Corncrake - Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl on Thursday 10^th May I found a Corncrake feeding along the edge of the dense reed-bed. It showed quite well at times and allowed very close approach as I was in the car although most of the time it was hidden from view.  This is the first time I have seen the species in Saudi Arabia so I was very happy with my find. Corncrake is a scarce but probably overlooked species in the spring, as like other crakes it is very adept at keeping itself hidden in dense vegetation or ground cover. It has been noted in April in the Eastern Province and this is the first record I know of in May but I am sure they have occurred in this month previously as it is regular in Israel during March to June (Shirahai – Birds of Israel). Most records in the Eastern Provence are from September and October when several hundred have been recorded in the grass crops of Haradh.

Spotted Flycatchers – Dhahran Hills

The migration season is slowing down a bit now but there are still a few migrants about. The most common were Willow Warblers with most of the 26 birds seen in the rough grass area of the spray fields. This area also held a single Caspian Reed Warbler, but there was no sign of the previous days Great Reed Warblers. Other migrants seen at the spray fields included a single Tawny Pipit, three Pallid Swifts, 11 Sand Martins and 75+ Barn Swallows. Many of the Barn Swallows and Sand Martins were sitting on the ground having a rest in a damp area of sand.

Spotted Flycatcher

A walk around the percolation pond produced very little with the exception of three Spotted Flycatchers and a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin. Clamorous Reed Warblers were calling from the Phragmites reed beds in four different locations and two Black-winged Stilts were present on the muddy edge of the pond itself. Three European Bee-eaters were using the tamarisk trees as lookout points to catch insects from but apart from that there was little of interest.

Black-headed Bunting & Indian Silverbill - Dhahran Hills

I went straight back to the patch of grass where the Black-headed Bunting was present yesterday at the edge of the spray fields to see if I could see the bunting again. When I got to the spot these was a small flock of 18 Indian Silverbills which is the largest group I have seen in Dhahran. Keeping them company was the female Black-headed Bunting and today although I only got a couple of photos they were better than yesterday’s efforts. The bird remained very flighty and nervous and did not allow close approach and remained silent during the time I was present. I did not want to disturb the bird unduly so left it in place, hopefully to give better views tomorrow.


Indian Silverbills



Indian Silverbills



Black-headed Bunting



Black-headed Bunting

Other birds seen around the spray fields were three Namaqua Doves including two males and two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins. A small number of Willow Warblers and one Spotted Flycatcher were also present on the scrubby bushes with two Daurian Shrikes. The percolation pond remains very quite with just one Little Ringed Plover and three Black-winged Stilts. At one stage all the Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot and Little Grebes took fright and on looking up a nice adult Western Osprey was flying over and landed in the trees on the far side of the pond. Whilst walking around the pond I flushed a European Nightjar from under some trees and had good flight views but was unable to relocate the bird. The only birds of note seen were two European Bee-eaters.

Black-headed Bunting - Dhahran Hills

I found an interesting Bunting whilst birding the 'patch' on 8th May and managed to take a few rather poor photos of the bird. It was an adult female and after extensive searching gave some reasonable views allowing identification as a Black-headed Bunting. I do not have access to some of the identification papers on separating female Black-headed and Red-headed Buntings but from what I can remember it appears to be a Black-headed Bunting. If anyone has a different idea please let me know. The bird spent most of the time hidden in tall grass and was very flighty but fortunately kept returning to the same place among the long grasses. It gave a short 'chup' call on one occasion but the calls as far as I can remember are not a good way of identifying this very similar pair of species. Black-headed Bunting is a new bird for Saudi Arabia for me but more importantly it is a new 'patch' bird taking my total to 178 species. I am hoping one day to get over 200 species but as with many things it gets more difficult with time.

The species is mentioned as probably regular only in autumn when there is a wide scattering of mainly immature birds from mid-August to mid-September. It is most frequently seen in the northern half of the Province during this period. It is scarce in the coastal zone and there have only been two spring records, an adult male at Haradh on 18th April 1980 and a female at Dhahran on 22ndApril 1984.(Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia - Bundy et al 1989). Red-headed Bunting has not been recorded in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Purple Swamphens – Sabkhat Al Fasl

There are only two places in Saudi Arabia where Purple Swamphens breed and the main site and first place to record breeding birds is Sabkhat Al Fasl. The species was first recorded in the country on 8th August 2003 at Sabkhat Al Fasl with the first breeding record for Saudi Arabia occurring as recently as 2007 at the same site where there are now numerous pairs.There was, however, very little visibility of birds during the winter months as they were hiding in the reeds breeding but now there are quite a few birds out in the open again giving very good views. A few pairs are being followed by one or two fluffy black chicks so successful breeding has again occurred at the site. Last year Phil Robert and I found a new breeding site for the species 25 kilometres south of Jubail on the main road (N26 49 26 E49 34 38).

The Purple Swamphen that occurs in Saudi Arabia is of one of the grey headed eastern / Asian subspecies from the Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus group and are either Porphyrio porphyrio caspius or Porphyrio porphyrio seistanicus. P. p. poliocephalus is found from India and Sri Lanka to south China and north Thailand. It has cerulean blue scapulars, face throat and breast. P. p. caspius is from the Caspian Sea area, and is like poliocephalus, but is larger whereas P. p. seistanicus occurs from Iraq to Pakistan, and is like poliocephalus, but larger although smaller than caspius. A number of birds have been identified as P. p. seistanicus in Kuwait, UAE and Qatar but unless a bird is captured and measurements taken it is best, in my opinion, to leave these birds as either P. p. seistanicus or P. p. caspius.

Eurasian Spoonbill – Sabkhat Al Fasl

A very early start to get to Sabkhat Al Fasl for first light was rewarded with a sighting of an adult Greater Spotted Eagle. It is now getting quite late for Great Spotted Eagles as the breeding birds have all left for their breeding grounds to the north-east. Last year there was still a 2nd calendar year bird present in July & August indicating summering and it will be interesting to see if birds are seen again this summer. Birding was not very pleasant at Sabkhat as the temperature was 42 degrees Celsius and there were thousands of Horse Flies about that find it easy to bite through tee-shirts and thin trousers. This meant I spent much of the time locked in the car out of the heat and away from the flies but meant I will probably have missed a few birds. The main flooded sabkha area had a few waders including 50+ Ruff, 500+ Little Stint, 500+ Curlew Sandpipers, 100+ Dunlin and a few Black-winged Stilts and ten Kentish Plovers. Six Caspian Terns were resting in the heat of the day out on the sand banks and Saunder’S Little Terns were feeding up and down the water’s edge. The best birds seen along the edge of the flooded sabkha were three Collared Pratincoles, one of which looked slightly paler and smaller than the other two, with a very poorly marked underwing (white-traileing edge to the wing was very thin and hardly noticable) but otherwise appeared to be a Collared Pratincole - see photogrpahs below. These are the first birds I have seen for a month or more when I saw a large flock at the same site.

Collared Pratincole



Collared Pratincole - underwing

 

Kentish Plover - male


Migrants were thin on the ground but a nice adult male Red-backed Shrike was seen in the bushes on the way into the site and a female Northern Wheatear was catching the flies by one of the main water inlet pumps. A few Willow Warblers were jumping around the bushes but not much else was visible. The main lake of the site still had 22 juvenile Greater Flamingoes, two adult White-winged Terns and an adult Whiskered Tern. Common Moorhen numbers were in the 500+ range with hundreds of newly fledged youngsters with their parents. There were a few waders present including a summer plumaged Spotted Redshank, three Wood Sandpipers, two Temminck’s Stints and a Little Ringed Plover. The best bird seen along this stretch of the site was an adult Eurasian Spoonbill. These birds were recorded as scarce visitors to the Eastern Province in Bundy et al Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (1989) with only fourteen records. I have now seen at least 14 birds myself so I assume the status of the species has changed from a rare to scarce visitor.


Eurasian Spoonbill - adult



Spotted Redshank in summer plumage (right) & Wood Sandpiper (left)



Great Reed Warbler & Clamorous Reed Warbler Identification – Alba Marsh & Al Ali Farm (Bahrain)

The Clamorous Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) and the Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) are closely related warblers that are similar in morphology and behaviour, and have partly overlapping breeding ranges in the Middle East and southern Central Asia. The Clamorous Reed Warbler is mainly sedentary although some perform a short distance migrations and the Great Reed Warbler is a long-distance migrant throughout its range. The trouble we have in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain is the fact we have Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens as the race that occurs and most field guides show pictures and details of Acrocephalus stentoreus stentoreus. A. s. brunnescens has a longer primary projection and shorter thicker bill than A. s. stentoreus making it look more like a Great Reed Warbler than many people think. Singing males are easily distinguished, with Great Reed Warblers having a variable and high-pitched song, whereas the Clamorous Reed Warbler has a monotone low frequency song. Below are a number of photographs of both Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus and Clamorous Reed Warbler Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens. The Clamorous Reed Warbler photographs show the bill shape and size of an adult and a fresh juvenile not long out of the nest. All photographs were taken in Bahrain in April 2012.

Great Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus



Clamorous Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens



Clamorous Reed Warbler (juvenile) - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens



Great Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus



Clamorous Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens



Clamorous Reed Warbler (juvenile) - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens


Clamorous Reed Warbler Acrocephalus stentoreus is a wide-ranging species, extending from the Red Sea region to China and New Guinea with ten subspecies recognised. The only birds identified at subspecies level in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been A. s. brunnescens, which is known from specimens collected in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. The species is largely a breeding resident in Arabia, but some northern A. s. stentoreus may occur in Arabia as a winter visitor. Some small scale movements occur between breeding sites and presumably close by wintering areas. It is common in suitable habitat with many breeding birds in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia & Bahrain preferring phragmites reed beds to mangroves which is their preferred habitat in the United Arab Emirates.

Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens occurs from north-east Sudan, north-west Somalia, Arabian Peninsula and from south central Kazakhstan south to southern Iraq and Iran and east to northern Indian sub-continent. Non breeding birds seen in peninsula India.
Acrocephalus stentoreus stentoreus occurs in Egypt including Sinai and Levant.

A. s. brunnescens has a longer and more pointed wing, longer tail and shorter bill than nominate. They are less rufous above and are uniformly olive-brown or greyish olive instead of the light to deep warm brownish-olive colouration with rufous mainly on the rump in A. s. stentoreus. They are paler and whiter below with a paler and smaller area of greyish-olive buff on body sides and under-tail coverts whereas A. s. stentoreus has darker/warmer and more buff colouration over most of the under-parts with a very restricted whitish area on the mid-belly, throat and chin, which is sometimes absent.

Clamorous Reed Warbler  - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens

 

Clamorous Reed Warbler  - Acrocephalus stentoreus brunnescens


The Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) is a wide ranging species extending from Europe to north-west China. It is mainly a passage migrant where it is uncommon from mid-March to mid-May, and again from mid-August to November with the majority of birds occurring in the spring. A few birds breed in Saudi Arabia but it has not been proved to breed in Bahrain. Many migrants are found in scrubby areas with bushes or trees rather than in phagmites reed-beds, although birds do occur in this habitat as well. Both sub-species occur in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with the majority being Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus.

Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus breeds in Europe, except the north-west & north, north-west Africa and Turkey east to the Volga Basin, Caucusus and Caspian Sea. Noon breeding sub-Saharan Africa
Acrocephalus arundinaceus zarudnyi breeds northern Iraq and northern Iran and from River Volga and Caspian Sea eastwards to north-west Mongolia and south to Tajikistan and north-west China. Non breeding sub-Saharan Africa.

Sub-specific diffrences are slight and clinal, but typical individuals can be distinguished. Acrocephalus arundinaceus zarudnyi is paler and less rufous with olive-green upper-parts and browner rump and upper-tail coverts. They also have much whiter pale parts including a more distinct supercillium, throat, upper chest, belly, flanks and under-tail coverts. Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus is warmer rufous-brown, particularly on the rump and has warmer buff flanks and under-tail coverts.



The best way to identify the two species are the wing shape and primary length with Clamorous Reed Warbler A. s. brunnescens having a short primary projection about two thirds the tertial length (half the tertial length on A. s. stentoreus) and Great Reed Warbler A. a. arundinaceus having a longer primary projection as long as the exposed tertail length. The supercillium of A. a. arundinaceus is more obvious being broad and pale and continuing behind the eye, whereas A. s. brunnescens has a distinct but narrow supercillium stopping at the rear of the eye. The lores and eye-stripe of A. a. arundinaceus are dark and more prominent than on A. s. brunnescens. Bill size and shape is also a good point for identification with A. s. brunnescens having a long and narrow bill and A. a. arundinaceus having a shorter and thicker ‘thrush like’ bill. Care should be exercised with young A. s. brunnescens just out of the nest as these have shorter and thicker bills but they seldom if ever reach the ‘thrush like’ nature of A. a. arundinaceus. Tail shape can be help if the birds are not moulting their tail feathers with A. s. brunnescens having a longer more rounded tail and A. a. arundinaceus having a shorter and only moderately rounded tail. If very good views are obtained then leg colour can also be a guide with A. a. arundinaceus having a pinkish brown to greyish brown leg colour and A. s. brunnescens being greyish. Care has to be taken that the legs are not dirty to accurately judge the colour.

Great Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus

Great Reed Warblers - Dhahran Hills

The 'patch' yesterday still held a good number of migrants although in small numbers. The best birds were three Great Reed Warblers that were feeding in the grasses of the spray field. Great Reed Warblers tend to be seen in scrubby or vegetated areas on migration in the Eastern Provinceof Saudi Arabia rather than in the normal reeds that are associated with the species, maybe because the reeds are full of Clamorous Reed Warblers. The spray fields held very little else except a Northern Wheatear around the edge and groups of Barn Swallows and Sand Martins flying around. The only other birds of note were two Indian Silverbills which are the first ones I have seen for a couple of months.


Sand Martins

The percolation pond held a Squacco Heron, a Kentish Plover and three Black-winged Stilts. The scrub at the edge of the pond had two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins and the fence at the edge had a pair of Eurasian Turtle Doves. Namaqua Doves are becoming more common with up to five seen today.


European Turtle Doves

Little Bittern - Dhahran Hills

With the reeds quickly growing back on the percolation pond there are a few birds occurring in the last week or two that like this habitat. Clamorous Reed Warblers and a pair of Little Bittern bred in the reeds here last year and this year at least three pairs of Clamorous Reed Warbler are holding territory and a pair of Little Bittern have been seen in the last two weeks which will also hopefully breed, although proving breeding with Little Bitterns is difficult. The female Little Bittern was out in the open today until it was flushed by an overhead military airplane flying over low and I managed to get a photograph of it just after it landed with its head feather raised. The pond is otherwise quiet but one pair of Eurasian Coots were feeding four young.


Little Bittern (female)

The trees surrounding the pond had one Upcher's Warbler, tree Spotted Flycatchers and a female Red-backed Shrike. The only other shrike seen was a single Daurian Shrike. A large movement of Barn Swallow was in progress when I arrived with well over 500 birds passing through and among them seven Sand Martins. Two European Turtle Doves were seen in the large tress to the side of the pond and the two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins were seen in their normal places.


European Turtle Dove



Upcher's Warbler



Barn Swallow

acredula Willow Warbler – Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

There are obviously at least two different types of Willow Warbler passing through Bahrain with the main one being the brightly coloured trochilus type. Many of these are very small in size with wing measurements below 64 indicating they are from this sub-species. We have, however, also caught birds with wing lengths of 73 mm meaning they are not trochilus and are either acredula or yakutensis, but are not very distinctive and most probably are acredula. At the weekend we caught a very brown/grey and white bird that was quite large but had yellow fringes to the secondaries indicating it was an acredula. This is the first distinctive bird we have caught since I have been ringing and is obviously different from the other Willow Warbler in the photo plumage wise.

acredula Willow Warbler (right)

acredula Willow Warbler (right)

acredula Willow Warbler

acredula Willow Warbler

There are three different sub-species of Willow Warbler

Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus is the nominate race and breeds in Ireland, Britain and Southern Sweden south to northern Spain, central and north-west France east to Southern Poland and northern Romania. They winter in sub-Saharan west Africa. This sub-species is smaller and more olive-green and yellow than the other sub-species. They are generally olive-green above and much yellower below, although also show whitish base colour with varying amounts of ill defined, sparse, faint yellow streaks on the throat and breast and often the under-tail coverts. The supercillium is moderately pronounced.

Phylloscopus trochilus acredula breeds from Scandinavia, except southern Sweden & central and east Europe to central Siberia. They winter in Africa south of Sudan. It is similar to nominate in west of range becoming greyer and then browner towards the east. They are generally paler and brighter olive brown above with a less prominent greenish tinge and whiter below. The fringes of the retrices and remiges are pale olive brown (much reduced amount of yellow) and the supercillium is longer and more distinct and less yellow in colour compared to trochilus. They look large, bulky and greyer all over than nominate.

Phylloscopus trochilus yakutensis breeds in central and east Siberia and winters in east & south Africa. They are the largest and palest race and are paler brown above and white with a greyish wash to breast. The rump and fringes to the retrices and remiges show only a trace of olive-green and the supercillium is almost white. They show virtually no yellow and very little green in their plumage. It is smaller billed and often shows some streaking on the throat and upper breast.


The problem with Willow Warblers is they are very variable birds with as much variation within races as there is between them and are clinal across their range with acredula being very variable and intergrading with yakutensis in Siberia. This makes it difficult to assign birds to certain races unless a clear distinctive example can be found. The best way to try to assign race is on size and colour, but only fresh plumaged birds should be considered.