Tabuk wetlands and two more targets

Lou Regenmorter and I visited the Tabuk waste water wetlands twice on our trip to the north west of Saudi Arabia. We went early on both Friday 18th and Saturday 19th. On Saturday we were hosted by Viv Wilson whose local patch it is.

Viv had seen and photographed a water rail there about a month ago. Since then Lou and I had been keen to visit to see if they were still around. 

water rail in the open (photo by Viv Wilson)

The good news is that we glimpsed them having heard them on Friday. Then on Saturday with Viv we got longer views. Viv managed to take some excellent photos too.

Lou saw an adult with an immature leading us to strongly suspect this is a breeding site. 

water rail in cover (photo by Viv Wilson)

Most of our views were of birds in semi cover like in the photo above but at least twice a bird came into the open. 

We also saw more water rail at a second spot but didn't spend so much time there.

As usual at the site there was lots of heron family activity. This time it was from squacco heron, little egret and cattle egret.

lesser whitethroat

The warblers were restricted to resident graceful prinia and migrant willow warbler, lesser whitethroat and importantly a sardinian warbler (a male having been seen).

willow warbler

The lesser whitethroat is so pale it has to be either a halimodendri sub-species lesser whitethroat or minula (desert whitethroat). The desert whitethroat would be out of range suggesting the former.

The sardinian warbler sighting on Saturday follows on from one seen at Haql on Thursday. It confirms an article in Jem Babbington's blog "Birds of Saudi Arabia" on 31st January 2012 where he reports that Kuwaiti birder AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan saw and took photos of several sardinian warbler in Tabuk. The photos are from January 1st 2012.

male common redstart

We noticed several common redstart and bluethroat on both days but especially on Saturday in the area near the water rail.

male bluethroat

A common kingfisher was present at one of the water rail sites too.

common kingfisher in early morning

As I have said before, whinchat is common migrant through central areas in spring but rare in autumn. In contrast it is common in both spring and autumn closer to the coast such in Tabuk.

whinchat

Only one desert wheatear was seen all trip. It is comes south in winter from northern neighbours. 

young desert wheatear

Northern wheatear was seen again at the wetlands just like in Haql and the Tabuk farms as the migrants pass through.

northern wheatear

We left the main wetlands and visited a near-by place which also has water. I won't say exactly where because we saw a hunter shot and kill a duck at the main wetlands.  At this new place I added the 312th bird to my Saudi list. I came across wigeon for the first time in Saudi Arabia.

wigeon on the ground

There were two along with a single common teal.

wigeon in flight (cropped from a photo by Viv Wilson)

The large white bellies are characteristic of wigeon in all plumages.

common teal (cropped from a photo by Viv Wilson)

At the same site were a few ruff and two black winged pratincole. The latter bird is being found with a lot more frequency than by historical observers though most of my observations have been in the northern third of Saudi Arabia which has had the least birding in the past.

Overall it was an excellent trip which exceeded my expectations not terms of the number of species seen but in terms of the type and quality of birds.

Finally on Tabuk, I'd like to thank Viv Wilson for permission to use his photographs of water rail and flying wigeon and teal.

I am off to Yanbu tonight. I'll be birding in that area with birding friend Brian James. It will be difficult to match  the success of the Tabuk trip. Let's see.

Below is a list of species seen during the trip based on one originally compiled by Lou Regenmorter:

S= addition to Saudi list
L = lifer 

	Tabuk wetland	Tabuk farms	Jebel Lawz	Haql	Haql-Tabuk Rd
Eurasian Teal	x
Eurasian Wigeon	x  S
Water Rail	x  S
Chukar			x  S
Eurasian Collared Dove	x	x			x
Laughing Dove	x	x		x	x
Namaqua Dove				x
Rock Pigeon		x		x	x
Grey Heron		x
Little Egret	x			x
Squacco Heron	x
Western Cattle Egret	x
Black Kite		x			x
Common Kestrel	x	x
Greater Spotted Eagle		x
Marsh Harrier	x	x
Pallid Harrier	x
Steppe Eagle		x
Caspian Tern				x
Common Ringed Plover				x
Little Ringed Plover	x
Common Snipe	x
Green Sandpiper	x
Ruff	x
Black-winged Pratincole	x
Cream-coloured Courser		x
Brown Necked Raven		x			x
House Crow				x
Tristam's Starling			x
Barn Swallow	x	x		x
Pale Crag Martin		x
Common Kingfisher	x			x
European Bee-eater	x			x
Spur-winged Lapwing	x			x
Crested Lark	x	x
Desert Lark			x		x
Red-backed Shrike	x	x		x	x
Graceful Prinia	x			x
Marsh Warbler				x
Sardinian Warbler	x   S			x   S
Lesser whitethroat	x
Scrub Warbler			x
Willow Warbler	x	x		x
Yellow-browed Warbler					x S,L
Desert Wheatear	x
Hooded Wheatear			x
Northern Wheatear	x	x		x
White Crowned Wheatear			x		x
Blackstart					x
Bluethroat	x
Common Redstart	x			x
European Stonechat		x
Whinchat	x	x		x
Spotted Flycatcher		x		x
White Wagtail				x
Tree Pipit			x
White-eared Bulbul	x	x
House Sparrow				x
Spanish Sparrow	x	x		x
Little bunting				x   S,L