New site species – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Phil and I went to Sabkhat Al Fasl on Friday and managed to see a few good birds including one species new to both of us for the location. The species in question was Thrush Nightingale that we flushed from the edge of the reeds a couple of times before we got good enough view to identify it. Unfortunately no photos were taken of the bird as we were busy trying to get conclusive identification features. Thrush Nightingale is an uncommon or scarce species in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom but is more common than Common Nightingale. We also saw a few other migrants including Turkestan and Daurian Shrikes, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, Great Reed Warbler, European Bee-eaters, Barn Swallows and Sand Martins. Numbers were well down compared to September but there was enough to keep things interesting. A few ducks were about with Northern Shoveler, Garganey and one Eurasian Teal seen and plenty of Herons with hundreds of Grey Herons, one Purple Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Indian Reef Herons and Little Egrets. Waders were about in good numbers with most being Little Stints, Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers and Common Ringed Plovers. Dunlins, Marsh Sandpipers, Common Redshanks, Common Greenshanks, Green Sandpipers and a single Common Snipe were also seen in reasonable numbers. A single Common Kingfisher and plenty of terns were also present with White-winged Terns being the commonest followed by Caspian Terns, Little Terns and Gull-billed Terns. As always Grey-headed Swamphens and Common Moorhens were plentiful. Western Marsh Harriers are back in good numbers for the winter with well over ten birds seen during the day and Greater Flamingo numbers are also increasing for the winter with several hundred birds already on the flooded sabkha. A single Western Osprey was also seen flying over but little else regarding raptors.

Turkestan Shrike 

Caspian Terns

Clouded Yellow - Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili)

The Clouded Yellow Colias croceus is a resident but also a migrant to the oasis and farms of Eastern Saudi Arabia where it feeds on alfalfa. It is sometimes very common but it is uncertain if this is due to good breeding season or an influx of migrants as they are strong flyers The species regularly undertakes long-distance directional movements in large numbers and this is an essential strategy for the species survival. The under-wings are a greenish-yellow colour with two silver-white spots and this is normally all that can be seen on a resting butterfly as they always rest with their wings closed. The upper-wings are deep orange-yellow with broad dark wing margins. The genus has its origins in temperate regions and is a genus of considerable antiquity. Its main centre of development is in the high mountains of Asia and North America, it extends its range to the tip of southern Africa and to Patagonia in South America.

Pallid Harriers and more at Sabkhat Al Fasl – Bird records by Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts went to Sabkat Al Fasl recently and saw and photographed a number of species whilst there including five Glossy Ibis, 10+ Marsh Harrier, a female Pallid Harrier, an Ortolan Bunting, 84 Grey Herons, 10 + Purple Herons, a male Common Kingfisher, loads of Little Egrets and Indian Reef Heron and a solitary Cattle Egret. There were still plenty of Little Terns but I only saw two juvenile White-cheeked Terns. Phil also saw local birdwatcher Mohammed Al-Ruqaya there as well who had seen the White-breasted Kingfisher again along the main track by the pylons.

Pallid Harrier

Purple Heron

Juvenile Montagu’s Harrier – Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm

Whilst birding Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm on 11 September 2015 I saw a juvenile harrier over one of the fields. Luckily the bird flew closer and eventually flew right overhead allowing some good photographs to be taken. Juvenile Montagu’s and Pallid Harriers are difficult to identify with certainty at times and good views are needed. The first thing that needs to be done on a bird is to age and sex it. Juveniles are easily aged by being dark above and largely unstreaked chestnut below with dark secondaries and a strong facial pattern. The main distinguishing characters in order of importance include the primary pattern - Pallid Harrier shows diagnostic unbarred primary bases creating a distinct whitish ‘boomerang’ shape around primary coverts. The fingers are barred and the railing edge is diffuse whereas on Montagu's the hand normally shows a Buzzard type pattern with unbarred fingers and sharply set-off dark trailing edge, with indistinctly barred bases to central primaries and no pale ‘boomarang’ around the primary coverts. Facial Pattern - Pallid shows striking facial markings, with diagnostic broad, unspotted whitish collar, emphasised by solid dark brown neck sides (like a ‘boa’), extensive dark ear covert area reaches loral area (occasionally onto throat) and towards the bill base. The white area around the eye is usually small.  Montagu's Harrier has much more whiter around eye, including deeper supercilium, broader white on cheek and loral region and the dark ear covert patch is smaller; half collar fainter and marked with streaking; dark neck sides made up of streaks and not solid patches and much smaller (i.e. no "boa" effect). Underpart Streaking - None on Pallid whereas Montagu's usually shows streaking on breast sides extending down onto upper flanks. From the above it appears this bird is a juvenile Montagu’s Harrier although a well marked individual.

Birds of prey in Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv has been out every weekend for the last few weeks and has been seeing and photographing a number of birds of prey passing through his area of northwest Saudi Arabia. Western Marsh Harriers are now back in Kingdom in good numbers for the winter and Viv has recorded good numbers in his area like I have in the Eastern Province recently. Viv has been recording good numbers of pther raptors that I have not seen so many of in my area including Montagu’s Harrier, Black Kite and Steppe Buzzard. All these species pass through my local patch but all are uncommon at best. Tabuk is on a much better migration route for birds of prey as they pass through this area on their way to the southwest if the Kingdom whilst Dhahran only gets the occasional bird that is off course.

Western Marsh Harrier

Black Kite

Black Kite

Steppe Buzzard

Steppe Buzzard

Hybrid Shrike or Turkestan Shrike? – Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili)

Whilst birding the farm inland of Jubail we found an unusual shrike that looked like a Turkestan Shrike but lacked the strong white supercilium associated with the species and also lacked the obvious white primary patch. Its tail and rump looked dirty and less brightly coloured than most as well. For this reason I sent the photo to Alan Dean asking for his for his comments on whether this may be a hybrid, as he has always been very kind to me sharing his extensive knowledge. Alan wrote back saying the following “If the photo is colour accurate (always a proviso!) then I would suspect a hybrid. The rather grey crown and mantle have a ’karelini’ look but the rump and tail (especially the latter) look too dingy (insufficiently rufous) for a true Turkestan. As you’ll know, the central tail-feathers of Turkestan can be rather dark but what’s visible of the outers indicates that they too are decidedly dull. (P.S. Evgeny Panov regards all ‘karelini’ types as of hybrid origin, even those with strongly rufous tail and rump, but his opinion is not universally shared)”. In the field the bird had some rufous to the head (crown) and did not appear as grey as many of the hybrid Kerelini types I have previously seen so I asked Alan if Keralini have rufous colouration on the upper parts as I thought they were meant to have upper parts coloured grey like Southern Grey Shrikes? Alan replied “The illustration of Karelini by Bogdanov (1881), who described the type, shows a bird with rather pale grey (‘french grey’) upperparts and whitish underparts. The wings are quite black. There is an obvious supercilium. The tail, however, is fully rufous. Shrikes are encountered which match this appearance and it is how I interpret ‘karelini’. However, shrikes with somewhat greyer upperparts than classic phoenicuroides and lacking obvious rufous in the crown are often ‘lumped’ under the term karelini. Other terms applied to rufous-capped birds (= ‘ruficeps’) and grey-capped birds (= ‘caniceps’) – following Severtzov (1873) and Bogdanov (1881) – are rarely used now but perhaps preferable and it would appear that Bogdanov had a more specific appearance in mind when defining karelini. However, Panov (‘True Shrikes of the World’) includes in Fig. 15.4 a series of 20 specimens that he maintains illustrate a continuous gradation between typical phoenicuroides (on the extreme left of his series) and typical karelini (on extreme right of his series). He says that the intermediate birds have been attributed to karelini. This is part of the ‘evidence’ from which he concludes that karelini is a hybrid type. In your second photo (bottom of the two below photos) I can detect a slight rufous tinge to the crown – but it does seem slight. Overall the bird looks rather ‘grey and white’ and not like a true Turkestan. I think that Panov would regard this as a ‘karelini’ type (though of course I cannot speak for him) – but it does not match my own interpretation of matching closely the Bogdanov ‘type’ illustration. The undertail again looks very dull – it can be duller than uppertail in true Turkestan but still usually has distinct rufous hues (contra collurio, which generally has greyish undertail). So, I would suspect that your bird is a hybrid. Whether you interpret it as a ‘karelini’ is a matter of definition, as discussed above!”. Alan copied in a few people interested in hybrid shrikes and Brian Small and Magnus Hellstrom had a slightly different opinions saying they thought the bird was fine for a phoenicuroides. This was primarily due to the possibility of the colour of the back becoming greyer with wear and the contrast between crown colour and rear neck. Of course the supercilium is not what you expect for phoenicuroides, but then it should not be lacking in karelini either”. Lars Svensson on the other hand added “It is a bit bold to label this bird as a Turkestan Shrike, lacking a white supercilium and primary patch as it is. I am firmly in Alan's camp”. No matter whether this shrike is a hybrid or an unusually plumaged Turkestan Shrike it was a good bird to see and learn from and if the best and most knowledgeable birders cannot agree to whether it is a hybrid or not we obviously still have a lot to learn.

Inland Greater Falmongo’s at Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

The Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus is a common visitor, predominantly in winter, to all coasts, but is scarce to rare inland. Records of several thousand have occurred at Sabkhat Al Fasl in the Eastern Province in recent years with a maximum of 5000. Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) mentions they are an uncommon and irregular visitor to that inland region but have been recorded in all months except July. The majority of records are of groups of 2 -4, predominantly first winter birds, arriving in January and February and lingering sometimes for many weeks. The record of Viv’s is of two adults in September so makes it even more interesting and was the first time he had seen the species on his local patch. I have only seen the species once on my inland local patch, which is only ten kilometres from the coast and they were two immature birds but Phil has recorded a small flock of adults flying overhead, well inland, in previous years.

Two unusual species from Sabhat Al Fasl – Bird Records by Mohammed Al-Ruqaya

Mohammed Al-Ruqaya a local birdwatcher and excellent photographer went back out to Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend and managed to take a number of excellent photos of some of the birds he has seen there. Mohammed has kindly sent me some of his photos and allowed me to use them on my website which are reproduced below. The herons are quite common at the site with Little Bittern being very numerous and seen almost every trip there and Purple Heron less so although still seen regularly. The other two species Mohammed has sent photos of are much less common. Black Kite is seen yearly in small numbers but Masked Shrike is a much less common bird although seen most years. Having Mohammed birding the area and taking photos is helping add data ti the species of this site that would have otherwise gone unrecorded and is improving the data set of both Sabkhat Al Fasl and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Black Kite

Masked Shrike

Purple Heron

Little Bittern - juvenile

Traditional Stone buildings – Bani Saad

Saudi Arabia encompasses a greater variety of architectural styles than any other country in the Arabian Peninsula where building materials including coral, plaster, mud-brick and stone. Traditional stone buildings can be found in many highland areas of the Asir mountains particularly in the Abha area but also in the Taif region further to the north. I took the photo below of some stone buildings near Bani Saad, south of Taif off the main road to Baha and Abha. These buildings are often left derelict and even though new dwellings are built nearby they are often left in disrepair rather than being renovated. They are hand-built and beautifully designed and always catch the eye when you see one driving along any of the highways.

Total Lunar Eclipse (Super Moon) – Details by Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson sent me some of his excellent photos of the recent total lunar Eclipse that occurred 28 September. It was the largest super moon of the year, meaning the moon was the closest to the earth it will be in the whole of 2015. It was a full moon that is called the Harvest Moon and it also was an eclipse a combination that last occurred about 30 years ago and happens again in 2033 so are a fairly rare event. I thank Viv for allowing me to use his photos on my website.