Tabarjal

Birding in Tabarjal and the farms just to the south with Brian James and Lou Regenmorter on Saturday morning was the highlight of the whole northern trip for me. It even beat seeing the merlin and the Finsch's wheatear in the desert.

A good part of the reason was that I finally saw my first pharaoh eagle owl in Saudi Arabia.  It was one of my two nemesis birds here. (Nemesis birds are ones searched for and should have already been seen given the effort).

This bird flushed as Brian James and I were walking down a farm road. It was probably only two metres away on the other side of an earth mound when it happened. 

Pharaoh eagle owl

Luckily it flew only 40 metres or so right into the middle of a pivot field. It then stayed and watched. Despite being surrounded by three birders from different directions, I am pleased to say none of us flushed the bird again before we left. Too often birders get too close trying to get a better picture. 

The pharaoh eagle owl was near the north of its known range. 

It is the 316th bird on my Saudi list.

Spanish sparrow

Before this sighting we spent some time in a couple of fields within the city. Spanish sparrow were plentiful.  Warblers which were identified were chiffchaff and Menetries warbler.

Menetries warbler

I was a little surprised to see a wintering Menetries warbler so far north. 

Black redstart

More expected was a black redstart  sitting a few metres away from the warbler. 

Desert finch

It wasn't just Spanish sparrow that were flocking in the bushes and trees. We saw two flocks of desert finch, one in Sakaka and one in Tabarjal in trees behaving and looking from a distance like sparrows.

flock of desert finch

Out in the countryside, in the farms south of Tabarjal, many species of bird were flocking too.

red-throated pipit

It was hit or miss whether a field would be deserted or contain a large flock of one species or another. For example one field contained over 60 red-throated pipit but we saw them no where else all weekend.

cream-coloured courser

Another field contained a similar number of cream coloured courser and once again we only saw them in one place.

several cream-coloured courser

As the morning progressed and the temperatures rose (only towards 10 C), a few birds of prey other than kestrel started to appear. 

long legged buzzard

The most common was black kite but a long legged buzzard was also seen. 

steppe eagle

There were three eagles seen too but the only one I positively identified was a steppe eagle. The others may have been short toed eagle but they were flying near the sun, viewing time was limited and such a species would have been very far north for this time of year so I am reluctant to label them. 

Overall this was a successful trip with two additions to my Saudi list however the lack of northern finches and thrush family members which I had hoped to see pushed down by the cold was a little disappointing. I am looking at ways to go even further north before the winter is out.

The weekend list

Below is the full list of 53 species (plus pigeon) on my trip list for the weekend. Brian and Lou had slightly different lists.

	Sakaka waste water lake and near	Dawmat al Jandal, lake and near town	Desert SW of Tabarjal	Desert SE of Tabarjal ( 2 areas)	Tabarjal and farms to the south
Little grebe	x	x
Black necked grebe		x
Eurasian teal	x
Mallard	x
Ferruginous duck	x
Black kite			x		x
Marsh harrier	x				x
Pallid harrier					x
Long legged buzzard					x
Steppe eagle				x	x
Kestrel		x			x
Merlin					x
Moorhen	x
Coot	x
Cream-coloured courser					x
Common snipe	x
Dunlin		x
Kentish plover		x
Rock dove				x
Feral pigeon					x
Collared dove	x	x
Namaqua dove		x
Laughing dove	x	x
Pharaoh eagle owl					x
Desert lark				x
Hoopoe lark			x		x
Crested lark	x	x	x	x	x
Skylark					x
Lesser short toed lark			x	x
Temminck’s lark			x	x
European crag martin	x	x
White wagtail	x	x		x	x
Citrine wagtail		x
Water pipit	x
Red-throated pipit					x
White eared bulbul	x	x
Brown necked raven	x				x
Blue rock thrush				x
Bluethroat	x
Black redstart	x	x			x
Chiffchaff	x				x
Menetries warbler					x
Siberian stonechat					x
European stonechat	x
White crowned wheatear		x		x
Eastern Mourning wheatear		x		x
Desert wheatear		x		x	x
Finsch’s wheatear			x
Isabelline wheatear		x	x		x
Brown-necked raven	x				x
Indian silverbill	x
Desert finch	x				x
House sparrow	x	x			x
Spanish sparrow		x			x