Eastern Imperial Eagles - Ushaiqer

Whilst birding Ushaiqer waste dump I found at least two Eastern Imperial Eagles. The birds were seen sitting on the ground amongst about fifty Steppe Eagles and allowed close approach in the car. I took the below photos which are some of the best photos I have of the species. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion.

Black & White Volcanos – Khaybar

The black & white volcanos are an amazing sight and should definitely be visited if you are in the area and care is taken. The volcanic field of Harrat Khaybar north of Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia contains rare examples of white volcanoes comprised mainly of the calcium rich felsic rock comendite. Although situated only 60 km from a busy highway, the volcanic area is remote and one should take extreme care in order to visit the volcanoes, as the lava is very sharp and can shred a car tyre easily. Following the tracks is also not straight forward as Google Maps is intermittent here and many tracks lead in different directions, often to dead ends. The white volcanoes are surrounded by more recent black basaltic lava fields that follow the pre-existing topography and display both aa and pahoehoe lava flow structures. The jewels of the Harrat Khaybar are found in its centre of the field 40 kilometres off-road from the nearest tarmac road, where a very rare kind of white volcano occur with the two largest being Jebel Abiadh and Jebel Bayda, which are really stunning to see. Jebel Abiadh (literally “white mount”) is the highest crater of the harrah at 2093 meters above sea level and Jebel Bayda (in Arabic the feminine of “white mount”) is the largest with a 1.5 kilometre diameter cone. Here you can see a striking contrast between the whitish creamy lava of Jebel Bayda and the deep black one of Jebel Qidr. Once at Jebel Bayda it is best to stop at the bottom and walk up the side. Several tracks have been made by local Bedouin driving their vehicles up the side but I suggest you do not follow suit as the beduoins are extremely skilful off-road drivers. It can get very windy here so be prepared. Once at the top the view is amazing and you can see two small cinder cones inside the main cone. The below information and photograph are from the NASA Earth Observatory. The western half of the Arabian Peninsula contains not only large expanses of sand and gravel, but extensive lava fields known as haraat (harrat for a named field). One such field is the 14,000-square-kilometer Harrat Khaybar, located approximately 137 kilometers to the northeast of the city of Al Madinah (Medina). The volcanic field was formed by eruptions along a 100-kilometer, north-south vent system over the past 5 million years. The most recent recorded eruption took place between 600–700 AD. Khaybar contains a wide range of volcanic rock types and spectacular landforms. Jabal (“mountain” in Arabic) al Qidr is built from several generations of dark, fluid basalt lava flows. Jabal Abyad, in the center of the image, was formed from a more viscous, silica-rich lava classified as a rhyolite. While the 322-meter high Jabal al Qidr exhibits the textbook cone shape of a stratovolcano, Jabal Abyad is a lava dome—a rounded mass of thicker, more solidified lava flows. To the west (image top center) is the impressive Jabal Bayda’. This symmetric structure is a tuff cone, formed by eruption of lava in the presence of water. The combination produces wet, sticky pyroclastic deposits that can build a steep cone structure, particularly if the deposits consolidate quickly. White deposits visible in the crater of Jabal Bayda’ and two other locations to the south are sand and silt that accumulate in shallow, protected depressions. The tuff cones in the Harrat Khaybar suggest that the local climate was much wetter during some periods of volcanic activity. Today, however, the regional climate is hyperarid—little to no yearly precipitation—leading to an almost total lack of vegetation.

 

Egyptian Vultures – Farasan Islands

I visited the Farasan Islands in summer and went to the rubbish dump area. Here I found a gathering of 28 Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus of various ages. This is one of the best locations in the Kingdom to see the species, especially in the summer months. The Egyptian Vulture is sharply declining throughout its range and is currently classified as globally endangered with a status in Saudi Arabia as a rare breeding resident, scarce passage migrant and scarce winter visitor. The western coast of Saudi Arabia is an important wintering site with a recent study (Shobrak et al 2020) showing an important congregation site (c 200 individuals) for the species in the southwest of Saudi Arabia around the area of Wadi Qanuna. This area has optimal habitat and food widely available with roosting sites discovered on high-voltage powerlines with a safe pylon design, located at the foothill. Birds still breed in very small numbers on the Farasan islands as can be seen from immature birds present during my visit.

 

Al Naslaa Rock – Tayma

Near to Tayma lies Al Naslaa rock formation with a perfect slit between the two standing stones and flat faces, all completely natural. It is made up of two sandstone blocks supported by a naturally-formed pedestal with a perfect slit down the middle and while the exact cause of the split has yet to be determined, windblown sand and periodic rain could have created the unusual shape as could a movement of the rock below the large sand stone blocks. To get to the rock is not straight-forward and you need to drive a long way off-road, sometimes through soft sand and a four wheel drive is probably essential to reach it. It is however well worth the effort as it is an amazing rock structure with some excellent petroglyphs including a man leading his horse, camels and several tribal symbols or Wasums depicted on the flat and smooth part of the rock. The panel on the right boulder has a central figure of an Arabian horse, done in the traditional North Arabian style, with a man holding its lead in one hand and an arrow in the other. The horse has a halter depicted on its face, a prominent forelock, probably a clipped mane, and a full tail. The entire body, except for the face, is shaded, which may mean the horse was a solid color naturally. The man seems to be wearing a futah (men’s cloth wrap covering the lower part of the body). This shows Arabian rock art is an important source for learning more about the grooming, training and handling of early Arabian horses with the man in this scene keeping the horse’s head in the right position by holding a lead attached to its halter taut in his left hand. In his right hand he holds an arrow vertically with the tip up. The projectile is out in front of the horse in its line of sight, perhaps to act the way a goad or a modern halter whip gets the horse to focus during training.

 

 

Greater Short-toed Lark with deformed bill – Jubail area

Whilst birding the Jubail area recently we came across an odd-looking lark. It had a deformed bill making it look quite strange, but it also had what appeared to be longish primary projection. On first impressions it was close to a Greater Short-toed Lark with a reddish cap under certain poses but was a little confusing. After checking details when back home it appears to be a Greater Short-toed Lark. This is the second lark with a deformed bill I have seen recently with the first being a Bar-tailed Lark with a bill like a Curlew seen in Al Ula

Haddaj Well – Tayma

Haddaj well is believed to have built in the 6th century by Nabonidus and is one of the largest wells in the ancient world. It was built with the intention of alleviating the suffering of the locals by increasing the amount of water and the size of their farms. The well is known to date back at least to the middle of the 6th century BC, during the Babel occupation. In the 5th century BCE, all of Tayma was abandoned and buried, so the well fell into disuse for many centuries until Suleiman al-Gonaim restored it to a functional state. In 1954 King Saud ordered the installation of four large modern pumps to increase the amount of water so every farmer had a well running to his farm. Later, with the use of modern pumping equipment, the farmers of Tayma no longer needed traditional methods, therefore the architectural elements of wellheads and old water withdrawal techniques disappeared. In 1973 HRH Prince Faisal Al-Saud directed the initiative to restore the well at his own expense so that today's visitors still can see it in its original form. Bir Hadaj (Hadaj well) has a diameter of 18 meters and has 40 minhala (a wooden wheel used in the past to draw water from well) by which camels drew water which in turn were driven through canals for irrigation and other purposes.

Juvenile Spur-winged Lapwing – Jubail area

Whilst birding the Jubail area in early July Phil Roberts and I saw a juvenile Spur-winged Lapwings. Two adults have been around the same area for the past two months behaving as if they had young nearby, but we have until this encounter not managed to find any signs of breeding. We do not look too hard as we do not want to disturb the birds, but this is the same location where they bred for the first time in the Eastern Province last year. The species was regarded as a vagrant to the Eastern Province when I arrived eleven years ago but is now a scarce visitor that can be seen at any time of year indicating birds are now resident in small numbers in areas away from Haradh where they are now definitely resident.

Al Radam Palace – Tayma

The site dates back the mid first millennium BC. The palace has a rectangular shape covering an area of 34m x 25m with the walls being made of medium sized cut stone more than 2 metres thick and 3.5 metres high. The palace has a pillar in each corner with another in the middle of each wall. An additional stone wall is connected to the external walls, some built in the same direction of the palace and some in the opposite direction. The palace also has a stone well.