Passage of Spotted Flycatchers – Eastern Province

This year has seen a good autumn passage of Spotted Flycathcers through the Eastern Province with numbers seen from Dhahran to Jubail. The Spotted Flycatcher is a common passage migrant. Recorded between mid-March and mid-June but peaking in May in spring and mid-August to late October in autumn with a peak in September. Birds have been recorded throughout the Kingdom even in the Empty Quarter. They are likely to turn up almost anywhere and gardens and parks are favourite places for locating them.

Waders and Herons – Jubail

Whilst in the Jubail area recently we saw plenty of species of waders and many kinds of herons. There were hundreds of Grey Herons present as well as the largest number of Little Egrets I have seen at the site, well over 200 birds. A few Little Bitterns and Squacco Herons were also present along with Indian Reef Herons and a single Western Great Egret. Waders were also seen in reasonable numbers with Dunlins, Common Redshanks, Little Stints, Common Sandpipers and Marsh Sandpiper present. Most were on the large flooded sabkha areas but some were on wet puddles or ditches.

Grey Heron

Common Redshank

Common Redshank

Little Stint 

Marsh Sandpiper

Little Crake at Al Khobar – Bird record by Mark Jasimin

Whilst at Al Khobar Cornice on Friday Mark found a juvenile Little Crake feeding out in the open. The species is seldom recorded in the Eastern Province although is probably an uncommon migrant through the region. Previoulsy it was regarded as a scarce but regularly recorded passage migrant in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, mainly in marshy areas or pools overhung by vegetation. Birds generally occur during spring migration from February to end of April with peak numbers in March where up to five birds were present in Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp in the wet areas by the percolation pond in February and March 2012. Birds occur during autumn migration from September to October with a peak in October so this bird fits in well with the records. The grassy irrigated areas of Haradh have previously been the best place to locate the species where surprisingly high numbers have been located. Few birders visit this area now but we are going next week and would be very happy to see a Little Crake on our visit. I thank mark for sending me the details of his sighting and allowing me to use his photo on my website which is shown below.

Pied Wheatear - Jubail

Whilst birding at the end of September I found a confiding Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka. The species is a common spring migrant through Saudi Arabia that is less common in autumn. They are mainly recorded in spring between early February and mid-May, peaking in March. Autumn records spanned from early September to mid-December. They appear more common in the east of the Kingdom than elsewhere. During peak times large falls of birds can be seen but the bird I saw and photographed was the only one I saw during the day.

Grey-headed Swamphen - Jubail

Whilst birdwatching near Jubail I saw a number of Grey-headed Swamphens including one that stayed very close and came so close I could not fit it all into the frame. Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio has been split into five species largely in accordance with Sangster 1998 and Garcia & Trewick 2015 into 5 species with Grey-headed Swamphen P. poliocephalus occurring in Saudi Arabia. This has been confirmed by Steve Trewick from DNA samples I sent to him for analysis. Swamphens from Saudi Arabia now comprise both breeding Grey-headed Swamphens in the Eastern Province and African Swamphen P. madagascariensis which is a Vagrant with two records. A record of an adult at KAUST near Jeddah in September 2013 remained for at least three weeks before being killed by a car and two together at Dhahran percolation pond in December 2014 for several days.

Balkan Blue in Dhahran - Reacirds by Vinu Mathew

The Balkan Blue butterfly is distributed across the northern part of Saudi Arabia at least with the photographs below taken in Dhahran in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom by Vinu Mathew who kindly sent me the photos and has given his permission for me to use them on my website. The Balkan Blue is a very small and inconspicuous butterfly that flies low over the ground stopping frequently on rocks or to take nectar from low plants.

Flava Yellow Wagtail - Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area I found a few Yellow Wagtails with one bright example giving very close views. I am assigning this bird to flava but the Yellow Wagtail complex is as it name suggests – complex. The Yellow Wagtail is a common passage migrant with various subspecies occurring but they are much commoner in the spring than the autumn. Autumn numbers are still relatively high with tens of birds generally seen during the migration period from late August until late October. Numbers appear slightly higher this autumn than normal supported by the fact we have trapped an ringed more birds this autumn than previous ones even though we keep the number of nets and location the same each ringing session.

Ringing - Jubail

Whilst ringing in September at Jubail, we trapped and ringed 34 birds of thirteen species which was a good return as we could only ring for the first few hours of daylight as the wind soon got up and made ringing impossible. Luckily we arrived well before first light and had most nets up by daybreak, where we set eight 18 metre nets and a single 15 metre net in various areas including between reed beds and over water. The largest number of birds caught were Great Reed Warblers with ten birds trapped and ringed followed by Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler with five birds caught. Most birds were either resident or passage migrants although a couple of winter visitors in Daurian Shrike and Common Kingfisher were caught. We also caught a Common Ringed Plover, a species we had not caught in Saudi Arabia before making the trip well worth while.

Great Reed Warbler

Graceful Prinia

Little Bittern - adult female

Common Kingfisher

Common Ringed Plover

A new ringing species - Jubail

Whilst ringing in September at Jubail, we trapped and ringed a new species for me in Terek Sandpiper Tringa cinerea. We very rarely catch wading birds so this was a big surprise when it ended up in a mist net set along the side of a wet pool. Terek Sandpiper is a widespread and sometimes common migrant to all areas of the Kingdom although is uncommon inland. It is a passage migranat and winter visitor to both coasts with a few in summer. It is more common on the Red Sea coast than the Gulf coast but still remains common along the Eastern Province coastline. Spring passage is from March to early June, mainly from late April, when birds occasionally occur inland as well as on the coast. Some non-breeding immatures stay the summer through June and July and then in August it becomes abundant along the coast.

Schokari sand racer near Zulfi – Record by Mansur Al Fahad

The Schokari sand racer Psammophis schokari is a wide ranging species that can be found throughout Northern Africa, as far south as Chad, Somalia and Ethiopia. Its range also extends throughout the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East to Central Asia, occurring as far north as Turkmenistan and as far east as Pakistan and north-west India. It is one of the fastest snakes in the Middle East and has a thin body with variable colouration and patterning and an elongated head, featuring large golden-brown eyes with rounded pupils. Three main colour forms are recognised: a striped form, which has four dark, longitudinal stripes running over the upperparts; a non-striped form, which is either unmarked or lightly dotted; and a rear-striped from, with dark, longitudinal stripes only on the posterior part of the body, which merge towards the anterior. The background colouration is generally olive, tan or beige and there are also often dark stripes running from the snout, past the eyes, to the rear of the head. This variation in colouration and markings is believed to be an adaptation to the particular environment that individual specimens occupy. The jaws of this species bear two non-venomous, fang-like teeth in the upper jaw, at level of front-edge of the eye, and two strongly enlarged, grooved, venomous fangs, at the level of the rear edge of the eye. They occur in well-vegetated areas, including cultivated areas, among trees and shrubs, as well as in areas of sand and gravel where low shrubs and grasses occur. It can be found from sea-level to high-altitude mountainous regions. It is an agile and active daytime predator, when chasing prey and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 16 kilometres per hour and can even climb trees in order to reach adult birds and nestlings. Prey includes lizards, small birds, rodents and other snakes, which are captured with a swift bite followed by a chewing motion to deliver the snake’s venom. Once immobilised, the prey is swallowed head first. Despite being a venomous species, the Schokari sand racer is not dangerous to humans, and in response to threats its main from of defence is to use its speed to escape.