Western Marsh Harriers returning for the winter – Sabkhat Al Fasl

An early morning trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl arriving at first light showed me that many Western Marsh Harriers had returned for the winter. At one point eight birds were in the air together and a minimum of twenty birds were seen during the day. As normal most birds were juveniles or adult females with only one adult male seen. A fine adult male Pallid Harrier was located hunting over the largest reed bed and two Western Ospreys were also around, one on the main flooded sabkha eating a fish and the other in flight by the concrete bunded area.

Western Marsh Harrier

Western Osprey

The weather was not very good with very strong northerly winds creating dust storms and as a result only a few migrant passerines were seen. This included three Spotted Flycatchers, my first returning male Common Redstart of the autumn and three Daurian Shrikes including a smart looking adult male. A single Greater Short-toed Lark, tens of Yellow Wagtails and several Barn Swallows made up the remaining migrants.

Barn Swallow

Yellow Wagtail

The wet areas, as always, held several Purple Swamphens and plenty of Common Moorhens with numerous Herons. Three Purple Herons were seen along with 50+ Grey Herons, 100+ Little Egrets and 25+Squacco Herons. Plenty of terns were enjoying the strong winds with Little Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Caspian Terns and White-winged Terns all present.  The only other birds of note were a few waders with 200+ Kentish Plovers, 50+ Little Stints, 50+ Black-winged Stilts, 30+ Dunlin, five Ruff, one Marsh Sandpiper and one Common Greenshank. The best bird of the day was a White-throated Kingfisher in almost the same place as I had seen one two months ago, unfortunately I again failed to get any photographs of the bird. Two Common Kingfishers were also in the same area as the White-throated Kingfisher.

Common Moorhen

Squacco Heron

Dunlin

Kentish Plover

Little Stint

Caspian Tern

The Turf fields – Dhahran Hills

As I had a little more time than usual to bird the camp, I went to a new area for me of the grass ‘turf’ spray fields and the cricket pitch. These areas are large grassy areas that are relatively undisturbed as they are through a security fence and check point. The fields were alive with birds with hundreds of Yellow Wagtails, House Sparrows, Laughing Doves and Eurasian Collard Doves. The spray heads had a couple of species of shrike on them with one being Daurian Shrike and the other a Mauryan (Steppe) Grey Shrike. A couple of Wheatears were also around with several Isabelline as well as Northern Wheatears feeding on the grass.

Yellow Wagtail

Large trees surround the whole area and some shrubs interspersed with some nice grass areas were also present with a few Eurasian Hoopoes and a single Spotted Flycatcher there. Two more Daurian Shrikes were also in this area. This whole area looks good for birding and I will be spending a lot more time looking at this area in the coming months.

Eurasian Hoopoe

A couple of Harriers – Dhahran Hills

A mornings birding yesterday produced a few good birds and as I left home later than normal due to having to see the girls off to school, the air temperature was higher. As a result there were a couple of Harriers in the air. The first one was a Pallid Harrier, that circled around and then flew off high over the base and the second was a Western Marsh Harrier that came down and hunted briefly over the settling pond. Whilst doing this it flushed all the waders on the pool. These included 15 Black-winged Stilts, six Common Snipe, six Ruff, six Little Stints, one Wood Sandpiper and one Green Sandpiper. Other good birds seen on the settling pond were my first returning White Wagtail and my first autumn passage Grey Wagtail. A Little Grebe and several Common Moorhen were also on the pond.

Pallid Harrier

Western Marsh Harrier

The spray fields were being sprayed and had a single Western Cattle Egret as well as an adult and juvenile Purple Heron. Ten plus Barn Swallows and Sand Martins were flying over and three Daurian Shrikes and a single Turkestan Shrike were sitting on the spray heads and shrubs. The total number of shrikes is slowly building up and should reach their peak in a couple of week’s time.

Purple Heron - juvenile

Purple Heron - juvenile

Western White Stork again - Dhahran Hills

The same Western White Stork as last month returned to the Dhahran Hills football field after going missing for over a week. Plumage wise the bird appears to be the same individual and as they are scarce in the Eastern Province it is also more likely to be the same bird. It allows close approach now as it is used to the runners and people playing on the playing fields and only flys when someone gets too close and then normally only up onto the floodlights where it stays a while and returns to the grass once it feels safe again. It is great to have such a good looking and scarce bird staying around the camp as it adds interest to the days birding.

Eurasian Wryneck new ringing species - Alba Marsh

Whilst ringing at Alba Marsh last weekend we caught a Eurasian Wryneck. The net we caught the bird in was placed at the edge of the reed beds between two small Tamarisk bushes and the bird was the last bird we caught during the day. It was a very pleasant surprise when I saw it in the net, although I thought it was a shrike from a distance. They are really beautiful birds and the movement of their necks when in the hand is quite comical.

 

This was a new ringing species for me and although Nicole had not ringed one in Bahrain before she had done so in Turkey so I got the chance to ring the bird. It was certainly a great way to end a slow but enjoyable days ringing back on the marsh. We also cut a couple of new rides to use next time we are back at the marsh as the site has grown a lot over the summer and reed cutters have cut the reeds in a couple of places we sued to set nets.

White-throated Kingfisher Qaryat Al-Olaya – Bird records by Dave Kilmister

Dave Kilmister is a birder from Australia who has just moved to the Eastern Province and is birding local sites regularly. He has seen some good birds since his arrival a couple of months ago and on Friday 27 September saw and photographed a White-Throated Kingfisher at Qaryat Al-Olaya. I thank Dave for allowing me to use his photographs the copyright for which remains with Dave. He mentioned other birds seen that included Crested Larks (dozens), House Sparrows, Eurasian Wryneck, Red-backed Shrikes, Pied Wheatears, Spotted Flycatchers, Eurasian Collared Doves and Namaqua Doves.

White-throated Kingfisher was classed as a vagrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (Bundy et al 1989) with two records one at Dhahran 4-5 October 1984 and one overwintering at the Dhahran Hills percolation pond early November 1985 until March 1986. Numbers then became more common during the early 2000’s but since 2009 have become scarce again. The only record I know of since 2009 in the Eastern Province is one I found at Sabkhat Al Fasl earlier this year on 31 August 2013. Hopefully they are going to become more common again as they now breed at Riyadh and can be seen there all year round.

Three Red-necked Phalaropes (Sabkhat Al Fasl) – Bird records by Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts went to Sabkhat Al Fasl on 14 September and saw three Red-necked Phalaropes on the scrape area. These are the third records of the species this year at the site which is good as although they are regular here they have not been seen for a couple of years. Birds were seen in May, July and September. The photographs below were taken by Phil who kindly sent them to me and gave me permission to use them on my website. The copyright of the photographs remains with Phil.

Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope

Phil also went again to the same site on 28 September and mentioned there were more migrants including Daurian and Turkestan Shrike, a few Yellow Wagtails, a flock of 30 European Bee-eaters, a Wryneck, 4 Marsh Harriers and a Common Quail, plus all the usual suspects.

Savi’s Warbler and more - Ringing at Alba Marsh (Bahrain)

Nicole and I went ringing last weekend for the first time since last spring. The temperature is now low enough to get back to ringing and as a result we got to the site early. We had to cut a few new net rides and it took a little longer to set the nets than normal as we were out of practice but by 06:30 everything was up and running. We caught ten birds in total including a Common Moorhen, Clamorous Reed Warbler re-trapped at the same site from 2 November 2012, six European Reed Warblers and a Wryneck.

European Reed Warbler

European Reed Warbler

Common Moorhen - juvenile

 The best birds for us were the Wryneck but especially the Savi’s Warbler which is the third we have caught at the same site. It is a good bird for Bahrain where it is currently classed as a vagrant with birds seen in both spring and autumn migration periods. The fact we have caught three different birds in two years at the same site indicate they are a scarce passage migrant rather than a vagrant and this will need to be updated by the relevant authorities over time. The subspecies of Savi’s Warbler that occurs in the region is Locustella luscinoides fusca which is more olive brown with paler under-parts and more obvious white tips to the under-tail coverts than the nominate European form L l luscinodes making it look slightly different. They are certainly dark looking birds compared to the Reed Warblers we were catching.

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Jizan Corniche - Jizan

This site is one of the main birding locations in the region and has good wader habitat holding the highest concentration of shorebirds along the Saudi Red Sea coast. The site is easily viewed from the cornice road and in the early morning the sun is behind the observer allowing good viewing conditions. The weather was cloudy and this combined with the tide being out making the wading birds distant did not allow for good photographs to be taken. I went birding at first light and the previously good (July 2013) inlet had no birds at all. One very noticeable thing was the number of Black Kites sitting on the telegraph posts and flying about. In July 2013 I did not see a Black Kite but there were at least thirty birds present on this visit. They all appeared to be Black Kite rather than the resident Yellow-billed Kite.

Black Kite

I then went to the seafront and looked for birds here stopping to look at two Pink-backed Pelicans sitting on a lamp post and a Western Osprey on another. Other birds that were seen here included three Black-crowned Sparrow Larks, 20+ Common Myna and House Sparrow.

Pink-backed Pelican

Western Osprey

The extensive mudflats held small numbers of waders with 100+ Crab Plovers, five Bar-tailed Godwits, 10 Common Redshanks, one Common Greenshanks, 20 Lesser Sand Plovers, 10+ Greater Sand Plovers, five Kentish Plovers, one Eurasian Curlews, five Whimbrels, three Eurasian Oystercatchers, 50+ Little Stints, one Grey Plovers and four Marsh Sandpipers. Several Lesser Crested Terns & Swift Terns were flying about and five Greater Flamingos and several Sooty Gulls. Travelling further down towards the port we found a small fishing boat harbour near to the fish market that was full of gulls. Sooty Gull was common here with over one hundred birds seen, 5+ White-eyed Gulls, 3 Baltic Gulls, One Caspian Gull.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Crab Plover - adult

Crab Plover - juvenile

Sooty Gull

Egyptian Vulture – Farasan Islands

The Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus is the most common vulture of Saudi Arabia and is a widespread resident except the Empty Quarter and northern areas. Although it is widespread it is an uncommon but widespread breeding resident in the Tihama, Red Sea, Asir and Hejaz and scarce to rare breeder in the Northern Hejaz and Central Arabia. Records are rare in the Eastern Province, but recent sightings have come from near Riyadh and at Tabuk. Records suggest additional migrants arrive for the winter as numbers increase slightly during this period. The highest count recorded was up to 200 birds in a wetland in the south-west of Saudi Arabia in the 1990’s. Although little is known about the species in Saudi Arabia the population and range are both declining with the mainland population probably only about 10% of what it was 50 years ago. The Farasan Islands are a good site for seeing the species in Saudi Arabia with birds thinly scattered over the main two islands.

We saw quite a few birds in an afternoon out looking for the Arabian Gazelles with a pair in flight to the south of Farasan town near the coast. We saw additional birds at the Arabian Gazelle head office area and saw seven birds in total. The birds gave good views on occasions and they can be seen by driving around and looking for large birds in flight. Stopping and waiting Is then a good option in the hope that they fly over where you have parked.