Birding for a Lark

Cream coloured courser and field birds at Al hayer

2012-02-01T09:18:00.000+02:00

On Friday I visited a couple of pivot fields next to the southern lagoons near Al Hayer. Very close to where I saw the garganey (see yesterday's blog) is a very large pivot field.

This field has recently been cropped but not yet ploughed and re-seeded. It was on just this type of field that I had seen chestnut bellied sandgrouse at Kharj a month ago. I suppose I ventured onto this field with a small hope I might see some more. But at very least I thought the habitat was a little different and might provide some different birds.

cream coloured courser

I didn't see any sandgrouse but I was rewarded with my first sighting of a cream-coloured courser in Saudi Arabia. Abdullah and Clive saw some at Al Kharj previously but I had been in another part of the farm where they were seen.

part of a large flock of namaqua dove

My guess is that the seeds on the field were the reason for the flock of 40 namaqua dove by the side. This is the largest flock of them I have even seen. The two photos above and below are parts of the same flock taken at the same moment.

another part of a flock of namaqua dove

Of course some the regular birds were near-by in the trees and reeds. White-cheeked bulbul are so common I had vowed not to photograph them again but the light was perfect for this one. I succumbed to photographing it.

white cheeked bulbul

Ironically, house sparrow are not as common in this area and tend to associate with white-cheeked bulbul.

white cheeked bulbul with house sparrow

Once again little green-bee-eater were plentiful. Their colours are much brighter now as spring approaches.

little green bee-eater

I have found this is one of the best places in the wadi to guarantee streaked weaver. Even though the numbers here are not high they are frequent. The one below knew I was watching it and flew off moments later.

streaked weaver

The second and last pivot field I visited was quite different from the first. It was very wet with constant sprinkling and the crop was high. A large flock of cattle egret were very interested in it and two squacco heron were with them. There are squacco heron all year round in the wadi. There is some debate whether any cattle egret stay and breed.

squacco heron

My final observation of the day was that even though there were over a hundred white wagtail in the field I couldn't see a single yellow wagtail. Indeed I haven't seen a single yellow wagtail along the wadi all winter. This contrasts with the visit to the farm at Kharj where a small number of yellow wagtail winter with the whites. Kharj is 70 kilometres south of Al Hayer and I suppose that must make all the difference. There has to be a cut off point somewhere.

white wagtail at Al Hayer

Garganey and other water birds at Al Hayer

2012-01-31T05:30:00.000+02:00

I birded the lagoons south of the pivot fields near Al Hayer on Friday. You may recall this is my new favourite birding area in the Wadi Hanifah valley. When I first found it three weeks ago I thought it had potential because it is away from picnickers and the habitat of slow moving water in lagoons was attractive to water birds.

garganey

Well I am now even more sure of its potential!

I was meandering along the banks in an over-tired and correspondingly slow manner because I had very little sleep following my over-night flight back from Istanbul. Then, I heard a quacking noise and realised I was very close to a small flock on ducks on the water. Furthermore they hadn't seen me because of some serendipitous reed cover.

And one of the ducks was a garganey! This species tends to winter further south than all the other anas ducks. Indeed there is not one record of it in winter in central Arabia by the two main observers (Tom Tarrant and Per Anders Bertilsson) from the past 20 years.

garganey with shoveler

All the other members of the flock were northern shoveler. You can see how much smaller it is than its fellow anas cousin.

male northern shoveler

Three of the northern shoveler were female and one was male. I failed to get a shot of all the ducks together for fear of breaking cover. Each shot was snatched through a small gap in the reeds when the ducks swam into it.

distant purple heron

Otherwise life goes on for the other water birds, plenty of moorhen were around as usual. Both grey heron and purple heron are more densely found here than other parts of the "Riyadh river". I did manage to glimpse one of the resident ferriginuous duck which have proved difficult to find.

bluethroat

Plenty of bluethroat and graceful prinia were seen in the reeds or elsewhere near the water's edge.

common snipe

Just before sunset a very tired me caught sight of a common snipe out in the open on the water.

I didn't only visit the water's edge on Friday. The next blog recounts the land birds in near-by fields. In my view these were equally as interesting.

Exotic birds in the tea gardens

2012-01-30T06:37:00.000+02:00

My last hour and a half birding Istanbul on Thursday was spent in the Topkapi tea gardens. This attractive area has plenty of very tall trees and well manicured grass.

Superficially it looks peaceful but this was soon punctuated by a screeching I immediately recognised.

rose ringed parakeet

It was not long before I saw the first rose ringed parakeet. The tall sheltered trees are ideal habitat for these birds.

alexandrine parakeet

Moving on through the gardens I realised that some of the parakeets were larger. In fact more than half of them were Alexandrine parakeet. This was a lifer for me and a very pleasant surprise. My first edition of Helms guide "Birds of the Middle East" doesn't show it present in the region outside the Persian Gulf area.

mating alexandrine parakeet

They certainly looked like they are breeding there. The two birds above were actually mating.

grey heron

Just as surprisingly as the sight of a Alexandrine parakeet was the sight of a heronry high in the trees. Furthermore, it was a semi-occupied heronry. Some of the grey heron were re-enforcing nests ready for breeding.

grey heron on a nest

I don't know whether the grey heron have been there all winter however a couple of them at least were mobbed by the hooded crow in the gardens. I think this action is more likely for returning herons. The crows are certainly fighting a losing battle judging by the size of the herony.

Sea front walk in Istanbul

2012-01-29T10:42:00.002+02:00

Last Thursday was a bonus free day for me in Istanbul. This came about because my business with the Saudi consulate was concluded positively and early.

As well as looking seaward (as previously blogged) the walk along the sea shore had several interesting land birds in the thin strip of parkland along the walk way.

two hooded crow

There were so many and so noisy hooded crow that non-birders must have noticed them even if they didn't notice another bird. The ones above got within one metre of me showing no fear.

lighthouse on the European side

The crow family was very much in evidence. Magpie were also foraging around albeit from a safer distance to me.

magpie

These two resident corvid are joined in winter by significant numbers of rook from further north.

rook

I find rook is an ugly bird but it makes up for it with great character.

jackdaw

Jackdaw always look mischievous and even criminal. The last time I saw any was in Almaty, Kazakhstan over three years ago (at a rubbish dump). This time there were two. I got quite a bit of pleasure seeing them as I have seen many less in my birding time than the other corvids present. The species is apparently resident in this part of Turkey.

starling

It wasn't all crows. Plenty of starling were around. Some are turning into their spring plumage. However I found it difficult to get excited about them when I have seen a rosy starling fairly recently (in the Riyadh area, Saudi Arabia).

chaffinch

The dominant finch in the parkside was chaffinch. Once again I found urban birds less shy than their rural counter parts.

part of a flock of chaffinch

One adage I swear by is to look at a large flock closely to find out exceptions. In this case it worked again. Among the chaffinch was a single tree sparrow. It was the only one I saw all day.

tree sparrow

In this parkland strip chaffinch actually heavily outnumbered house sparrow. Many of the house sparrow looked bedraggled.

two cold house sparrow

The mixed woodland chimed to the sound of great tit. And once again the urban ones were easy to see and photograph.

great tit

Finally there were one or two wintering white wagtail in the park. At least that was one similarity with Saudi Arabia.

white wagtail

Some sea birds at Istanbul

2012-01-28T18:11:00.000+02:00

I said in my last blog that my next one would be on Saudi Arabia. However my business in Istanbul en route to Saudi Arabia took a day less than expected. As a result I had a free day to bird in Istanbul.

I started my birding on the coast of the Bosporus just south of the tourist attraction of the Topkapi. The birding was so varied I am making three blogs out of it. The first is about the sea birds I saw.

black headed gull (adult - left and immature - right)

It began as a miserable, wet if quite warm day. However I wasn't miserable. It's good to have unexpected, carefree free time.

View across the Bosporus from Europe to Asia

Walking passed a ferry terminal I immediately saw dozens of black headed gull in a small car park. One or two had started to gain their spring plumage. The chocolate brown head was beginning to appear.

plenty of black headed gulls

Out and about were a smaller number of yellow legged gull.

yellow legged gull

Much of the action though was over the narrow sea which separates Europe from Asia. There were many more black headed gull and yellow legged gull in and over the water, often following the ships and ferries.

cormorant

However the most striking feature was the fly past and fishing of dozens of cormorant. Or at least I thought they were cormorant until closer inspection.

shag

Looking at a bird fishing near the shore I realised I had been too hasty. It was a shag not a cormorant. Scanning the flying birds I discovered about a quarter of the birds were actually shag.

coot

The other water bird I saw were coot. They were tamely gathering in small artificial inlet of the Bosphorus.

plenty of coot in a bay

The only thing preventing them from coming even closer was the large number of feral cats which seem to live inside the collection of granite rocks piled up for miles along the shore as sea protection.

January at Rogachevo

2012-01-26T08:07:00.001+02:00

The second place I birded while back in Bulgaria was Rogachevo. This is a hilly, wooded area with vines and fields just below the main tree line.

It took me a while but eventually I homed in on a big flock of small birds in one of the fields below the main wooded area.

part of a flock of goldfinch

The flock consisted of about one hundred goldfinch. This is the largest number of goldfinch I have ever seen. But I suppose the conditions were right: mid winter, a field or two with plenty of seeds, higher levels had snow covered trees etc

yellowhammer

They weren't difficult to track either. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that a smaller number of other birds were loosely associating with them including half a dozen or so yellowhammer. I had seen more of them earlier in the week in my village but they were even easier to approach at Rogachevo.

linnet

More closely associated with the goldfinch were their closer relatives the linnet, siskin and chaffinch. There were a few of each of these close by. I normally only see chaffinch deep in the wood at Rogachevo but I suppose their winter habits are different.

One finch I did see in the upper woods was hawfinch. This is the best time of year to see them!

blue tit

In the same couple of fields as the goldfinch I had been hearing both great tit and blue tit. I finally saw one on the ground whereas I had been looking in the trees! Later I did see them there too.

hidden wren

The wren gave me the same run around they had given me in my own village - leaping from one small bush to another but each time giving themselves away with a sort of rattling, zitting sound. The one hidden above is the best shot I got.

lesser spotted woodpecker

Up in one of the trees, I saw a lesser spotted woodpecker, quite exposed and again unconcerned about my presence.

jay

On the other hand, one bird which was very flighty was jay. Two minutes after taking this photo four camouflaged hunters came into the area. I beat a retreat but I found out later that its legal to shot magpie and jay all year round in Bulgaria. I now wonder if this jay survived five minutes after the photo was taken? There were shots.

hidden blackbird

Another bird that is also flighty in Bulgaria (but not for example in the UK) is the blackbird. They are really difficult to photograph.

I'm back in Saudi Arabia for the next blog and the next time I show you a black bird in a bush it will a black bush robin.

January at home

2012-01-25T18:33:00.000+02:00

Earlier this week I was at home in Bulgaria. Among dealing with domestic issues and seeing friends, I managed to reserve some time to get in a little bit of birding on my local patch. This consisted of two short walks on two separate and quite different days.

I like birding in winter in Bulgaria (providing its not too cold). The birds are mostly in large flocks and have got no where to hide. They also seem more approachable with honourable exceptions which I will mention later.

male greater spotted woodpecker

We have two types of woodpecker within the village confines. These are the more urban Syrian woodpecker and the more rural greater spotted woodpecker.

I saw two greater spotted woodpecker close up for over twenty minutes and in the end I left them. They were totally disinterested in me just feet below them. How unlike summer.

There was one male and one female which made me look up whether this species is monogamous. Indeed, it does pair for life.

female greater spotted woodpecker

They were two of very few birds who weren't in a flock. Near-by them were flocks of corn bunting and yellowhammer which sometimes, but not always associated with each other. After all they are close relatives.

corn bunting

You'll have to wait for the next blog to see the more photogenic yellowhammer. In the meantime I have shown a picture of a corn bunting. In summer corn bunting is by far the more common of the two species. However its clear in January that yellowhammer outnumber corn bunting. Northern yellowhammer have clearly flown south to strengthen the local numbers.

common buzzard

Winter in Bulgaria also brings large numbers of common buzzard south to increase local numbers. They are a truly common sight.

local magpie

All the local magpie I saw were flocking. I think they may have got over the trauma of a goshawk stealing a full grown magpie under my nose back in the summer. Completely unsurprisingly the starling were flocking too.

the view down my road

On the second day it had snowed, it was much colder and birds were even easier to see. Goldfinch were seen both days but stand out like sore thumb against a white or sky blue background. Such was the second day.

a very cold house sparrow

There were roaming flocks of both house sparrow and tree sparrow all over the village. Both birds were extremely approachable but a bit stupid. I put out bird seed on my bird table which they lap up in summer. However they didn't seem to have touched it during my winter stay. I don't think they flew into the garden at all.

part of flock of house sparrow

I mentioned at the top of the blog that some exceptional birds weren't flocking. Two more were blackbird and wren. they weren't ultra-approachable either.

You can tell when you have spent too long birding in hot climes. My first instinctive reaction when seeing a wren was that it was a graceful prinia - they act and even sound a bit like them. I then foolishly realised I was 800 kilometres and 20 degrees centigrade from the nearest graceful prinia.

I spent a fruitless 20 minutes darting around trying to get a photo of one of the several wren around. Still it was only 10 days ago I finally got a decent one of a graceful prinia in Riyadh. Everything comes to he who waits.

A fodder field at dusk

2012-01-22T19:54:00.000+02:00

Last Friday, I finished my birding day at one of the pivot fields near Al Hayer. There are about 12 of these. The one I chose was the one most recently ploughed up and presumably re-planted.

cattle egret grazing

I have noticed a pattern. Thee most recently ploughed field is the one most likely to have the largest numbers of cattle egret in the area.

the ploughed field

They also have more than their fair share of wintering white wagtail and tawny pipit.

cattle egret on the move

However the most pleasing moment was when I spotted that the area's wintering flock of northern lapwing. I hadn't seen them for two weeks and had wondered if they had moved on. But it looks like my earlier prediction that they would visit the newest ploughed fields all season may turn out true. With 12 fields, it seems at least one is satisfaction for them at any one time.

most of the northern lapwing

I have counted 86 birds in the picture and I estimate the total flock is about 110. This is about the same number as in earlier encounters. So it looks like the flock has been intact all season.

The filed held one more surprise. As I walked round I flushed a bird which was not a common snipe which I have seen and regularly flushed in greener and wetter fields. It was a quail. This is my first in Saudi Arabia. However early observers have reported it all year round in this area.

wintering Turkestan shrike

Meanwhile round the edges of the field, there was another Turkestan shrike. I have had a lot of practice this` winter separating Durian and Turkestan shrike all winter. It's hard to believe I had never seen one before October.

desert wheatear

Finally a desert wheatear once again proved very tame. This wheatear seems to be by far the most approachable.

The next two blogs feature birding in Bulgaria where I am writing this blog from. The snow replaces the desert!

Lagoons south of the pivot fields

2012-01-16T07:51:00.000+02:00

In my search for new birding opportunities in the Riyadh area, I walked south of the pivot fields near Al Hayer on Friday. The Riyadh river here is inaccessible by road and so has no picnickers to disturb the quiet. Though as will become apparent later in the blog something else did.

This is an area of lagoons and slow moving water. For the moment at least, it is my new favourite birding place in the Riyadh area.

male namaqua dove

There is a country lane for the first part of the walk south into the lagoons. The few trees sticking out of the reeds are worth watching for resting chiffchaff, graceful prinia, collared dove, namaqua dove, laughing dove, little green bee-eater, white cheeked bulbul, indian silverbill and sometimes even streaked weaver (not seen on Friday but the start of the lane was visited before).

lagoon

The reeds house many of the same species (but not the doves or bee-eaters) and also bluethroat.

moorhen

As elsewhere on the Riyadh river, moorhen are plentiful.

white cheeked bulbul

There are two extremely large fields near-by which are private land. I didn't bird watch these but the odd white wagtail, which probably spend most of the day there, visit the river to drink. A prolonged wait at the waters edge would almost certainly yield other drinking field birds if you have the time and patience.

white wagtail

If you have even more time than this then this is a good place too to try to differentiate between African and Eurasian collared dove. The Riyadh area is one of the few places in the world where the ranges overlap. And this particular stretch of the Riyadh river is awash with collared dove.

collared dove

The exposed trees are a good place to photograph birds which spend a lot of time in the reeds. They are so much easier to see and focus on than in the reeds.

graceful prinia

Two incidents occurred while I was in the area which caused birds to scatter and to give me a temporary opportunity to see them in the open. One incident was natural, the second was not.

marsh harrier

In the first, a marsh harrier moved in close. Then tens of small birds panicked. Indian silverbill, spanish sparrow and graceful prinia scattered in all directions.

purple heron

The second incident was caused by a hunter's gun. This was the first time I had heard one so close since arriving in Saudi Arabia. My understanding is that it isn't legal nevertheless it happened.

This time it was the larger birds who panicked. Suddenly 5 purple heron, which I hadn't seen because they were hidden, were in the air. They flew in five separate directions. Lots of doves took to the air too.

common teal

It all happened so fast but I also counted one little egret, seven common teal and one black stork in the air at the same moment. There were more species I am sure but I couldn't look everywhere at once.

Clive, Abdullah and I had seen three black stork a little further south two weeks ago. This incident gave me a chance to see one of them again!

I really want to see them grazing. The two very large private fields probably offer a good chance. I wonder if I can get permission to visit them?

The humble Chiffchaff and ebird

2012-01-15T07:44:00.001+02:00

I have recently been introduced by Clive Temple to ebird (at www.ebird.org). It's a wonderful database where you can submit your records for each trip. It can produce distribution maps and other information based on what you and others have input. It keeps a list of your birds too.

Where ever you are in the world it produces a menu of possible birds you are likely to see at a particular destination. The menu is presumably based on adapted recognised country lists. The list is a good but, as we will see, not a perfect estimate of what should be in the area.

chiffchaff at new quarry pools area of wadi hanifah seen on Friday

There are tens of thousands of records on the database but not many from Saudi Arabia. I feel I am making a real contribution by inputting data.

If you see a bird that isn't on its list, you are asked to add the species. The screen then congratulates you for your rare find. Sometimes I am told you will get a message from the moderators asking you to verify your claim.

Here is the rub.... I have to add chiffchaff as a new species every time I see one! The software doesn't think chiffchaff is in central Arabia. Every time I see one it congratulates me.

The first time I did it I didn't mind but it is still asking me the same question.

another chiffchaff seen on Friday

Goodness knows what it will do with Friday's observation when I saw 12 chiffchaff and heard several more.

yet another chiffchaff seen on Friday

But despite its glitches I still recommend ebird. I have input 80% of my Saudi data and have just started inputting my Libyan data. You can see the maps filling and its very rewarding as you can see distribution maps emerge.

One among many

2012-01-14T18:11:00.000+02:00

I had planned to visit Najran in south west Saudi Arabia this weekend but this has now been postponed until early February.

So at short notice I birded locally. I chose a new stretch of the Riyadh river. Actually it is the part closest to Al Hayer town and the missing link between the Al Hayer dam area and the new quarry pool area which I have birded extensively.

lone yellow vented bulbul

My expectations weren't particularly high but at least I thought I would be filling a gap in the birding map of the area.

Actually I got off to a very good start. There is a group of large trees near the water's edge which seem to be a bulbul roost. In fact when I first arrived in the early morning there were over 70 white cheeked bulbul in them.

But one was different. Its always useful to look hard at a large flock of birds to seek out exceptions. This time the different one was a yellow-vented bulbul.

bulbul roost

They are not uncommon in some of the residential compounds in the city. Though they are never as common as white cheeked bulbul.

In central Arabia, this is the first time I have seen a yellow vented bulbul outside the city.

yellow vented bulbul with white cheeked bulbul

There were large numbers of common myna and laughing dove in the same place.

a dozen common myna

This is the only part of the river where laughing dove is more common than collared dove. There are date plantations around and laughing dove is living up to its alternative name of palm dove.

part of the Ryadh river

I was pleasantly surprised to see a white throated kingfisher. I never expected it so far upstream. Other water birds seen were purple heron and moorhen.

white throated kingfisher

I may have solved the mystery of why there were no blackstart when I visited the dam area last week. This area, which is about 2 kilometres further downstream, had them a plenty in and around the acacia trees.

blackstart on a tree

The more I look at them the more they seem to behave like wheatears.

The trees also had spanish sparrow which once again proved to be common at this time of year in yet another stretch of the river.

blackstart on the ground

Looking at the other small birds, there were several desert lesser whitethroat in the natural scrub next to the river and between the date plantations. The reeds and adjacent areas had a few bluethroat and chffchaff. However both the reeds and scrub were thronging with graceful prinia. There are very common here.

little green bee-eater

Arguably it is here where I have seen that the highest density of little green bee-eater in central Arabia.

stonechat

Just two stonechat were seen but there appeared to be a coupled male and female. I have noticed this pairing up before. When I was in Libya I saw pairs form just before they migrated away in early spring. By the way I have no idea whether these relationships survive the migration!

laughing dove

Most of the laughing dove seemed to be paired or pairing up too.

greater spotted eagle with kestrel

As the temperatures began to warm up the birds of prey became active. A kestrel chose to circle with a greater spotted eagle at one stage. It was completely dwarfed!

greater spotted eagle

You can one hundred percent guarantee you will see eagles in Wadi Hanifah in winter in the afternoon. It's just a question of which ones. As I have said before, Greater spotted eagle appears most common. On the other hand, Steppe eagle seems more common in the farming area of Kharaj 30 kilometres further south. However on Thursday I saw one at Al Hayer too.

steppe eagle

Different silverbills

2012-01-11T17:07:00.001+02:00

I have just cleared some space on my camera's memory card because it was getting quite full. Luckily I looked before I deleted.

The pictures I was deleting from the card (I've got them on my hard drive anyway) were from my Eid trip to the Jeddah area.

The silverbills in that trip in the compound I was staying in were Indian silverbill. The ones in Riyadh are Indian silverbill too. However the ones seen outside Jeddah in Wadi Uranah south of Mecca were not! I misidentified them at the time.

African silverbill at Wadi Uranah

Looking at the pictures from Wadi Uranah, they don't have any white rump like the Indian birds. This is the best way I can tell them apart and it should be obvious!

Indian silverbill seen at the Intercontinental hotel, Riyadh

Even at this poor angle you can see the white rump in the Riyadh birds.

another African silverbill at Wadi Uranah

I had originally planned to go to Najran in south west Saudi Arabia this weekend but circumstances caused a late cancellation. Ironically African silverbill was one of the species I would almost certainly have added to my species list for Saudi Arabia anyway.

Birding the DQ (Diplomatic Quarter)

2012-01-09T08:23:00.002+02:00

Thanks to an invitation by friends Martin and Alexandra I was able to bird in the Diplomatic Quarter, Riyadh on Friday.

Martin and Alexandra taught English with me in Libya and occasionally bird watched with me there. It was great to see them both again. The birding was good too!

little green bee-eater

In the Diplomatic Quarter or DQ as ex-pats call it, it is necessary to be discrete when birding. The central area contains many embassies. Their gardens are lush and inviting. They are obviously a good habitat for birds but it is not sensible or realistic to bird them. We didn't.

However the DQ also has parks and walking trails away from the embassies. We birded one such area on the northern edge of the DQ.

water at north edge

The northern side of the DQ has a water course. This is probably the treated water stream from the buildings there. Most of the birding done was close to the 1.5 kilometre course of the stream.

hypocolius drinking

Until last weekend, I had only seen hypocolius at the Intercontinental hotel where we are sure they roost. Yet on Thursday I saw them at Wadi Hanifah and on Friday there were 15 or so in a corner of the DQ near the water course. I suspect they have dispersed since their first arrive in the Riyadh area for the winter. Or maybe they all emanate from the Intercontinental roosts.

white cheeked bulbul

The most obvious bird once again was white-cheeked bulbul. Martin has seen a red vented bulbul while doing his daily cycling exercise during the week. However I didn't see any on the day.

common myna

Common myna is also very common there. When we walked through the central area on the way to the walking trail it was the most vocal of the birds around the embassy gardens.

House sparrow was also unsurprisingly numerous but I didn't see any spanish sparrow this time.

moorhen

The watercourse held several moorhen and old nests were seen. It is quiet enough for two purple heron to be present too. The only other water bird observed was green sandpiper.

hole near waterway

One of the most productive places near the water course was actually a large hole (see above) where tamarisk and other bushes have grown. This wild spot was a haven for birds. At least two bluethroat kept making appearances out of the undergrowth.

bluethroat

White cheek bulbul darted in and out. A black bush robin has the area as a base.

black bush robin in the "hole"

The picture of the little green bee-eater at the top of the blog was taken on a bush growing in the hole.

However, the best bird for me who was around the whole was a black redstart. It was of the sub species semirufus. It has a beautiful red front. This was my first ever sighting of this sub species although it was unsurprising as they are well-known to winter in Arabia.

chiffchaff by Martin

Two of the most eventful moments actually came at the beginning and the very end of my birding day in the DQ.

The very first bird which caught our interest - even before we arrived at the water course (in the central area) was a bright-coloured warbler. It looked very clean and yellowish underneath and was singing and sitting in exposed positions. It was not flitting around like a normal winter warbler

At the time I thought it might have been an escaped caged bird. My identification abilities were also impaired because my camera was not ready. Lucky Martin had a compact camera with him and took a very decent picture with it.

I am now confident, after research including listening and watching youtube video that it was a chiffchaff in brightest colours appealing for a mate.

The bird is 800 kilometres south and 2 months early of where this should have been happening! However the lush DQ gardens and temperatures must have fooled it.

goshawk

The second incident happened at the very end of my birding at about 2pm. I was walking back towards Martin and Alexandra's flat (they left me to bird alone earlier). Suddenly a larger large, strong hawk appeared. Before I could photograph it is disappeared into some far off trees. It was a goshawk.

However 10 minutes later as I walked closer to home, it re-appeared briefly before flying off into the sun. I only got one silhouette shot.

feathers under a tree

This time I decided to head towards where I thought it had landed. I never did see it. However I found a pile of feathers under a tree close to its apparent landing position. This is consistent with a goshawk perch (they often return to favourite perches apparently) though I'm not claiming it definitely was where it landed.

The DQ has many pigeon, laughing dove and collared dove which can feed a wintering goshawk.

I have looked up the records and goshawk is an uncommon but not unknown winter visitor to the central Arabian area. I am left wondering if I have missed a rare chance to get a good picture of one here.

Return to Al Hayer dam

2012-01-07T10:03:00.001+02:00

I last visited the dam area of Wadi Hanifah about 9 weeks ago. As I said in the last blog, the Persian wheatear was still there. However there were some subtle changes in the birds seen. Of course, the big change will be in another 9 weeks when the passage will be on.

One of the changes was the presence in small numbers of hypocolius. This was the first time I have seen them in Wadi Hanifah.

There is some evidence that they have dispersed a bit since their arrival in central Arabia for the winter.

hypocolius near the town of Al Hayer

I find this area is a particularly attractive part of Wadi Hanifah. It is partly due to the fact there is no obvious vehicle access for picnickers. Their loss is my gain.

part of the Riyadh river near the dam

The river is broad both sides of the dam but the reed cover is dense. I only saw three water bird species - moorhen, coot and grey heron. This may have been a result of the cover.

moorhen

The valley is surrounded on both sides by escarpments here. I actually had hopes of seeing an owl. The escarpments are pitted with seemingly ideal holes for owl hides.

grey heron

However once again I failed to see one though it is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. The grey heron were not always near the water. Sometimes they ventured onto the escarpments. I noticed, one of them has some sort of pigment problem and is partially white.

mix of rock dove and feral pigeon

Another reason for me to believe there must be owls there is the abundance of rock dove and feral pigeon on the escarpments. They can be good owl food! The area must certainly be worth a visit at dawn or dusk when most owl species are active.

old nest

Certainly some prey bird has nested in the area as the picture of an old nest high up the hillside certifies.

greater spotted eagle

On Thursday I did see two active birds of prey. One was a greater spotted eagle (which may be the same one we saw in the same place in October).

first winter marsh harrier

The other was a dark looking marsh harrier which is probably a first winter (or just conceivably a very dark adult female).

spanish sparrow

Another one of the changes since October was the presence of three or more large flocks of spanish sparrow. Spanish sparrow doesn't appear in the region until November but is now present in many places. The flocks near the dam were very mobile and very easily frightened. Close contact wasn't easy.

white cheeked bulbul

A few of the spanish sparrow mixed occasionally with the white cheeked bulbul.

white cheeked bulbul with streaked weaver

However the "best" mixed flock contained spanish sparrow, white cheeked bulbul and streaked weaver. This is the furthest upstream (north) I have seen weavers since I arrived in Riyadh. They seem to be heading towards breeding plumage.

little green bee-eater near the dam

This area is the best place I have found for "guaranteeing" seeing graceful prinia in the scrubby areas in the valley. However I was surprised not to see any blackstart this time round since they were so obvious on one particularly escarpment in October. I was less surprised not to see sand partridge.

I wonder what spring will bring?

Bird species	27 October 11	5 January 12
Sand partridge	x
Grey heron	x	x
Purple heron	x
Greater spotted eagle	x	x
Marsh Harrier		x
Moorhen	x	x
Coot		x
Rock dove (feral pigeon)	x	x
Collared dove	x	x
Laughing dove	x	x
Little green bee-eater	x	x
Pale crag martin		x
Hypocolius		x
Desert lark	x
Persian wheatear	x	x
Blackstart	x
Blue rock thrush	x	x
Graceful Prinia	x	x
Asian desert warbler		x
Desert lesser whitethroat	x
White cheeked bulbul	x	x
House sparrow	x	x
Spanish sparrow		x
Streaked weaver		x

Persian wheatear still there

2012-01-05T17:58:00.001+02:00

The last time I visited the dam of Wadi Hanifah near Al Hayer was in late October. Then I was with Tony, a British birder here on business. This time I went alone.

There were some changes in the bird species but tonight I am writing about something that hasn't changed. A Persian wheatear was still there on the rocky land next to the western escarpment. Its possible to presume it was the same one as Tony and I saw. However, it could be another as I have seen three others this winter in other locations along Wadi Hanifah.

Persian wheatear near Wadi Hanifah dam

Nevertheless, short of having a ringed bird this comes closest to showing a Persian wheatear has spent all winter in Wadi Hanifah at the same location.

back view of the Persian wheatear

I'll blog tomorrow about the other birds I saw near the dam. One was another wintering bird from the same part of the world as the wheatear.

The status of wryneck in central Arabia

2012-01-02T08:47:00.000+02:00

Previous observers have described wryneck as a passage migrant through central Arabia.

Yet our small band of bird watchers have seen two wintering birds in the last three weeks. Clive Temple and I saw one on Wadi Hanifah between Al Hayer and Dirab three weeks ago. Clive and Abdullah Amrou saw one at Al Mansour farm near Kharj on Thursday.

wryneck at Al Mansour farm

The most recent of the two main historic recorders in the area also saw one in winter. This was out of only four seen in his (three year) time in central Arabia.

Put another way, collectively three of the six sightings of wryneck in the last few years have been in winter!

I think it is probably safe to upgrade its status to migrant and wintering bird.

Abdullah Amrou was very quick off the mark in order to photograph the wryneck at Al Mansour though he didn't have much time. Thanks to him for allowing me to show his record shots.

second picture of the Al Mansour wryneck

Incidentally Abdullah has just started a new blog at www.ksa-birds.blogspot.com mostly written in Arabic with some English translation. Please encourage him and visit it!

Finally, I also have some good video footage of wryneck taken this summer in Tirana, Albania. Please visit my previous blog entry

http://www.birdingforalark.blogspot.com/2011/06/grand-birding-at-tirana-grand-park-trip.html

Spring birds of prey at Al Hayer

2012-01-01T13:14:00.001+02:00

It's mid week again here in Saudi Arabia and once again Abdullah Amrou has let me raid his archives to show some birds from other times of year.

Today we are looking at some birds of prey at Al Hayer in the months of March and April.

lesser kestrel

Previous observers say lesser kestrel is a regular migrant but seem to suggest it isn't that common. However my observations and photographic records from wildlife photographers including Abdullah suggest it probably is commoner than perhaps thought on migration. Newly cut fodder fields and their supply of locusts! seem to be the best places to see them.

I'm not ruling out over-wintering either and I'm on the look out for them.

female marsh harrier

Marsh harrier is most common at Al Hayer during the passage too. However plenty of them are also seen in winter and it is an unlikely but conceivable breeder. Summer birding records of most birds are more limited than other times of year because of the heat so it may have been over-looked.

male marsh harrier

In winter the most common eagle in the Al Hayer area appears to be greater spotted eagle. By contrast in the more steppe-like landscape of the Kharj farming area (which is less than 40 kilometres way) steppe eagle is the most commonly recorded. In spring numbers of greater spotted eagle in Al Hayer briefly swell. The pictures shown were taken by Abdullah in March.

young greater spotted eagle

I am looking forward to spring to see my first full season of raptor migration in central Arabia.

second view of greater spotted eagle

I saw the Osprey arrive at Al Hayer in November and they are well-recorded to linger to spring.

osprey

Finally for this blog, I would like to wish all my readers a happy and prosperous new year. I would particularly like to thank people from the following top ten countries who have supported my blog since it first appeared 18 months ago.

The list is cumulative and shows a few changes since the same time last year.

The first four positions are still the same but not surprisingly readers from Saudi Arabia have joined the top ten along with Russia. While France and Sweden have dropped down.

League table of readers since the blog was launched

Libya

United Kingdom

United States

Bulgaria

Saudi Arabia

Germany

Morocco

Canada

Italy

Russia

Last year's list

Libya

United Kingdom

United States

Bulgaria

Germany

Morocco

France

Italy

Canada

Sweden

But wherever you are - Thank you and keep visiting!

Trip report to dairy farm near Kharj, Central Saudi Arabia

2011-12-30T19:23:00.008+02:00

On Thursday I went birding with Abdullah Amrou and Clive Temple at a dairy farm east of Kharj.

The number of species seen was the highest in anyone day since I arrived in Saudi Arabia. There were also three lifers among them. In short it was my best day's birding for a long while.

Since the birding was so extensive, I'm writing this blog as a trip report.

Location

The farm is called Al Mansour. It's in the middle of the farming district of Sahba about 20 kilometres east of the city of Kharj. The grid reference for the district is 24 degrees 9.5 minutes north, 47 degrees 25 minutes east. Kharj itself is about 90 kilometres south of central Riyadh.

In Sahba there are a number of farms. The most important are dairy farms. The Al Safi-Danone dairy farm within the district has been extensively birded in the past but not in recent years. Al Mansour is slightly smaller than Al Safi but is close to it. Al Mansour has all most certainly never been birded before.

The Sahba district is the last green area going south before the wide Arabian desert known as the empty quarter.

Al Mansour is a privately-run dairy farm. I estimate it is roughly 5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide. It is flat apart from a small hillock in the middle. There are more small (but barren) hills just outside the farm's boundary.

The hundreds of heads of cattle are kept in sheds surrounded by small paddocks where the cattle can roam.

Area-wise, most of the farm is taken up by large fodder fields for the cattle including hay as well as alfalfa. The cattle are an important source of natural fertiliser so the fields are richer than those at Al Hayer (for example). The fodder fields at Al Mansour are crop rotated. Some are fallow while others are growing or have recently been cropped.

There are several permanent pools. Each field has a small pool to hold water. Most have some reed cover. The biggest pool is next to the cattle enclosures and seems to be fed by the washings from the enclosures.

The house at the top of the hill in the middle of the farm has a garden which provides another habitat. There are also a few avenues of trees including tamarisk in various places throughout the farm.

Access

Al Mansour is not open to the public. We were granted special access through Abdullah's good offices. Clive and I are extremely grateful for this. I understand that near-by Al Safi farm is usually open to public birding on request.

Travel

It takes about an hour and a half to drive from central Riyadh to Sahba outside of the rush hour. There is no public transport. We stayed over-night at the farm so we could start birding at dawn.

Observations

Like all farms in central Arabia at this time of year, there were hundreds of white wagtail in the fields and in other areas where there was any moisture such as the paddocks.

citrine wagtail

What was more exciting was the presence of a small number of wintering citrine wagtail. Although I have posted photographs from Abdullah of this bird, I confess this was the first lifer of the day for me. I found a small number next to one of the holding pools at the side of a field. They were surprisingly confiding.

view of the cattle enclosures

In another field I saw my first yellow wagtail since arriving in Saudi Arabia in late September. It had been said a few winter in central Arabia and this was proof. They were particularly attracted to the sprays of water from an active pivot. I saw three at one time on a pivot bar.

yellow wagtail with white wagtail

The ones I saw seem to be the sub species fledegg which breeds in Turkey, the Balkans and the southern parts of central Asia.

yellow wagtail

The only pipit I saw on Thursday was tawny pipit. They were present in great numbers though not as many as white wagtail.

tawny pipit

There were two types of wheatear present. These were desert wheatear and Isabelline wheatear. I hadn't realised before how confiding desert wheatear are compared with other wheatears. If you stay still, they will often move really close.

desert wheatear

One of the small birds was another lifer for me. In a turfed area there was a mobile flock of desert finch. Different sources say different things about this bird's status in central Arabia. One says it is a recent arrival while another says it is a common breeder.

desert finch

In the very short bushes that grow on the edges of some of the fields there are desert warbler. I finally got a half decent photograph of one.

Asian desert warbler

The final small birds I'm mentioning are sparrows. There are very many house sparrow associated with most of the buildings on the farm. In one case we saw a sparrowhawk go inside an open-sided barn while chasing some of them.

spanish sparrow

Near-by and keeping to bushes was a flock of at least seventy Spanish sparrow.

mixed group of waders

All the pools scattered throughout the farm had waders. Common sandpiper, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper and little stint seem the most frequent depending on the pool. One redshank was seen by Clive and Abdullah. They aren't at all common in central Arabia.

flock of spur winged lapwing

The Al Kharj area is known for its resident spur winged lapwing and this farm didn't disappoint. At least 20 were counted. They were most frequently seen close to the cow sheds, its run off water pool and the nearest fields to them.

Kentish plover

Kentish plover was also seen at the cow shed pool. The one above is in breeding plumage.

little ringed plover

Both ringed plover and little ringed plover were observed at pools but also away from them too. The little ringed plover above was seen in a flat, dry rocky area.

ringed plover

The ringed plover was in a cattle paddock.

wood sandpiper

Cattle egret was unsurprisingly found. Perhaps more surprisingly the flocks spent their time in the fodder fields not next to the cattle. Cattle egret was the only member of the heron family there.

cattle egret

The only hoopoe were in the fodder fields which were being heavily watered.

hoopoe

The density of shrikes was low in part because they aren't too many shrike high bushes. Both steppe grey shrike and Turkestan shrike were there.

Turkestan shrike

I have deliberately kept some of the best observations of the day to the end of this blog.

field grazed by sandgrouse

During the day at various times, Clive, Abdullah and I split up to bird independently. On meeting up at one time, Clive had told me where he had found desert finch. He moved off in one direction and I started walking towards the place which had the finch.

flying chestnut-bellied sandgrouse

I walked through a closely cropped grass field when I saw a flock of unknown but well-camouflaged birds grazing about 60 metres in front of me. As I walked towards them they flew but only to another part of the same field. It soon became apparent I had walked into a field with three flocks of chestnut- bellied sandgrouse totally about 60 birds. I watched them for over half an hour as they gently and unconcernedly grazed.

This was my third lifer of the day and the one that gave me most pleasure.

chestnut bellied sandgrouse

The final story I want to tell you about is the arrival of five raptors at about two in the afternoon. They arrived together but were four different species.

juvenile imperial eagle

Thanks to research by Clive who also has a much better camera than me, I can confirm there were one golden eagle, two imperial eagle, one steppe eagle and an unidentified smaller raptor.

second view of juvenile imperial eagle

Later in the day as we travelled from Sahba towards Kharj on our way home, we saw several eagles in the space of half an hour and 10 kilometres. These included more imperial eagle and another golden eagle!

steppe eagle

Subject to permission, all three of us are keen to come back in March when the passage is in full swing. I would expect a quite different and even larger list then!

Being the first water stop north of the Arabian desert, it could be very interesting.

List of species seen

Cattle egret

Sparrowhawk

Steppe eagle

Golden eagle

Imperial eagle

Kestrel

Black winged stilt

Cream coloured courser

Little ringed plover

Ringed plover

Kentish plover

Spur winged lapwing

Little stint

Temminck's stint

Common snipe

Redshank

Green sandpiper

Wood sandpiper

Common sandpiper

Chestnut bellied sandgrouse

Rock dove (feral pigeon)

Collared dove

Laughing dove

Namaqua dove

Little green bee-eater

Wryneck

Hoopoe

Crested lark

Skylark

Pale crag martin

Tawny pipit

Yellow wagtail

Citrine wagtail

White wagtail

White cheeked bulbul

Black bush robin

Bluethroat

Stonechat

Isabelline wheatear

Desert wheatear

Graceful prinia

Desert warbler

Turkestan shrike

Steppe grey shrike

Brown necked raven

Spanish sparrow

House sparrow

Desert finch

Looking forward to the south west

2011-12-28T08:45:00.001+02:00

All being well I'll be making a short weekend trip to the south west of Saudi Arabia sometime in January. The trip will probably be to Najran with prospects of going towards Abha.

Hopefully this will be the first of many trips to this area.

brown woodland warbler

This part of Saudi Arabia has more in common with East African birding than with Western Paleartic (Eurasian). There are tens of Afro-tropical species such as the brown woodland warbler. This one was photographed by Abdullah Amrou in August near Abha.

a second brown woodland warbler

There are also eleven endemics to South West Arabia and Yemen.

Ruppells weaver nests near Abha

Most be not all of the endemics are only found at high altitude. Najran is at 1200 metres but the city of Abha is at 2200 metres. The endemics are most usually looked for in the Abha region where peaks reach 3000 metres. However there are highlands close to Najran.

Yemen linnet

One of the endemics, the Yemen linnet was also photographed by Abdullah Amrou in August. I have seen it (and photographed it near Taif, a long way north of both Abha and Najran).

I am not sure if anyone has birded the Najran area before! Foreign birders always seem to make a bee-line to Abha. I am excited to find out what we will see.

fan tailed raven near Abha

I am again grateful to Abdullah Amrou for letting me show some of his pictures.

Spring water birds at Al Hayer

2011-12-27T09:27:00.001+02:00

Once again its mid week and I'm continuing to show some of bird photographer, Abdullah Amrou's snaps of birds earlier in the year. This time I'm presenting some of his photos of water birds at Al Hayer in March and April.

mallard ducklings

At least two species of duck breed at Al Hayer. One is ferruginous duck and the other is mallard. Some mallard chicks are shown above.

moorhen

Moorhen is an abundant breeder all along the Riyadh river.

purple heron

Purple heron is one of several members of the heron family that breeds there too.

two white throated kingfisher

White throated kingfisher has breed there in recent years though one of the books or scientific papers have caught up with this development. However one or two authors had predicted this.

little ringed plover in spring

The only wader know for sure to breed at Al Hayer is little ringed plover. other plovers such as spur winged lapwing breed elsewhere in Central Arabia but not Al Hayer.

common sandpiper

The status of common sandpiper is ambiguous as it appears it is present all year round. It is more common in spring and autumn than the rest of the year. The birds present in summer are almost certainly non-breeding.

little stint

Finally the most common wader at Al Hayer except in summer is acknowledged to be little stint. Yet I saw only my second group at Al Hayer last week!

Thanks are again due to Abdullah Amrou for allowing me to blog his pictures.

Lagoons at Wadi Thulaymah

2011-12-26T06:21:00.000+02:00

On Friday, Abdullah Amrou took Clive Temple and me to Wadi Thulymah outside Al Kharj. This was one of three venues we visited in an action-packed day.

In recent years, two new waste water treatment works have been in operation in central Arabia. They have produced new "rivers" similar in many ways to the "Riyadh river" which flows through Wadi Hanifah. One of these new water courses flows through Wadi Thulaymah.

Though Wadi Hanifah near Al Hayer has been extensively birded by the few birders who make it to central Arabia, Wadi Thulaymah is pretty much virgin birding territory.

We started our birding at the far downstream end of the new Kharj river. Here the water has collected into about five crystal clear lagoons. Indeed all the water in this wadi looks clear. I suspect the treatment works are ultra modern.

Anyway,the lagoon habitat doesn't exist at Wadi Hanifah (though old records show something similar used to be present before the wadi evolved further).
The good news is that the lagoons at Wadi Thulaymah were teaming with waders.

However even before we saw any waders, a long legged buzzard flew over head and "welcomed" us to the area.

wood sandpiper

There are a few waders at Al Hayer. However Wadi Thulaymah's lagoons are ideal for them and the density of waders is much higher. The lagoons held common sandpiper, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper and marsh sandpiper.

marsh sandpiper

This was the first time I have seen marsh sandpiper in Saudi Arabia.

ruff

There was more than just sandpipers. There were also a small number of ruff. Again this was the first time I have seen this bird in Saudi Arabia too. However it has been recorded in huge numbers at Al Safi dairy farm in the past. The front entrance to Al Safi farm is very close to these new lagoons so ruff is not a surprise.

black winged stilt

Black winged stilt are resident birds in central Arabia and its must be highly probable that they will be at the lagoons all year even after the waders have gone.

little stint

The most abundant bird on the day was little stint. We counted at least 80 of them. When we looked carefully there were at least three temminck's stint among them and one dunlin. At least one ringed plover and two kentish plover were also present.

Temminck's stint

Later on in the day (very nearly dusk) we visited an area a few kilometres upstream of the lagoons. It was too late to bird properly but there is obviously a large clear lake. Although, we couldn't find a good vantage point because of extensive reed beds and a lack of time, we could see a high concentration of ducks.

The majority were shoveler but there were also tufted duck and at least two pochard. These were the first tufted duck and pochard I have seen in Saudi Arabia.

Clearly, Wadi Thulaymah is worth more visits.

Still finding new birds at Al Hayer

2011-12-25T05:32:00.000+02:00

The list of species seen by me at Al Hayer, south of Riyadh is still increasing. On Friday I saw five more, though only one was first for me in Saudi Arabia. That one gave me great pleasure. More about that later.

Al Hayer was the first stop on Friday on a full day's birding with Abdullah Amrou and Clive Temple. This time we stayed close to the river banks throughout.

common snipe snapped at Al Hayer where it is common in winter

The first new bird on my Al Hayer list was a black redstart. Thanks are due to Clive for spotting it. Historical observers in the area have said its a scarce winterer here.

black redstart

The second new bird for me in the area is cormorant. Three flew over and one had a Tilapia fish in its month. Like the black redstart, previous observers say it is rare there.

cormorant

Reportedly, the most common winter wader in the central region is little stint. However the four I saw at Al Hayer on Friday was the first time I had seen them next to the "river".

little stint

There were, of course, many of the usual cast present. I have made a few more observations about them though. For example, of the two red tailed shrike, I am now reasonably confident there are proportionately more Turkestan shrike than Durian shrike there in winter.

Turkestan shrike

Another observation is that great white egret may not be as scarce in winter as previously thought.

It is quite possible on a good viewing day to see all the European heron family except bittern.

Purple heron

Greater spotted eagle seems to be the most common large bird of prey in winter outside of the passage seasons.

spotted eagle

As Abdullah drives a four-wheeled drive car we had a chance to move downstream and explore part of the wadi that Clive and I hadn't visited before. Before we left my more usual haunt, we had good views of another white throated kingfisher.

white throated kingfisher

The river downstream has recently been re-channelled but so far the fauna seems relatively unaffected. This might indicate that some water is still feeding the old channels.

new course of the Riyadh river

Near the new channel we saw two mourning wheatear. This was the fourth new bird of the day for me in the Al Hayer area though I have seen it previously at the near-by farming district of Dirab.

mourning wheatear

A little further downstream still and in a new place I hadn't been to before, was arguably the best sighting of the day. There were three black stork in the air! So black stork became the five new addition to my Al Hayer list. It was also the first time I had seen the bird in Saudi Arabia.

Black stork had been reported as wintering in Wadi Hannifah by Tom Tarrant in the early 1990s and by Per Anders Bertilsson ten year's later. It now looks very likely they still winter there. It seems I just hadn't been looking in the right place.

Larking about in the Arabian desert

2011-12-24T05:03:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a very full birding day and thanks are especially due to Abdullah Amrou.

Abdullah showed and drove Clive Temple and me round several excellent birding spots in the Kharj and Al Hayer areas. We birded from 8am until dusk. There is a lot to write about over the next few days.

In the meantime, here is a short blog about one of the places we visited yesterday. It was the flat desert area south of Kharj.

hoopoe lark, south of Kharj

First impression is that the flat desert is lifeless but in the few areas with even the slightest vegetation there are both hoopoe lark and bar tailed lark. If there is any garbage thrown away there are white wagtail near-by too.

We saw both larks within 200 metres of each other at the side of the road 20 kilometres south of Kharj. Kharj itself is a small farming city, 80 kilometres south of Riyadh.

Hoopoe lark is relatively easy to watch. It is a large lark which runs away from you rather than fly but it doesn't spook easily. We saw four or so together which gave excellent views.

bar tailed lark

By contrast, bar tailed lark is restless. We saw four of them too but viewing is a tiring job. There are continually on the move, mostly by running but they will fly more readily than hoopoe lark.

The area was ideal for them, flat as a pancake.

desert wheatear

There was only one other bird near-by. It was a lone desert wheatear.

Brown shrike and other birds at Al Hayer

2011-12-23T05:55:00.000+02:00

When I was in Libya, I saw over 20 species which the distribution maps in the Collins guide said weren't there. The distribution maps are a function of the under-reporting in the country. This is fast disappearing with a lot of new home grown talent and one or two foreign specialists finding out exciting things.

"Going against the guide" requires self belief and lots of time checking ID features!

brown shrike

Saudi birding is also under-reported and once again I sometimes need a big ID effort.

Today was a case in point. I went birding with Clive Temple in the Al hayer area, south of Riyadh. While Clive was birding some local fields, I went instead to the edge of the Riyadh river. A shrike caught my attention.

second view of the shrike

It had some similarities to a Turkestan shrike and some similarities to a durian shrike (isabelline shrike). I have seen plenty of these two birds all winter at al Hayer. However it just didn't look right for either. So I followed it around for over 20 minutes before concluding most probably that it was a first winter or a female brown shrike.

third view of the shrike

The most easterly breeding populations of brown shrike are in western Siberia and winter mostly in India. The eastern Siberian birds winter in Indo-China. It is listed as rare/accidental in Sudan and those birds must come through Saudi Arabia. The bird at Al Hayer is certainly less of a vagrant than those seen in western Europe!

two birds on a pivot

I had a second encounter with an uncommon bird for central Arabia as well. Though it has been reported more often than a brown shrike. The encounter happened when I was walking towards a white throated kingfisher on pivot. I notice a small brown bird left of the kingfisher.

meadow pipit

It turned out to be a meadow pipit which is an uncommon bird in central Arabia. You may remember that Clive and I saw pipits in another fodder field last week which we could pin down to meadow pipit or tree pipit. Well, these pictures definitely show meadow pipit.

second view of a meadow pipit at Al Hayer

The cross bars of the pivot water sprinkler systems were again productive places to see several species. A flock of 8 cattle egret and one squacco heron landed next to the meadow pipit when I was photographing it.

cattle egret

I am afraid I accidentally flushed five common snipe as I approached the sprinklers.

hoopoe

I strongly recommend observing these pivot cross beams especially when the water is on. On another beam I saw a hoopoe. Since arriving in Saudi 3 months ago, I have seen over 30 species on beams.

brown necked raven

The number of northern lapwing in the fields was down to about 30 this week but the number of brown necked raven reached 45, many of which perched on one particular cross beam for a moment or two.

greater spotted eagle

Sometimes one bird has the whole pivot to itself! like when a greater spotted eagle took a rest yesterday.

chiffchaff

There are other "man made" perches which yield bird observations. A few months ago there was a fire on the edge of one fieldd and a few trees were burned and left leafless. This chiffchaff was briefly using one yesterday.

little green bee-eater

This is the only picture of a bird taken yesterday on a purely natural perch. Once again little green bee-eater was around in numbers. They have got long tails but from certain angles you can't see that. This is relevant to the brown shrike pictures back at the start of the blog. The bird I saw in the field had a long tail which only comes out in the side on pictures.

Land birds in spring at Al Hayer

2011-12-18T19:30:00.001+02:00

Its "mid week" here in Saudi Arabia again and so I'm posting some more photos with commentary from the wildlife photographer, Abdullah Amrou. This blog continues last mid week's look at birds seen in March and April. This time they are land birds seen near Al Hayer.

This is peak time for the spring passage and the first bird I am showing is Abdullah's shot of a rock thrush at Al Hayer.

Rock thrush is listed as only a passage bird in central Arabia, this one presumably returning from further south such as western Oman or Yemen.

rock thrush at Al Hayer

Apparently, European roller is a common passage bird at Al Hayer on its way to and from a long way south such as southern Africa. I look forward to seeing them next spring.

European roller

Yellow wagtail is very numerous on passage especially in the fodder fields. The main sub species seen at Al Hayer are feldegg and flava. Its feldegg which breeds in the north of Middle East region. However, the bird above is a flava.

yellow wagtail (flava)

There are still wintering birds left in March and April. Stonechat is a common wintering bird though a few seen in these months could be passage birds from further south.

male stonechat

I really struggle to tell the difference between all the sub species of stonechat. All the eastern sub species and European sub species can be found in Saudi Arabia so I should be getting a lot of practice. However from pictures alone and without without seeing a tail pattern, I really can't tell in most cases!

The bird above has more orange in its collar than any sub species described in Collins or Helms although I understand first cycle males of all sub species are more orange in the collar than true adults in spring. So it may be first cycle but that's as far as I can go.

female stonechat

I think I have had more luck identifying the female above. Its throat is very pale and are only the eastern sub species are so pale in spring! So it is almost certainly one of the eastern sub species, more especially maura which is often called siberian stonechat.

Turkestan shrike

Many Turkestan shrike winter in central Arabia and even more come through on passage. I find separating red tailed shrike easier than separating stonechat sub species.

hoopoe

As is the case in northern Libya where I previously birded, hoopoe in central Arabia can be resident, passage or wintering!

chiffchaff

Most chiffchaff in Al Hayer are wintering birds. Once again I have struggled to work out the sub species. Just like the female stonechat, this could easily be from Siberia - a siberian chiffchaff.

hypocolius

Finally Abdullah has snapped a hypocolius. This wintering bird is probably best seen in the Intercontinental hotel gardens in Riyadh where it probably roosts. However, it can obviously be seen in winter and the beginning of spring in other parts of central Arabia including Al Hayer. I am indebted once again to Abdullah Amrou for this and all the other pictures.

The road to Dirab

2011-12-17T06:07:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, Clive Temple and I visited the farming community of Dirab which is a recommended birding venue on fatbirder.com

We took the back road from Al Hayer to Dirab but instead of birding the farms, we birded a couple of refuse sites!

I will explain why this happened.

It all started out according to plan. As we drove along the back road, we stopped to observe a flock of brown necked raven which had gathered at a picnicking site with left over refuse. This proved to be a harbinger for the day.

black kite near Dirab

Our next stop, a few kilometres along the road was when Clive spotted several black kite at a large farm.

As we headed further west, near Dirab, I spotted a white crowned wheatear at a quite small refuse site. This was my first sighting of this bird in Saudi Arabia.

young white crowned wheatear

When we stopped to look we found at least one adult and one young white crowned wheatear. However the site had much more than this.

desert lark

The refuse site was by the side of the road with an escarpment behind it. It is clearly ideal territory for desert lark. The one above was very confiding.

blackstart

There was also a pair of blackstart at the site.

one of the hoopoe

The most abundant bird at the refuse site however was hoopoe. There were at least 8 present. This is a wintering group because resident birds hold a territory. They were more flighty than the other birds. When they felt threatened they flew part way up the escarpment, returning when calmed.

white wagtail

At least one white wagtail and two blue rock thrush were also present.

blue rock thrush

The blue rock thrush above is not one of those seen at the first refuse site. Actually we saw yet another on a wall by the side of the road on the return journey towards Al Hayer. This proved easier to photograph.

To finish the roll call of birds at the site, there were several little green bee-eater and one desert wheatear.

Travelling west from the refuse site, we found that the farms in Dirab were generally not accessible to the public unlike those south of Al Hayer which I normally visit. So we headed back east on the same back road that we had come out on.

We found that about 6 kilometres east of the first refuse site that there was another which we had missed on the way out. This was speculatively birded since the first site had been so successful.

Like the previous refuse site, it too had a couple of white crowned wheatear and blackstart. This time there was also a mobile flock of house sparrow and another flock of white cheeked bulbul darting around near-by trees and bushes.

mourning wheatear

More excitedly, this second refuse site was home to a mourning wheatear. Apparently this is only a winter visitor to central Arabia probably through dispersal from north west Saudi Arabia.

desert lesser whitethroat

The second site also differed from the first site by desert lesser whitethroat encouraged to be there by the more abundant natural vegetation (even though my picture shows one in a man made situation!)

Before finishing my comments on the refuse sites, I must return to the black kite seen at the beginning of the day. Near the second site, extremely high in the air was one of the black kite soaring with a young imperial eagle which completely dwarfed it.

Heading further east near the town of Al hayer, we crossed the Riyadh river at a stretch of the river that I haven't birded before. This was brief stop but long enough to see a wintering wryneck in a bare tree.

grey heron at the bridge crossing the Riyadh river

The wryneck was an unexpected bird to see ending a day where we birded unexpected places.

A day in the fields

2011-12-16T14:33:00.002+02:00

Thursday was a long day in the field. Clive Temple and I spent eight hours birding the fodder fields south of Al Hayer. This was an intensive effort to unlock more of the secrets of this habitat in the Riyadh area.

tawny pipit

One of our goals today was to look closely at the pipits in the fields. Certainly the most common pipit was tawny pipit. We counted seeing 70 birds during the day. However we saw 4 birds which could easily have been long billed pipit.

candidate for long billed pipit

The general look of the birds were not like "typical" tawny pipit. The legs are shorter, the white supercilium is longer and the breast has some streaking.

second view of probable long billed pipit

A new set of records by Per Anders Bertilsson of Sweden who was in the Riyadh area from 1998-2001 has just been released. It is excellent.

Per has some interesting comments on long billed pipit. He says At Thumamah (farm north of Riyadh) , "in December 1999 and March 2000, I saw and heard 2-3 individuals that resembled Long-billed Pipits, but they were never positively identified". We have reached a similar position today!

white wagtail

We also saw two birds which were either tree pipit or meadow pipit. Meadow pipit is a known but previously designated rare winterer in central Arabia.

However three water pipit were definitely identified in a sodden field. This bird was been recorded as a rare winterer here too.

White wagtail was the other member of the wagtail and pipit family seen.

crested lark

Crested lark was the other small bird seen in great numbers on the fields.

Of the larger birds, northern lapwing and collared dove were still numerous.

brown necked raven

A little more excitingly, a flock of at least 12 brown necked raven also came into one field.

raven mobbing a marsh harrier

At one stage several of the raven mobbed a marsh harrier which wasn't allowed in "their" field.

greater spotted eagle

Marsh harrier wasn't the only bird of prey on the fodder fields. Two greater spotted eagle made an appearance.

kestrel on a pivot sprinkler

Kestrel were ever present and briefly we saw a ring tailed harrier. With some many birds of prey near-by, the smaller birds (and even the lapwings) were regularly panicked into flying off.

desert wheatear

On the areas adjacent to the watered fields were both desert wheatear and Isabelline wheatear as usual.

Asian desert warbler

However there were also several Asian desert warbler which I had over-looked before and a small number of desert lesser whitethroat. I confess that desert warbler is a lifer for me. Desert lesser whitethroat is a noisy rattling bird which gives its presence away all the time!

grey heron in a field

Even though we weren't birding the near-by Riyadh river on Thursday, there were a few water birds in the fields. Three grey heron were seen.

black winged stilt

A couple of the fields are so close to the river that they sometimes become waterlogged by it. On Thursday, one of the waterlogged places held two black winged stilt.

However by far the most numerous "water bird" seen in the fields were common snipe. I had seen very few in the Al Hayer area but I have been looking in the wet fringes of the river. It hadn't occurred to me that they could be so numerous in the fields.

female stonechat

Towards the end of the afternoon, we saw more stonechat although we had been picking up ones and twos all day.

spanish sparrow

Also late in the afternoon we met a very large mixed flock of spanish sparrow, house sparrow and streaked weaver. The spanish sparrow pre-dominated. I knew that historical observers in the area had said spanish sparrow is at least a winter visitor but this was the first time I had proof positive.

part of the flock

The last birding I did as the light began to fail was to follow a large weaver I glimpsed for a moment. It was not a streaked weaver which is the common weaver in the area!

bluethroat

Although I lost sight of the weaver, I noticed a bluethroat foraging on the ground. It was so interested in food that it let me get much closer than usual. This was a fitting end to a great day.

Spring in the south Arabian desert

2011-12-13T09:20:00.000+02:00

This is the second mid-week blog looking back at spring in central Arabia. The pictures are again thanks to the wildlife photographer, Abdullah Amrou.

Today we are looking at Shehatiyah. It is 230 kilometres south of Al Kharj and 285 kilometres south of Riyadh. The "hamlet" is on the edge of the Dahna sand desert. There is a high water tank supplying a watering hole for passing Bedouins. There are also 5 or 6 abandoned houses and a few acacias.

In an earlier blog, I posted some pictures by Abdullah from Shehatiyah showing part of the autumn passage. His pictures today look back to spring. Together they give a rare insight into the passage in the southern Arabian desert.

All the birds below are undoubtedly passage birds which have been lucky enough to find the only water and shade for many kilometres.

European nightjar in spring

This autumn, Abdullah photographed a European nightjar at this location. Remarkably he had previously photographed one at the same place in spring. This is shown above.

barn swallow

Barn swallow pass over the south Arabian desert in great numbers. This one stopped off for a rest.

rock thrush

Helms guide says rock thrush breeds in much of the north of the Middle East and is found on passage throughout the region but is not common. Winter records are known from Oman and Yemen from where this bird was quite possibly returning.

turtle dove

At the same place, Abdullah has snapped a turtle dove. Turtle dove breeds in all of the north of the Middle East and in a few places in the southern half where is there is farming (including Riyadh!). I don't think it is known accurately where these turtle dove spend the winter but it is assumed to be in Africa south of the Sahara alongside birds originating in Europe.

Isabelline wheatear

The final bird that Abdullah sent me from this place is an Isabelline wheatear. It looks a bit thin. This is the only bird that might have wintered at Shehatiyah (plenty winter further north near Riyadh) but it probably came from further south.

Spring at the fish farm

2011-12-12T09:28:00.000+02:00

It's mid week in Saudi terms again. It's three days before I next go birding. However, as in the last two mid weeks, Abdullah Amrou, the wildlife photographer has kindly agreed to share some more photographs from previous seasons.

This mid week and next, I'm posting photos from March and April taken at three different locations in central Saudi Arabia.

common tern at Al Kharj fish farm

Today's blog looks at some of the birds that Abdullah has taken in March and April at Al Kharj fish farm about 80 kilometres south east of Riyadh.

It's a place I visited last month and saw such rarities (for central Arabia) as whiskered tern, Temmincks stint, rosy starling and spur winged lapwing.

second view of common tern

Abdullah's first featured bird is a common tern in near full summer plumage. Collins European guide says that European based common tern winter in west and south Africa. Helms Middle Eastern guide says that they breed in Iraq and neighbouring countries and that a small number winter in Yemen and Oman. It doesn't say where the rest go but its presumably further south such as East Africa. Helms further says common tern is widespread in the Middle East on passage - like this bird.

third view of common tern

Another passage bird snapped at the fish farm by Abdullah was a European bee-eater. This breeds throughout the northern half of the Middle East and is on passage north throughout all the southern half in March and April.

Its a similar situation with European roller. Its a passage bird here seen only in March, April and September.

European roller

Furthermore European roller is common during this period.

second view of a European roller at the fish farm

Although purple heron, black crowned night heron, and squacco heron all breed in central Arabia there is still some uncertainty whether grey heron do. They are locally common in a few places all winter.

grey heron at Al Kharj

Another bird which both winters in the area and is seen on passage is Turkestan shrike.

Turkestan shrike at the fish farm

The bird above is showing summer plumage.

second view of Turkestan shrike

The most common member of the great grey shrike complex that is seen at Al Hayer is steppe grey shrike. It is a probable breeder too.

However the bird photographed at Al Kharj fish farm (50 kilometres further south) is much darker and has hardly any supercilium. It looks more like the aucheri sub species of great grey shrike. Its a pity its wing flash can't be seen which would have helped with identification.

If it is aucheri then this bird is normally resident. Some authorities say it is the main sub species in southern Arabia and Sinai. This picture seem to support them.

Finally Abdullah last photograph from Al Kharj fish farm is of a little egret. This species is certainly there all winter and spring. It may well breed there too.

little egret at Al Kharj

I will be interested to see if little egret remain at the site this coming summer.

Introductions to Al Hayer

2011-12-09T16:06:00.002+02:00

I introduced Saudi newcomers, Dennis and Brenda Cox, and Clive Temple to Wadi Hanifah south of Al Hayer this morning.

Those who read this blog regularly will know this is my most common haunt in the Riyadh area.

It was a relatively quick tour of some of the better spots on a beautiful sunny day.

In the area we have named "the quarry ponds", there was a typical mix of moorhen in the water, white wagtail , black bush robin on the ground, durian shrike, house sparrow, collared dove, laughing dove in the trees, chiffchaff, bluethroat in the reeds and bushes and little green bee-eater and marsh harrier in the air.

A snipe was flushed accidentally near the water which may have been a jack snipe although we couldn't say authoritatively.

common kingfisher at Al Hayer

Also near "the quarry ponds" there were two birds which were new for me in Saudi Arabia. One was teal seen flying overhead with mallard. The other was a common kingfisher which allowed us a very close view from within the car. This was unlike a white throated kingfisher in the neighbourhood who kept his distance today.

Although Abdullah Amrou and other bird photographers have taken several pictures of the bird in the past, this was my first encounter here and first picture of this wintering bird.

tawny pipit

A walk beside three fodder fields showed that the large flock of northern lapwing were still present in the area. A few cattle egret and one great white egret were also seen. A couple of kestrel were once again near-by.

Three types of wheatear were seen around the fields- desert wheatear, Isabelline wheatear and in a rocky place near-by was a Persian wheatear. A lone stonechat was also perched next to a field.

Clive suggested I look more closely at the birds on the ground in the fodder fields. From his experience in Dubai, he couldn't believe that there were no tawny pipit around. It didn't take us more than two minutes looking to find them along with the usual white wagtail! Tawny pipit was the third bird added to my Saudi Arabia list today.

back of tawny pipit

I have learned to take shots of the backs of pipits to help with identification! I am hopeful we will find a Richard's pipit in the area using Clive's expertise with fodder fields. It should be here.

steppe grey shrike

Once again we saw a steppe grey shrike near fodder fields. This bird is a probable local breeder (note: not southern grey shrike as some books suggest). I photographed this one just after he had taken off. His wings haven't even opened yet after he has just launched himself.