Birds of Saudi Arabia

14 December 2015

Black-necked Grebes back for winter – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 4 December Phil Roberts and I found five Black-necked Grebes, just after I had said it was about time we saw our first ones for the winter. Two were in different places on the main flooded sabkha area near the power station with three others on the opposite side of the main pylon track on a large pool. All were in winter plumage as would be expected at this time of year. 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 and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, away from the Eastern Province, birds have occurred in Riyadh, Tabuk and the Red Sea, as well as in the Jizan region.

13 December 2015

Highest ever count of Pied Kingfishers in Saudi Arabia – Sabkhat Al Fasl

As mentioned in a previous post there appears to have been a significant influx of Pied Kingfishers into the eastern part of Arabia in late October and early November 2015 with birds seen in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait as well as Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia there was a single female at Sabkhat Al Fasl 23 October increasing to a minimum of ten 7 November. Numbers at the site then appeared to decrease with a maximum of four seen over the next month until 4 December when Phil Roberts and I saw at least 12 birds. Twelve birds together is the largest gathering of Pied Kingfishers seen in the Saudi Arabia at any one time and indicates that an unprecedented number of birds have passed through the region in recent weeks. The high count may indicate birds moving around the region trying to find suitable locations as many birdwatchers have been to Sabkhat Al Fasl in recent weeks trying to photograph the birds and not seen anywhere near this number of birds. On the other hand the site is very large and dense and birds could hide away easily, so they may have been there all the time and just not seen.

12 December 2015

European Robin near Jubail – Bird records by Mohammed AlRuqaya

Mohammed AlRuqaya sent me details of a European Robin Erithacus rubecula he found and photographed near Jubail between 1-5 December 2015. Mohammed has also kindly allowed me to use his great photos of the bird on my website. European Robin is a scarce winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with a number of records occurring in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. The records I know about include one adult male Abqaiq lagoons 11 November 1983, one adult male Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp percolation pond, 16 December 1983, one adult male Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp percolation pond, 22 February 1984, One at Jubail Lagoons 15 November 1991, one Duffi Park, Jubail 15 February 2014 and this bird 1-5 December 2015. There may be more records than this but it indicates how scarce the species is in the Eastern Province and how well Mohammed has done finding one. I am still yet to see this species in the country but will, hopefully, one day find my own whilst out birding.

11 December 2015

Booted Eagle and Sociable Lapwings near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Booted Eagle is a scarce passage migrant to all areas of Saudi Arabia so the fact Viv photographed one near Tabuk is a good record. This is a species I am still yet to see in Saudi Arabia, but hopefully one day I will bump into one. Viv also had a number of other interesting birds of prey including Eastern Imperial Eagle, Steppe Eagles, Common Kestrel and Black Kites. The flock of Sociable Lapwings was also still present in the same are where Viv saw them the week before, which is very good news and shows the birds may be going to winter in the area. A number of distinct wintering areas have recently been found in the kingdom making it a very important region for this critically endangered species.

Booted Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Common Kestrel

Black Kite

Sociable Lapwings

10 December 2015

Pied Kingfishers again at Sabkhat Al Fasl – Bird records by Cenen Mendoza

Cenen Mendoza is a relatively new bird photographer to Saudi Arabia although he has already taken a number of very high quality photos including the ones below of the Pied Kingfishers at Sabkhat Al Fasl. These birds are very photogenic and are proving to be popular with the local photographers. Cenen also photographed a Western Marsh Harrier that he thought might have been carry a dead Pied Kingfisher, but to me this looks more like a dead fish, although I may be wrong. I certainly hope it is not a Pied Kingfisher as I have been enjoying watching these birds over the last few weeks. I would like to thank Cenen for sending me his great photos and allowing me to use them on my website.

Pied Kingfisher

Western Marsh Harrier

09 December 2015

Crakes and rails near Tabuk – Records by Viv Wilson

Viv has been seeing some good birds in Tabuk in recent weeks and recently has seen a few crakes and rails. He had a Spotted Crake feeding out in the open in a wet area and a Water Rail at the edge of a reed bed. He also saw a few other birds associated with wet areas including a smart Citrine Wagtail, a flock of Garganey, Glossy Ibis, Western Cattle Egrets, Western Marsh Harrier and a Pied Avocet. A few raptors were also seen including Pallid Harrier, Common Kestrels and Black Kites. Some non-wetland birds seen included Desert Larks, Northern Lapwing, Common Chiffchaffs and Sand Partridge.

Spotted Crake

Water Rail

Black Kite

Citrine Wagtail

Common Chiffchaff

Desert Lark

Northern Lapwing

Pallid Harrier

Pied Avocet

Sand Partridge

Western Cattle Egret

08 December 2015

Largest Count of Western Great Egret – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl 27 November, Phil Roberts and I saw the largest flock of Western Great Egrets seen in the country to date when we discovered 250 together on the flooded area behind the power station. A couple of times the birds all took flight allowing a good estimate of numbers to be made. The Western Great Egret is a regular visitor to the Eastern Province where it is often seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl south to Tarout Bay and coastal areas south to Dammam where it is mainly seen from September through March and occasionally in late May with a maximum count of 170 birds. Away from the coastal zones presumed migrants have been recorded in March at lakes north of Hofuf and in October in Abqaiq. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia it is an uncommon but regular migrant to both coasts although also occurs inland including Riyadh.

07 December 2015

White-throated & Pied Kingfishers at Sabkhat Al Fasl - Bird records by Arnold Uy

Arnold went to Sabkhat Al Fasl with some of his photography friends trying to photograph Pied Kingfisher. He managed to take a number of good photographs of the Pied Kingfisher as well as one of the White-throated Kingfisher that I had told him I saw last week. They spent quite a lot of time getting good shots of the birds but their efforts were well rewarded and Arnold has very kindly sent me and allowed me to use some of his pictures. Arnold also wanted to photograph Greater Spotted Eagle but had less luck with this species as they were mainly flying around at some distance. As they stay around all winter there should be plenty of time to go back and try again. He did also manage to get a couple of nice photos of a Little Grebe eating a very large fish (for it at least).

White-throated Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Little Grebe

06 December 2015

Birds of prey near Tabuk – Records by Viv Wilson

Viv has been taking a lot of good photos of birds of prey in recent weeks including large numbers of Steppe Eagle and Common Kestrel. There are also a lot of Black Kites about and much smaller numbers of both Steppe Buzzard and Long-legged Buzzard. Much larger numbers of all species of birds of prey pass through the northwest of the Kingdom when compared to the Eastern side, as many pass down the west side of the Red Sea and into Africa via the Bab-el-Mandeb straights or alternatively spend the winter in the Arabian Peninsula. I have to say I would love to see the numbers and species of birds of prey Viv sees each year in my part of Saudi Arabia, but alas I have t make do with a handful of each species.