Birds of Saudi Arabia

Painted Lady – Shedgum Escarpment

2013-05-25T04:02:00.000+03:00

As Saudi Arabia has a mostly desert environment it is often difficult to persuade people that wildlife can be abundant at certain times in the region. One such even that occurs annually is the migration of Painted Lady butterflies which is one of no less than 130 species of butterfly that occur in the Arabian region. The majority of these butterflies live in the mountainous regions of south-west Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, but even the desert regions have their permanent and semi-permanent residents. The Painted Lady belongs to a group of butterflies which have not specialized, yet also survive. They are a migrant species and their survival strategy is based on mobility and the endless search for conditions where they can breed. The Painted Lady is the world's most cosmopolitan butterfly and when it has a successful breeding season; individual butterflies can fly in any direction with some travelling thousands of kilometres. Thus if some habitat in Arabia is suddenly blessed with an abundance of rain, some Painted Lady will almost certainly find it, breed and lay their eggs. Their progeny will then almost certainly leave the area, so if the area is not suitable for breeding again for many years, it won't matter; the progeny will have found still other places to breed. Obviously many butterflies die in such a process as this nomadic life is harsh, but the species will survive. The Painted Lady and other migrant butterflies are less specialized in their choice of food plant and habitat than most of the sedentary species. This is because they can't be as fussy to survive and as a result can live in harsher environments. If winter rains have been good and flora has flourished the number of Painted Lady recorded increases significantly.

Red-necked Phalarope – Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-24T04:05:00.019+03:00

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl yesterday I found two Red-necked Phalaropes feeding on a smallish flooded area by the water pumping station. This is only the second time I have seen the species in Saudi Arabia and the first time in the spring. The previous record was a single bird seen on 5 August 2011 at Al Khobar on a small roadside pool by the Dammam / Al Khobar Wader Roost South. Bundy’s ‘Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia’ published in October 1989 states that they are regular in varying numbers on marshy pools in spring but very scarce and irregular in autumn. It seems likely that a large number that winter in the Arabian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean area overfly the region with a record of 10,000 birds 40 kilometres west of Bahrain and close to the Saudi Arabia coast 27 March 1980. Records are regular in Kuwait to the north but from the Eastern Province are limited with one record from March, scare in April and regular in May with the peak inland count being 150 birds at Abqaiq in May 1976.

The two birds I saw were behaving in a typical Phalarope manner turning around in circles on the water in search of food and picking insects off the waters surface in a fast and active manner. This is a new species for me at Sabkhat Al Fasl although I know Phil has had at least one sighting here in the past.

Five Little Terns – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-23T04:05:00.000+03:00

Dhahran Hills has been very quiet for a few days now with very little sign of migration. The only really unusual occurrence was five Little Terns, flying around the percolation pond. This is the largest number of this species I have seen at a single time on the ‘patch’. Little Tern is common along the coast at this time of year and breed in a few areas in the Eastern Province but normally only one or two birds are seen on the pond.

Little Tern

Other signs of migration included a Lesser Grey Shrike and two adult male Red-backed Shrikes in the spry fields and 15 Sand Martins flying over the same area.

Lesser Grey Shrike

Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizards – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-22T04:15:00.000+03:00

Whilst out birding I saw two different Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizards in different places on the camp. The first one shown was quite a small one only about 50 centimetres long and was quite a dull colour. The second one was a much bigger animal, well over a metre long and was also a brighter colour. The first lizard was living in a small hole under a concrete slab whereas the larger lizard had a very big burrow on its own in the scrubby desert area. Now the temperatures are high the lizards are becoming much easier to see as they bask in the evening, or early morning sun to get warm. On foot they are very difficult to approach but let you get quite close if you remain in the car.

Terns fishing - Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000+03:00

Whilst at Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend we found a group of terns fishing at close range near to a water outflow from one of the core areas into the flooded sabkha. This area is usually quite dry by now but due to the unusual amounts of rain we have had this spring it is still full of water. The terns were fishing for small fish that had gathered around this outflow. It looked like good photographic opportunities would be available, as the birds were close and performing well. There were probably twenty terns in all with most being White-cheeked Terns and the others Little Terns. The top photograph is what I take to be a Little Tern and shows how dark grey the rumps can be on some of the Little Terns that occur in the Gulf region. One disadvantage of having a big lens (600mm) is that when birds are close and active the big lens is not the best for taking photos. As a result I did not manage to get the good shots I thought I might, and below are the best I achieved.

Little Tern

White-cheeked Tern

Migration slowing down – Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-20T04:08:00.000+03:00

An early morning trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl turned out to be fairly quiet. There were still plenty of Red-backed Shrikes, with over twenty seen during the visit, as well as Willow Warblers, but not really much else. Passerine migrants included an Upcher’s Warbler, ten Spotted Flycatchers, three Common Redstarts, one Daurian Shrike and a Eurasian Turtle Dove that appeared to be collecting nesting material. Several Sand Martins and Barn Swallows were flying over with one or two European Bee-eaters but very little else.

Common Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher

Herons were represented by seven Little Bitterns, two Grey Herons, one Purple Heron and ten Squacco Herons. Very few waders were seen but evidence of breeding was noted for Kentish Plovers and Little Ringed Plover with several very young Kentish Plovers seen with parents looking on and two juvenile Little Ringed Plover that must have bred somewhere nearby. Other passage waders included a few Curlew Sandpipers in summer plumage and a few Little Stints

Kentish Plover - chicks

Kentish Plover

Little Ringed Plover - juvenile

Curlew Sandpiper

Terns are becoming more obvious with the most common species seen now being White-cheeked Terns. Several were sitting around and other flying over the flooded sabkha area. Three Caspian Terns were seen along with several Little Terns in various plumages.

White-cheeked Tern

Caspian Tern

The only other birds seen of note were three Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks, two males and a female, which are not seen too often at this location. Seeing this species as well as the breeding waders really gave me the feeling spring is almost over and summer has finally arrived in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark - male

Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark - female

Bird numbers dropping - Dhahran Hills

2013-05-19T04:06:00.000+03:00

Bird numbers have decreased significantly over the last few days with the only migrant still in good numbers being the Willow Warbler. There are still a few Red-backed Shrikes about and surprisingly a nice adult male Turkestan Shrike, which is the first male of this species I have seen for more than two weeks. The scrubby desert area had two European Bee-eaters and an Upcher’s Warbler showing very well in the low bushes.

Upcher's Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

The spray fields had an immature Purple Heron and a late Western Cattle Egret that was oiled and looked slightly odd at a distance. A female Eurasian Blackcap and several Common Whitethroats were also present and a Namaqua Dove was sitting briefly in a tree at the edge. Two Little Terns were also on the wet pool on the spray fields along with three Black-winged Stilt and a Wood Sandpiper. The only interesting birds on the percolation pond were two Squacco Herons and the Great Crested Grebe. The late migrating Spotted Flycatcher is still around with six birds seen in the trees around the pond where four Eastern Olivaceous Warblers were also present. Good numbers of Sand Martins and Barn Swallows were over the settling pond and spray fields and a single Eurasian Sparrowhawk also flew over.

Namaqua Dove

Sand Martin

Collared Pratincoles lacking white trailing edge to wing

2013-05-18T04:00:00.000+03:00

Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl in April I saw a flock of ten Collared Pratincoles with at least three birds without the normal white trailing edge to the secondaries. Initially there was only one bird present and it lacked the white trailing edge, but on closer inspection it had rufous underwing coverts making it a Collared or Oriental Pratincole. The lack of white trailing edge and rufous underwing coverts are features of Oriental Pratincole so I took a few photographs of the bird. I managed to obtain one with its wings stretched showing the lack of white trailing edge to the secondaries. The bird than flew and was joined by the other birds, all of which seemed to be Collared Pratincoles, although two more lacked the white trailing edge. A few birds were typical Collared Pratincoles with long tails and broad white trailing edge to the wing in flight. When resting on the ground there did not appear to be any difference in size, plumage or colouration between any of the birds. As a result I came to the conclusion that all the birds were probably Collared Pratincoles but thought I should get a second opinion as Oriental Pratincole has not, to my knowledge, been recorded in Saudi Arabia. The problem with the interesting bird, first photograph below, was it was on its own when thoughts of Oriental Pratincole entered my head. Unfortunately it then flew some distance and landed, but when we drove to where it had landed it was with a group of other Collared Pratincoles. I found what I thought was the same bird, photographs two and three below, at the edge of the group and took photos of it. It eventually flew off, when I failed to get a flight shot, but did notice the bird lacked an obvious white-trailing edge to the wing and had red underwing coverts. I thought this bird may have been the same bird as that shown in the first photograph due to it having a short looking tail and longer wings but on looking at the photos this was not the case as the bird has one wing dropped down causing an illusion of a short tail and the tail is in fact quite long. As a result I cannot be certain photographs two and three below are the same bird as photograph one below. Likewise the bird in flight may not be the same as the previous bird(s) but certainly lacks an obvious white trailing edge to the wing.

I sent some photos of the interesting birds for comments to a few people with extensive knowledge of the species such as Gerald Driessens, Brian Small, & Lars Svensson with Gerald and Lars having written an excellent identification paper on Collared and Oriental Pratincoles.
Driessens, G & Svensson, L. 2005. Identification of Collared Pratincole and Oriental Pratincole – a critical review of characters. Dutch Birding 27: 1-35.

Brian mentioned that the apparently evenly dark secondaries and lack of white trailing edge initially confused him but he came to the conclusion the bird was a Collared Pratincole, although suggested it was definitely worth getting a second opinion as the bird was not a typical, easy to identify, Collared Pratincole. He reached his conclusion for the following reasons:
Flight above - note the dark shaft of Oriental Pratincole this bird has white shaft. Flight below - orange breast band seems to grade broadly onto underparts on Oriental Pratincole unlike this bird
Flight - fanned tail shows minimal amount of black on outer tail feather on Oriental (20%) and is usually about half on Collared Pratincole like on the bird in flight

Gerald Driessens mentioned to me that after taking his time to look at the photographs he became convinced that the bird in the first picture (and also the others) showed a Collared Pratincole. He mentioned that there certainly is ‘something strange’ with (some of) the Middle Eastern Collared Pratincoles, with several pictures of odd individuals reaching him since he published the ID-paper. To quote from Gerald “Your bird looks quite compact, somewhat Oriental-like. If it is the same bird as in the next two pictures, the tail streamers are certainly too long (not visible on the first photograph). If it is not the same, than still the pale tips of the secondaries are too washed out and there is too much merging with the dark part of the feather. On Oriental, you see a sharp demarcation with the pale fringe (if there is a fringe in the first place). Also, in my opinion, the spread primaries show a difference between dark outer and paler inner webs on the 4 to 5 inner primaries. As you noticed yourself, the picture of the flying bird shows the typical tail pattern, the outer tail-feather immediately ruling out Oriental, as the dark base never reaches halfway up the shaft in that species”.

Lars Svensson agreed with Gerald’s views saying that on looking a little more at the photographs he “saw that characters for Collared dominated over some vague Oriental-looking traits. Difficult bird(s) anyway”.

Surprisingly quite a few (+/- 25%) of the Collared Pratincoles I have seen in spring in Saudi Arabia appear to lack an obvious white trailing edge to the wing. I wondered if these birds were the African sub-species known as Afrotropical Oriental Pratincole in Gerald Driessens paper:
Driessens, G 2005. Field identification of Afrotropical Collared Pratincole. Dutch Birding 27: 35-40.
The bill pattern and head pattern of these should look more like Oriental Pratincole, and the necklace should have less obvious pale inner throat surround to the black boarder not shown by these birds, so these birds fitted Collared Pratincole better. As a result I concluded they were not Afrotropical Collared Pratincole even though they showed a long black gape line stripe typical of this type.

I asked Gerald and Lars if they had seen birds without the white-trailing edge to the wing, as I had not seen this documented anywhere, and got the following reply. Gerald said “We were able to find some skins with very narrow, and some completely worn off (which is surely not the case in yours) trailing edges. I don’t expect them to be Africans, as they have quite some other characters which are not shared by your bird (like the white edge inside the dark throat band. Would be interesting to know the origin of the Saudi-Arabian birds...”.

Lars said “Personally I have never seen such a white-trailing-edge-lacking Collared Pratincole before, but the whole reason for the paper, which Gerald started and I was invited later to join, was the occurrence of such a bird”.

Here are some photos taken in Saudi Arabia of a reasonably well marked Collared Partincole taken this spring

A poorly marked bird in spring 2012

The conclusion that the birds are Collared Pratincoles was agreed to by all parties but these pictures certainly show that you need very good views of a vagrant bird before coming to the conclusion it is an Oriental Pratincole. This was a great learning experience and I will certainly be looking at all the Pratincoles I see very closely, to see if I can learn anything more. I would like to thank Gerald, Brian and Lars for their thoughts on this interesting bird(s) and for allowing me to publish their comments.

Still a few Shrikes about – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-17T04:03:00.000+03:00

The last few days on the ‘patch’ produced few birds, although quite a few shrikes were still lingering from the big influx of a week ago. Red-backed Shrikes were the most common with 12 birds seen on one day being the most. Three Turkestan Shrikes were in the spray fields but I did not see any Daurian Shrikes. A single Lesser Grey Shrike was also in the spray fields with the only other good birds seen being two Ortolan Buntings.

Red-backed Shrike

Turkestan Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

The Percolation Pond was full of water but few birds were seen except the Greater Crested Grebe hiding in the reeds. European Bee-eaters were about the only birds of note seen around the pond. A few Willow Warblers were also seen along with several Spotted Flycatchers but little else, possibly due to the amount of dust that has been in the air in recent days?

European Bee-eater

Spotted Flycatcher

lutea Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-16T04:03:00.000+03:00

Although the number of Yellow Wagtails has dropped off considerably over the last week or so from 50+ birds to just five, one of them is a quite bright adult male lutea Yellow-headed Wagtail. It was feeding around the muddy edges of the settling pond for a couple of days. I had only seen one Yellow-headed Wagtail in Dhahran prior to this year, but this year I have seen eight different birds. I am still to see one of the really bright birds with little or no green no the crown clearly making it a lutea but have seen a number of males like the one in the photograph. These birds are lutea on range but are very similar to the UK race of Yellow Wagtail flavissima.

lutea Yellow Wagtail (Yellow-headed Wagtail)

Other interesting birds included a Sedge Warbler, one Lesser Grey Shrike, two immature Purple Herons and an Upcher’s Warbler in the spray fields. Six Little Stints, one Little Ringed Plover and three Kentish Plovers were feeding along the edge of the settling pond, with the Little Stints all in a small group in the shallow water. A couple of other good birds for the ‘patch’ were seen this week with a fly over female Golden Oriole by the percolation pond and a Gull-billed Tern flying over the pond with two Little Terns. Both Golden Oriole and Gull-billed Tern were new for the year for me in Dhahran but not for Saudi Arabia, as I have seen many of both species at Sabkhat Al Fasl during the winter and spring.

Purple Heron - immature

Little Stints

Eurasian Hobby – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-15T04:04:00.000+03:00

Whilst birding the spray fields I found an adult Eurasian Hobby sitting on the ground by a wet patch where the field had recently been flooded. This was the first time I had seen the species in Saudi Arabia sitting on the ground. I have only seen it a few times before with all records being in Dhahran Camp with the exception of a single bird seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl. Most records are from the spring migration period. The species is an uncommon passage migrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where it often hunts small birds and insects over wetlands and fields. Birds are mainly seen in the early morning and late evening.

The Eurasian Hobby is a long distance migrant from Europe and northern Asia to southern Africa. They migrate on a broad front crossing water freely, without concentrating along specific routes and is mainly regarded as an uncommon passage migrant throughout Arabia. Birds are mainly seen from early April until May and then from late August to early November.

Kuwait – Uncommon passage migrant.
Saudi Arabia – Uncommon passage migrant
Bahrain – Passage migrant, March to May and August to November
Qatar – Uncommon passage migrant early April to mid-June and late August to mid-October, first winter birds until mid-December
UAE - Uncommon spring and common to fairly common autumn migrant.
Oman – Fairly common migrant

Some late birds - Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-14T04:06:00.000+03:00

Arrival at Sabkhat Al Fasl just after first light indicated that a few migrants were present but the large numbers of the last two weeks had decreased significantly. Signs of migration were thin on the ground but there was a single Yellow Wagtail, one Ortolan Bunting, several Willow Warblers, two Common Whitethroats and two Upcher’s Warblers. Upcher’s Warbler has had a great spring with plenty of birds seen and very good views being obtained of many of the birds present. Two Whinchats were still about but not much else. Shrikes were still the commonest sight with Red-backed Shrike being the commonest with over thirty birds seen. Other shrikes included five Turkestan Shrikes, four Lesser Grey Shrikes, three Daurian Shrikes and one very late adult male Woodchat Shrike.

Upcher's Warbler

Ortolan Bunting

Waders were also much reduced with three Common Snipe, several Common Ringed Plover and Little Stints, one Temminck’s Stint and one Curlew Sandpiper about all that was seen. A late group of 300+ Greater Flamingos, mainly juveniles, was seen out on the flooded Sabkha and was a pleasant surprise. A late Spotted Crake was walking around an area of water where someone had illegally dumped some building rubbish. Clamorous Reed Warblers were still in full song and today were joined by a number of singing European Reed Warblers. Little Bitterns have been a scarce sight this spring foe me but today I had nine sightings of the species. Other herons included plenty of Little Egrets, several Indian Reef Herons and ten Squacco Herons.

Common Snipe

Purple Swamphen

Collared Pratincoles – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-13T04:19:00.000+03:00

A trip to the ‘patch’ produced my first Collared Pratincoles of the year in Dhahran. Although I have seen quite a few at Sabkhat Al Fasl this spring I had yet to see one in the camp. This changed as I found two birds sitting at the edge of the spray fields in exactly the same place that I had seen them in the two previous springs I have been in Saudi Arabia. The birds allowed close approach and at one stage one bird flew and landed right outside the car window allowing very close photographs to be taken of it. The birds did not stay long and soon flew off and I could not locate them again. The photos below are of the two different birds seen.

Collared Pratincole

The spray fields had a few shrikes including 10+ Red-backed Shrikes and one Lesser Grey Shrike as well as a Purple Heron. The settling pond had four Kentish Plovers, two Little Stints, one Little Ringed Plover and three Black-winged Stilts. 200+ Sand Martins and several Barn Swallows were flying around the pond catching insects with hundreds more Sand Martins passing through.

Lesser Grey Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Black-winged Stilt

The percolation pond had two Little Terns and a Squacco Heron but very little else. A European Turtle Dove was the best bird seen around the edge, although there were a few Spotted Flycatchers and three Eastern Olivaceous Warblers in the bushes.

European Turtle Dove

Garden Warbler new ‘patch’ species – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-12T04:08:00.000+03:00

Whilst birding the ‘patch’ on Friday morning I saw an interesting warbler very briefly in the spray fields that gave me the impression it was a Garden Warbler. Unfortunately almost as soon as I saw the bird it flew off and disappeared. There had been a big ‘fall’ of birds and plenty of Common Whitethroats were about and given the brief views I could not be 100% certain of the its identification. I then met Phil and told him about the possible Garden Warbler. As a result we went to the area of the spray fields where I had seen the bird and fortunately relocated it with a couple of Common Whitethroats where I managed to get a couple of relatively distant photographs. This was a new species for Phil and I on the ‘Patch’ taking my total to 196 and was also a new species for Saudi Arabia for us both as well. Whilst watching the first bird, a second Garden Warbler joined it, and at times they were seen side by side with a Common Whitethroat.

Garden Warbler Sylvia borin is an uncommon migrant to all areas of Saudi Arabia from late April until May and again from September to October. It is recorded less frequently in the Eastern Province, where it is regarded as scarce, although their drab nature makes them easy to overlook so are probably more common than records suggest. In nearby Kuwait they are regarded as an uncommon passage migrant and rare winter visitor being seen in small numbers, on bushes and trees, in widely scattered areas throughout the country. To the south in the United Arab Emirates they are regarded as an uncommon migrant from April to May and September to October with two November records. In Bahrain it is an uncommon passage migrant from April to May and September to October.

Large fall of birds – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-11T04:15:00.000+03:00

Arriving at the ‘patch’ early morning on Friday proved to be a good move. It soon became apparent that there had been a big arrival of birds with Red-backed Shrikes flying around the scrubby desert area and literally hundreds of Willow Warblers flitting about. A minimum of 50 Willow Warblers were sitting on the wires surrounding the settling pond and I soon started to get the feeling that I might see some good birds. I then met Phil who said he had a Moustached / Sedge in a small reed bed on the settling pond which turned out to be a Moustached Warbler a new species for the year and then five or six Sedge Warblers, which were also new for me in Dhahran this year. Both these species were new for Phil on the ‘patch’ indicating the unusual nature of the sightings. We then decided to walk around the spray fields and percolation pond to see what else may have dropped in. A minimum of ten Common Whitethroats where seen in the fields along with three Barred Warblers.

Common Whitethroat

A Great Reed Warbler was an unusual sighting in the spray field, indicating the movement of birds contained quite a few species. A Purple Heron flew out of the fields and a few waders were on the wet area including a Ruff, Wood Sandpiper, seven Little Stints and two Kentish Plovers. A lot of shrikes were in evidence including three Lesser Grey Shrikes, with two together in the same bush, a minimum of 25 Red-backed Shrikes and one Masked Shrike.

Red-backed Shrike

Masked Shrike

Other interesting birds seen was a single Ortolan Bunting feeding along the edge of the spray fields, a Common Cuckoo, only the second time I have seen the species in the camp, several Eastern Olivaceous Warblers, four Common Redstarts and two Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins.

Ortolan Bunting

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

White-cheeked Terns Displaying – Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-10T04:11:00.000+03:00

Whilst at Sabkhat Al Fasl I found a pair of White-cheeked Terns on a wet pool formed by the recent heavy rainfall. The birds were sitting together so I decided to try to photograph them. The light was not great as they were slightly into the sun but as I was taking pictures they started to display to each other and I got a series of pictures to show this occurrence. White-cheeked Terns breed on the offshore islands of the Arabian Gulf in quite large numbers but are just returning from their wintering grounds. They are obviously starting to refresh their bonds as birds mate for life. White-cheeked Tern has a restricted range and the offshore islands of the Arabian Gulf form a very important breeding area for the species.

Birds of Kuwait: A Comprehensive Visual Guide

2013-05-09T03:45:00.000+03:00

I was lucky enough to be given a complimentary copy of the relatively new photographic guide “Birds of Kuwait: A Comprehensive Visual Guide” by Mike Pope, one of the editors of the book when he visited Saudi Arabia a few months ago. The book was produced for the sponsoring company Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), with the company authorities distributing copies to all stakeholders concerned, such as public authorities and educational facilities. It was not available to buy but is now available as a low resolution PDF file that can be downloaded for free from the following link (file size is 37.3 MB). The first print run has already been distributed and a second print run has been commissioned.

The “Birds of Kuwait: A Comprehensive Visual Guide” is a large-format presentation presented by Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC). It is certainly not a field guide, due to its size and weight, but more a collection of some breathtaking photographs of the 391 species that had occurred in the country up until June 2012, with 95% of the photographs taken within the country limits. This is quite an achievement even more so if you take into account the photographs were taken by 18 Kuwaiti or Kuwait-based amateur birdwatchers and photographers.

The book has an introduction section on the country’s best birding sites, lives of wild birds in Kuwait, naming birds (identification and taxonomy), observing and photographing birds, bird conservation, hunting and various other topical items. Mike Pope wrote “One of the aims of the book is to increase public awareness at all levels of the beauty and diversity of Kuwait's birdlife which is part of Kuwait's natural heritage. This in the hope that more conservation measures will be taken to improve and protect diminishing habitats and the environment for better bird protection and to ensure that this great diversity of species we are seeing now, will still be with us for generations to come”.

I would like to thank Mike very much for kindly supplying me with a copy of this book which is truly and amazing document.

Bee-eaters still present - Dhahran Hills

2013-05-08T04:04:00.000+03:00

Birding the ‘patch’ the last few days had been relatively slow, although there are still just about double figure numbers of Red-backed Shrikes about. The initial movement of birds mainly concerned adult males, but now the majority of birds are females and immature males. A single Lesser Grey Shrike remained on the spray fields and the stunning male Masked Shrike was still on the edge of the percolation pond. The good number of bee-eaters continues but numbers have dropped with both European and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters seen.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Good numbers of Common Whitethroats and Barred Warblers are also still being seen with 10+ birds of both species recorded. Two Upcher’s Warblers, five Eastern Olivaceous Warblers and several Willow Warblers made up the remaining warblers seen. I am still to see my first Blackcap of the spring which is very surprising. Only a couple of thunbergi Yellow Wagtails remain and a single male Northern Wheatear. The weather has improved again after the rain of last week and the associated cool and windy conditions so let’s hope for another influx of birds before the spring migration ends.

Sinai Rosefinch & Montagu’s Harrier (Bajda) – Records by Viv Wilson

2013-05-07T04:00:00.000+03:00

Viv Wilson a birder from Tabuk in the north west of Saudi Arabia sent me a few of his excellent photographs again last week. They contained many photographs for the wetland are he birds most of the time but also a few from the desert area he regularly goes to near Bajda. Viv regularly sees Sinai Rosefinch in this area, a bird with its entire Saudi Arabian range restricted to the north-west of the country. He managed to get a few good photos of the birds and mentioned the males are now in good red plumage. The birds seen in north-west Saudi Arabia are nominate synoicus who’s range is Sinai, north-west Arabia, Israel, and Jordan. They are small with the upper-part ground colour and sides of body rather dark drab-grey, with the pink and red of adult males being extensive, reaching the tips of both the upper and under tail-coverts.

Sinai Rosefinch - male

Sinai Rosefinch - female

Whilst out there he also photographed a Montagu’s Harrier, a species I only saw for the first time in Saudi Arabia this spring and one I will be looking out for more carefully in amongst the few Pallid Harriers we have passing though each year. Viv managed to get a few very good photos of the bird, which if the two I saw were anything to go by is not an easy feat.

Montagu's Harrier

Egyptian Nightjar and more – Sabkhat Al Fasl

2013-05-06T04:09:00.000+03:00

An early morning trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl last Thursday produced an unusual record of an Egyptian Nightjar. The bird was flushed from below a Tamarisk bush and flew a short distance allowing identification in flight as an Egyptian Nightjar. It was then located out in the open and a couple of photos taken to confirm its identification. Egyptian Nightjar is a regular visitor to the site and can been seen most years, but these record are from the summer months of June and July. As far as I know there are no spring records, but I am sure they must pass through each spring. It would be interesting to know if the birds breed in this area. There are no confirmed breeding records for Arabia, but the regular occurrence of birds in summer in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lead to the suspicion they may breed in the region.

Egyptian Nightjar

The drive into the site produced 20 Red-backed Shrikes and a stunning European Roller sitting in a bush. European Roller is not a common sight at Sabkaht Al Fasl but this is the third record of the spring for me this year. Other good birds seen included a flock of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters catching insects and allowing me to try to photograph them in flight, not an easy job. A few European Bee-eaters were also flying about. Turkestan Shrikes were seen in reasonable numbers but only two Daurian Shrikes were noted amongst them.

Red-backed Shrike - adult male

European Roller

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

Turkestan Shrike

Other migrants included four Upcher’s Warblers, continuing the good spring for this species and many Willow Warblers. Several Red-throated and Tree Pipits were still present but more surprisingly a late Tawny Pipit. Good numbers of the late arriving Spotted Flycatcher are now in and more than ten were seen during the day. Whinchat numbers still remain high with again about ten birds seen. A juvenile Purple Heron was flushed from the reeds and landed briefly in the open before flying off again back into the reed beds. Other herons included a few Little Egrets and 20+ Squacco Herons.

Upcher's Wabler

Spotted Flycatcher

Whinchat

Purple Heron - juvenile

Squacco Heron

The large amount of rain that has occurred in recent days made the water levels high and plenty of wet pools had been created that were to the liking of the migrating waders. Three Temminck’s Stints were quite unusual for this time of year but Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers were not. There were at least 500 Curlew Sandpipers and 300+ Little Stints but only a handful of Wood Sandpiper.

Temminck's Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Great Crested Grebe back – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-05T04:02:00.000+03:00

The Great Crested Grebe that had been about for most of the winter disappeared from the percolation pond about a month ago, ending hopes that the bird may breed. Yesterday one of the birds was back, which was a pleasant surprise. As I was watching it, it caught and ate a frog. The frog was quite large and the bird had trouble swallowing it, but eventually this was accomplished. There were very few other birds seen on the pond excepting the breeding Eurasian Coots, Common Moorhens and Little Grebes.

Great Crested Grebe

The spray fields had significantly fewer birds than recently but still had ten Barred Warblers, ten Red-backed Shrikes and a Western Marsh Harrier. Several Spotted Flycatchers were in the bushes surrounding the spray fields and as I was about to leave a Purple Heron flew in and landed in the short grass by one of the spray heads.

Barred Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Purple Heron

Walking around the bushes by the percolation pond resulted in a cracking male Masked Shrike that has been around for a few days and several Eastern Olivaceous Warblers that have just started arriving for the breeding season. Several European Bee-eaters and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters were flying around the scrubby desert area and perching on the ground and nearby bushes.

European Bee-eater

Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard - Dhahran Hills

2013-05-04T04:13:00.000+03:00

Whilst driving to the spray fields I came across an Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard sitting outside it hole enjoying the last of the sunshine. I have not seen so many this year in the camp and this one was on the edge of the scrubby desert. Most of the lizards I have been have been in this area although their burrows are widely spaced apart. The lizard allowed close approach in the car but they always remain in close proximity of their burrows so they can disappear down them if danger occurs. This lizard was not a particularly large individual but probably measured 75 centimetres nose to tail tip. I then saw the same lizard a few days later and below are a few photographs of the animal taken on two different days.

Changeable Weather – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-03T04:02:00.000+03:00

After Riyadh was affected by large amounts of rain over the last few days, it was Dhahrans turn. We had one day of intermittent heavy rain and the birds really looked quite sad for themselves. It is unusual to have heavy rain in Dhahran and seeing soaking wet birds is quite a novelty. It curtailed any photography but not birding. Many birds were trying to keep out of the wet but a few interesting birds were seen. The best was a European Roller flying around, looking for somewhere suitable to land, over the spray fields.

European Roller

Plenty of waders were enjoying the more extensive wet patches on the spray fields with 19 Wood Sandpipers, seven Little Stints, two Little Ringed Plovers, two Kentish Plovers and a Terek Sandpiper. The Terek Sandpiper has now been about for almost a week, a record for the site. Very few other birds were seen apart from Red-throated Pipits and a scattering of shrikes including Lesser Grey, Daurian, Turkestan and Red-backed. The next day the rain had stopped and the sun eventually came out and the birds became more active. A small group of seven Indian Silverbills were feeding together on a few grass seedheads in the scrubby desert area.

Indian Silverbill

Plenty of European Bee-eaters were flying about overhead and I found one bird sitting on a thorn bush at very close range and managed to take a couple of photographs before it flew off to catch a flying insect. Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters were also still around and a few Shrikes including seven adult male Red-backed Shrikes, one Keralini type Turkestan Shrike, one Masked Shrike and an adult Lesser Grey Shrike. Two European Turtle Doves were sitting in their favourite tree to the side of the percolation pond.

European Bee-eater

Red-backed Shrike - adult male

An influx of waders – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-02T03:46:00.000+03:00

The last few days on the camp we have seen an increase in the numbers of waders present. The spring has been relatively quiet for wading birds but recently we had 48 Wood Sandpipers, 25 Little Stints, six Black-winged Stilts, three Little Stints, two Kentish Plovers two Common Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers, a Terek Sandpiper, a Common Snipe and a Curlew Sandpiper. The Curlew Sandpiper was an adult coming into breeding plumage and was the first one I have seen on the ‘patch’ this year.

Common Sandpiper

Other bird numbers are gradually decreasing although a reasonable number still remain. Shrikes are still in evidence with at least ten Red-backed Shrikes and three Lesser Grey Shrikes. It is the best year for both of these species since I have been in Saudi Arabia and some of them have allowed reasonably close approach.

Red-backed Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Red-throated Pipits still remain in good numbers but only three Yellow Wagtails were seen, two beema and one thunbergi. Sand Martins also appear to have moved through, but there are still a few Pallid Swifts and Barn Swallows. Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and European Bee-eaters are still about in good numbers, although Willow Warbler and Whinchat numbers have dropped significantly. Hopefully the heavy rain up country will bring a few birds down our way, we will have to wait and see.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Arabian Red Fox – Dhahran Hills

2013-05-01T04:03:00.000+03:00

Late in the evening when driving home from birding I spotted an Arabian Red Fox sitting by the side of a track some way away. I got out of the car expecting the fox to run away, but it remained sitting in the same place looking at me. I gradually worked my way closer to the animal and it remained in place until I got to about ten metres from it. I took a few photos, although it was now getting fairly dark and then retreated back to the car to watch it. After a short while it got up and started walking towards the car, when it became apparent it was a female. Although I took a few photos most did not come out well as the light was poor and I was hand holding my big 600mm lens. The ones below were my best attempts.