Seven Black-necked Grebes – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 24 January Phil Roberts and I found seven Black-necked Grebes on the main flooded sabkha area near the power station. All were in winter plumage except for a single bird approaching summer plumage. This bird was the closest of the seven and appeared to be happy picking small insects off the surface of the water and was acting very much like a Phalarope in its feeding behavior. The Black-necked Grebe is an uncommon but regular visitor to the Eastern Province from late August through March but becomes scarce in April and May and rare in the summer. It is usually local in coastal waters but counts of over 40 are not unusual in Half Moon Bay. Small numbers occur inland with up to four seen this winter on my local patch. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia birds have occurred in Riyadh, Tabuk and the Red Sea, as well as in the Jizan region.

More birds from Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv has sent me a few batches of bird photographs seen in the Tabuk area in recent weeks. He has photographed a number of species that are rare or not recorded in the Eastern Province where I do my birding including Sinai Rosefinch. This species is restricted to the northwest corner of Saudi Arabia from around Al Ula towards the Jordon boarder. They are really beautiful birds to see and have very loud calls, but I have never managed to get good photographs of them as they were always on the move. Wintering Black Kites are not seen in the Eastern Province either but many hundreds winter in the Tabuk area. Although Desert Larks are relatively common in the right habitat of jebals and escarpments in the Eastern Province I do not often see them as my birding is not in these areas very often. I thank Viv for sending me his images and allowing me to use them on my website.

Sinai Rosefinch

Sinai Rosefinch

Black Kite

Black Kite

Black Kite

Desert Lark

Lesser Kestrel

Steppe Eagle

Western Marsh Harrier

Grey-headed Swamphen a new ringing species – Sabkhat Al Fasl

After a good mornings ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl one of the last birds we caught was a Grey-headed Swamphen. They are common at the location but this is the only site in all of Saudi Arabia where they can be seen easily and only one of two where they breed. In a mornings bird-watching here it is easy to see up to 30 birds and they are always around the nets but they are a very big bird and were unlikely to be caught. If they ever did venture into the net they would almost certainly pull them down so although I was hoping to catch one somehow I was not holding out much hope. Nicole, however, managed to flush one from a small tree near one of our nets and it flew into the net where she was able to get to the bird before it escaped or damaged the net. They look big in the field but in the hand they are extremely large and easily the largest bird I  have ringed. Grey-headed Swamphen is a sub-species of Purple Swamphen although there is some talk of splitting in out as a separate species and was a new bird ringed by me as well as a new ringing species for Saudi Arabia.

A few Winter Wheatears from northern Saudi Arabia – Bird recerds by Mansur Al Fahd and Viv Wilson

I have recently received a few photographs from both Mansur Al Fahd and Viv Wilson of various Wheatears from the north of the Kingdom. Manusr sent me photos of a Finsch's Wheatear a species that is an uncommon winter visitor to Northern Hejaz, Tabuk, Northern Deserts, Summan Plateau and the northern Eastern Province where they have been recorded in all months between late September and late March with late birds sometimes occurring in early April. Viv has sent me photos of Eastern Mourning Wheatear a species that is an uncommon winter visitor to the deserts and rock outcrops of Central Arabia and the Gulf, that have also been seen rarely in the Empty Quarter open desert. They are resident in northern and north central areas of the country and occur mainly from October to March elsewhere, although a few birds may stay until April. Viv also sent some photos of White-crowned Wheatear a species that is a locally common breeding resident in dry rocky areas that occurs in the Hejaz north from Taif,and the Asir south of Soudah and Najran. The status in the south of the Kingdom is unclear as they were a fairly common breeding resident at base of the escarpment until 1990 but now numbers have dropped significantly, They also occur in the Tuwaiq escarpment and locally in the Gulf especially around the Shedgum escarpment. Records from the north of the country have come from Jauf, Hail, Harrat al Harrah Reserve and Dawadimi. In the Riyadh are birds are a locally common breeding resident with some movement within the region post-breeding and during the winter months. I would like to thank both Mansur and Viv for allowing me to use their photographs on my website.

Finsch's Wheatear

Finsch's Wheatear

Eastern Morning Wheatear

White-crowned Wheatear

Arabian Wildcat in Um Oshar – Record by Mansur Al Fahad

Mansur Al Fahad sent me two excellent photographs of the rarely photographed Arabian Wildcat taken in Um Oshar in the north of the Country in mid-January 2015. Mansur has kindly allowed me to use the photos on my website for which I am very grateful. The Arabian wildcat Felis silvestris gordoni , also known as Gordon’s Wildcat, is found in the mountains, gravel plains and the sand deserts in the north of the Kingdom. Although they do not require drinking water, they just need a regular supply of prey species such as gerbils, jirds and jerboas through which they obtain the required moisture. They also hunt birds and will occasionally eat large insects. Wildcats are ash-grey to buff in colour with fine darker grey speckling on back and flanks and a whitish underside. The back of their ears is orange and the slightly bushy tail has three black rings ending in a black tip, while the underside of all four feet is also black. It is a shy animal that hunts at night and spends the day in hiding. Adapted to life in the wild, the wildcat is very strong and agile and can defend itself fiercely if it is cornered with local tribesmen saying, "They would rather tackle a wild leopard than an Arabian wildcat". They breed all year around, the female giving birth to a litter of two to three kittens in a rock crevice, hollow tree or an empty fox burrow. Similar in size to the domestic cat, the genetically pure Arabian wildcat now occurs only in the United Arab Emirates, northern Oman and northern Saudi Arabia. It makes its home in semi-desert and rocky terrain, avoiding the desert wastelands filled with large dunes that lack scrub and rock. It establishes a territory that may span several square kilometres where the cat maintains several den sites. It usually builds a den with a single entrance on the slope of a dune. The Wildcat faces long-term threats to its existence with its range adversely affected by encroachment from human expansion including hunting and interbreeding with domestic cats which will probably result in the species becoming extinct at some stage.

The normal winter birds – Sabkhat Al Fasl

My first trip birding to Sabkhat Al Fasl for 2015 turned out to be a reasonably good days bird watching. We several good birds some of which I will post about later with one of the first species seen two Greater Spotted Eagles sitting on two large posts near to the reed beds. We also saw the flock of Spanish Sparrows that have frequented the site this winter but now numbers had grown to well over 50 birds. Large numbers of Great Cormorants have started using this area in the last two years and again good numbers were seen. Other water birds seen included plenty of Squacco Herons, Little Egrets, Indian Reef Herons with four Purple Herons, ten Western Great Egrets and several Grey Herons. A minimum of 1000 Greater Flamingo were on the flooded sabkha along with several wader species including Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Little Stint, Kentish Plover, Grey Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed Plover and Dunlin. A small number of White-winged Terns and Caspian Terns were seen and a single second calendar year Great Black-headed Gull. Other birds of interest were plenty of Common Kingfishers, four Eastern Stonechats including one very smart male NCT stonechat, and 20+ White Wagtials and Water Pipits. A single Meadow Pipit like bird was seen in the scrub but good views prevented identification. As always a good number of Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphens were seen with this species appearing to be liking the lack of disturbance from fishermen now the SWA are patrolling the location and preventing them access. A small flock of Eurasian Starlings flew over at one point but kept on going and several Snipe were flushed but never seen well enough to identify but were probably all Common Snipe.

Great Cormorant

Indian Reef Heron

Little Egret

Purple Heron

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron

Common Greenshank

Common Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphen

Western Marsh Harrier

A good mornings ringing – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Nicole and I went ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 23 January which was the first time this year as previously it has been too windy at the weekends or I was out of Kingdom. It turned out to be a very good morning’s work with three new ringing species for Saudi Arabia for us of which I have already posted or will post about later. Apart from these birds we also caught five Common Kingfishers that were again all females, three are shown below. We have caught eleven Common Kingfishers at this location of which only one was a male, so possibly males winter in a different location to females in eastern Saudi Arabia? A few Bluethroats of which one was a re trap from February last year showing it is site faithful for its wintering area as it was caught in exactly the same net as originally. A couple of re-trapped Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers were also caught that had been ringed in autumn 2014 at the same site although this species is resident or makes only very short distance movements so was not so surprising. We also caught a very finely plumage adult male Little Bittern that indicates they may be preparing for the breeding season already. We also caught three Water Pipits of the sub-species coutelli. This is a common bird but they are very difficult to catch as they see the nets and either fly over them of around them. We have found that the best nets for catching this species are the two panel nets rather than the larger five panel nets that catch the majority of the other species. At the end of the day we managed to catch 24 birds which is quite good for us in winter. This is partly due to knowing the best locations now to set nets and partly due to have a few more nets set now than last year. Let’s hope 2015 continues as well as this ringing session and we will be very happy.

Common Kingfisher - female

Common Kingfisher - female

Common Kingfisher - female

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Little Bittern - adult male

Red-spotted Bluethroat

Water Pipit - coutelli

Steppe Eagles near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv was in the desert a week or so ago and managed to take a number of great photos of Steppe Eagle. The Steppe Eagle is a common migrant and winter visitor to the southwest, northern Hejaz and Central Arabia where up to 1000 birds have been recorded in a small area. It is an uncommon winter visitor to other regions including the Eastern Province where it is seldom seen in my area of Jubail and Dhahran but is sometimes seen further north towards the Kuwait boarder. Tabuk is a known wintering area for a good number of birds and Viv sees them regularly whilst our birding.

Moustached Warbler trapped and ringed – Sabkhat Al Fasl

While ringing on Friday 23 January 2015 we trapped and ringed a Moustached Warbler, this is the second bird we have ringed at this site in two winters with the first being on 7 February 2014. The bird showed an appearance similar to the eastern subspecies A. m. mimica that occurs from eastern Turkey, Iraq, Transcaucasia, and the lower Volga east to Kazakhstan and northwest India. This subspecies differs from nominate A. m. melanopogon by having dull olive-grey upperparts, not rufous-brown with the black of the crown less intense, more heavily streaked olive. The underparts are largely white with the flanks rather pale pink-brown similar to Sedge Warbler A. schoenobaenus. The Moustached Warbler has been recorded as a local breeder in the Central region and Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with the first breeding site in Saudi Arabia located at Hufuf in the Eastern Province. Records of Moustached Warbler are now quite widespread from the Eastern Province, with the first record at Sabkhat al Fasl seen in 1990 but there have been no breeding records from the site as yet. There are breeding records from nearby where Brian Meadows found them at a small wetlands in Jubail as well as at nearby Khafra Marsh about 30 kilometers south. Pairs have been seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl in April and May indicating a strong likelihood of breeding although birds tend to be resident on their breeding grounds. We have not seen or trapped birds in the spring, summer or autumn at the site, and there is evidence for an influx of birds in winter to the area, suggesting they are a winter visitor to the site. Away from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia they are a scarce migrant and winter visitor mainly in the north of the country.