Birds of Saudi Arabia

10 November 2023

Pallid Swifts – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

Whilst birdwatching at the Dhahran Waste Water Lake at the end of October the number of Pallid Swift have started to increase markedly, which is slightly earlier than most years where they appear in good numbers in November. Birds are mainly flying high up but some are occasionally coming down to drink out of the lake allowing some reasonable photos to be taken. The species is a common passage migrant and breeder with a peculiar pattern of occurrence. The species is common from late January to May, scarce after this and only recorded again in good numbers from November. Breeding takes place in the winter months from November to April.

08 November 2023

Juvenile Osprey – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

The juvenile Osprey is still hanging around the Waste Water Lake in Dhahran. It spends quite a lot of time siting on one of the high voltage signs next to the lake but can also commonly be seen flying over, where occasionally good photos can be captured of it. My daughter first saw the bird when birding with me at the lake in early August and it has remained ever since catching Tilapia from the lake at frequent intervals. This is easily the longest staying bird I have seen on my ‘patch’ and hope it stays longer.

06 November 2023

Very few migrants – Salwa

We visited the areas in southeast Saudi Arabia near the Qatar and United Arab Emirates boarder to see if we could find anything unusual. After setting off at 02:45 we made it the areas the sun was rising at 06:00 hrs. We visited a few small allotment areas looking for migrants but only saw a two Great Grey Shrikes and a Common Chiffchaff, with virtually no birds present except White Eared Bulbul and House Sparrow. We then went to look at a couple of wet areas to see if we could locate any Prinias, which we had failed to do in the past. This time we also didn’t find anything but did record Clamorous Reed Warbler for the first time in the area as well as a few Common Chiffchaff, three Common Snipe and a Pied Wheatear. On the way onto one site, I saw a nice male Desert Wheatear but otherwise it was very quiet. We found a small lark that was very elusive but appeared to be either a Greater Short-toed Lark or Lesser Short-toed Lark and a warbler calling like a Lesser Whitethroat but very little else.

Great Grey Shrike

House Sparrow

Pied Wheatear

04 November 2023

Hufuf House Sparrow – Salwa

'Hufuf Sparrow' Passer (domesticus/indicus) hufufae was described by Ticehurst & Cheesman, 1924, from Hufuf Saudi Arabia, and which also occurs southwards to the UAE and northern Oman. This Sparrow is currently a subspecies of House Sparrow but has quite a few distinguishing features. Jennings states that the status in Arabia: pre-1984, hufufae near Hufuf Oasis, perhaps eastern Saudi Arabia coastal area and possibly UAE/Oman, but indicus mostly in Arabian port areas, likely of dhow/ship assisted origin. Post-1984, indicus being more adaptable to commensal behavior, has expanded quickly into oil, agriculture & commerce based settlements and hufufae has been swamped out of existence by hybridisation and being out-competed. There are not many records I know of, of hufufae in Saudi Arabia recently so I was keen to see if we could locate some or if Jennings comments held true. Our visits to the Uqayr, earlier this year, recorded a few likely looking birds, but we were going much closer to the UAE boarder to the Salwa area and hoped we may locate some here, where we saw some birds last year that were good candidates. Whilst in the Sawa area, in late October, we visited some small holdings and saw a large group of 100 plus sparrows, dropping down into small fields to eat loose seed. Many looked like typical indicus birds but a few were paler with smaller bibs and bills and greyish rump and uppertail coverts and washed out rufous in the wings all good indications of hufufae. The below photos are some of the ones I took of the likely hufufae birds.

02 November 2023

Four Black-winged Kite - Khafra Marsh

Whilst birding Khafra Marsh in October we located a single adult Black-winged Kite, and then a little later in a different area we found three Black-winged Kites together on a power line. The first record for the Eastern Province was only found on 17 April 2012, but since then has become more common with birds seen in every month and every year and it is now regarded as an uncommon visitor. Birds have bred at Khafra Marsh and these three birds are probably a family party. All birds sub-specifically identified in the east of the Kingdom are the eastern subspecies Elanus caeruleus vociferous a subspecies that occurs from Pakistan east to southern & eastern China, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula.

01 November 2023

A good number of passing Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters – Dhahran Waste Water Lake

Whilst birdwatching at the Dhahran Waste Water Lake recently I have been seeing a good number of passing Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Many have been grounded by the humid conditions and fog, sitting on the overhead power lines. Otherwise the same species of herons remain with only five Black-crowned Night Heron seen now and a single Purple Heron. Grey Heron numbers are still over ten birds and several Squacco Herons remain with about the same number of Little Egrets. Three Ferruginous Duck still remain and a couple of Eurasian Coot. Waders were only a single Common Greenshank and a pair of Black-winged Stilt. A single Daurian Shrike was the best migrant I could find in the scrubby areas.