested Grebe joining them and dwarfing the Little Grebes in the process.

Great Cormorant

Great Cormorant

Great Crested Grebe

The Spray fields had a single NCT Stonechat and several Crested Larks. A pair of Graceful Prinia were singing away and a group of over 100 Pallid Swifts and a single House Martin were flying around the area. A single Marsh Harrier was over the fields in the late evening but not much else of note.

Crested Lark

Pallid Swift

Windy and few birds – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I went ringing at Alba Marsh on Friday and arrived at the site before first light. We set up the nets and things looked good to start with, as we caught a Bluethroat and a Common Kingfisher before it was really light. Unfortunately as the day progressed the wind picked up making it almost impossible to catch birds and meant we had to take down the nets and leave the area before we would have liked to. In total we only caught seven birds, including the Bluethroat and Common Kingfisher as well as three re-trapped Clamorous Reed Warblers one unringed bird and one re-trapped Water Pipit from winter 2012. An interesting point about the Common Kingfishers caught at the marsh is the fact that they have all been female birds without a single male. Also they have started to use the marsh as a wintering area only in the last two years as previously to this, although ringing was taking place in the marsh no birds were caught with only the occasional bird seen.

Common Kingfisher 

Bluethroat

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Water Pipit - coutelli

A few flyovers & Stonechats – Sabkhat Al Fasl

A trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl was relatively quiet but still good birding was had. The winter has had and extended period of cool weather with temperatures on arrival at first light being only 10 degrees Celsius. Plenty of birds were seen flying over with 20+ Western Marsh Harriers along with a Greater Spotted Eagle and a Western Osprey. The Western Osprey was seen later on in a different area where it was seen trying to catch fish but without luck. Other birds seen flying over in good numbers included Black-headed Gulls, LWH Gulls and Great Cormorants. A few terns were also flying about all of which were Caspian Terns.

Western Osprey

Great Cormorant

Caspian Tern

The main reed beds and lagoons were lacking birds but 20+ Purple Swamphens were seen and the reeds were alive with the calls of Graceful Prinias and Clamorous Reed Warblers, two species that breed early in Saudi Arabia. Three Daurian Shrikes and both European Stonechat and NCT Stonechats were present in small numbers. Heron numbers are increasing with 30+ Squacco Herons, several Grey Herons, 17 Western Cattle Egrets a scarce bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl, and 50+ Indian Reef Herons.

Purple Swamphen

Common Stonechat

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat

North Caspian Taxon Stonechat

Squacco Heron

The flooded Sabkhat is very extensive this year due to all the rain we have had and thousands (3000+) Greater Flamingos are enjoying the area. There were only four duck present, all Eurasian Teal with no sign of the regular Common Shelduck. Thousands of Black-headed Gulls with a few Slender-billed Gulls mixed in were also in this are with small numbers of the common waders.