Birding for a Lark

The Baha list

2012-03-07T04:48:00.000+02:00

I have worked out one or two identifications since I came back from Baha and so I am close to a definitive list of birds seen there. As I am now about half way through reporting on the visit in the blog I thought it would be a good idea to show the list.

Palestine sunbird at Baha

The one and only valley which I visited yielded six endemics, nine lifers and at least forty two identified species. There were also eleven additions to my Saudi list which has now reached over 150. In addition there was one large bird of prey which will never be identified and possibly up to two more species which may be added later.

Bird species	Special notes
Kestrel
Philby’s partridge	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
Arabian partridge	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
Rock pigeon
Dusky turtle dove	Lifer, Saudi first
Laughing dove
Namaqua dove
Alpine swift
Hoopoe
Arabian woodpecker	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
African rock martin
Barn swallow
Red rumped swallow
House martin
Long billed pipit	Lifer, Saudi first
Tawny pipit
White wagtail
Yellow vented bulbul
Black redstart
Stonechat
Isabelline wheatear
Pied wheatear
South Arabian wheatear	Endemic, Saudi first
Little rock thrush
Yemen thrush	Endemic, lifer
Blue rock thrush
Song thrush	Saudi first
Graceful prinia
Scrub warbler	Saudi first
White breasted white-eye	Lifer, Saudi first
Brown woodland warbler	Lifer, Saudi first
Chiffchaff
Willow warbler
Palestine sunbird
Turkestan shrike
Brown-necked raven
Fan- tailed raven
Tristram’s grackle
House sparrow
Ruppell’s weaver
Yemen linnet	Endemic
Cretzschmar’s bunting	Lifer, Saudi first

Apart from the two partridges my greatest pleasure was a vagrant song thrush and a pair of Arabian woodpecker. The woodpeckers will appear in one of the later blogs.

Palestine sunbird launches itself

The next blog looks at the wheatears and stonechats in the valley.

The warblers at al Baha

2012-03-06T05:59:00.000+02:00

The valley I birded at Baha over the last weekend was teeming with warblers at least in the middle section in the cultivated areas. However these were mostly passage and wintering birds. For resident warblers I found that the upper part of the valley around 2000 metres was the better place.

scrub warbler

I followed a pair of warblers around from bush to bush over stony outcrops before realising they were the resident scrub warbler. I have seen this bird in Jordan and Libya before. I have now seen two sub species: inquieta in both Libya and Jordan (despite the Collins guide telling me saharae is the Libyan sub species) and now buryi in Saudi Arabia. Buryi is even deeper coloured underneath than inquieta.

brown woodland warbler

Also up in the top valley was brown woodland warbler. I saw two in different places on separate occasions. I was helped by the fact it is an extremely loud bird for one so small. This Afro-tropical bird was yet another lifer for me.

The other main resident warbler is graceful prinia. This is not as common here as in my local patch near Riyadh and I never got a chance to take a picture. It is not found in the upper valley but was in the bushes near the cultivated areas in the middle valley.

It was in what I call the middle valley (around 1700 metres) where I saw the majority of the warblers. The place was teeming with chiffchaff. Many of them were eating seeds as well as insects. They seemed to be in a major drive to fatten themselves up presumably because they were just about to migrate. Indeed some were oblivious to my close contact because they were concentrating on eating.

chiffchaff

One chiffchaff stayed in the open jumping from plant to plant for over 8 minutes. In the end I left him rather than the other way round. He is pictured above and in two pictures below.

second view of chiffchaff

He looked like a typical European chiffchaff however other ones were greyer and less colourful and presumably represented birds from further east.

third view of chiffchaff

There were also a smaller number of willow warbler which presumably are part way through their migration since they winter further south than chiffchaff. However, I cant be absolutely sure whether any winter in Baha because I wasn't there earlier.

willow warbler

The above bird look like a willow warbler. It has a lighter bill than the chiffchaff, a broader supercilium and doesn't have a dark cheek. Furthermore its legs are a little paler though I think its an eastern sub species because the legs aren't pink.

Thrushes and redstarts at Al Baha

2012-03-05T04:19:00.000+02:00

This blog is one in a series looking at my birding experience last weekend in a single valley at Baha city. It had many exciting birds, all within walking distance of my hotel.

Today I can tell you it had more than its fair share of interesting members of the thrush family including one endemic, two lifers for me and one bird considered to be a vagrant in southern Saudi Arabia.

In the middle level of the valley, barely 250 metres from my hotel I saw the first (and then second) little rock thrush of my life.

little rock thrush, Baha

In the same part of the valley were several black redstart. Confusingly most of males looked very similar to a little rock thrush and also needed to be looked at closely to differentiate from a common redstart.

This was because they were of the semi-rufus sub species which summers in the Near East.

male black redstart

I have included a second picture of the black redstart at a different angle to show that its black bib extends below the throat. This is a feature of semi-rufus black redstart but not of any common redstart. The Collins guide for European birds says that semi-rufus black redstart doesn't have a white panel on its wings like the European black redstart. However as my first picture proves it certainly has a paler flash.

second angle on black redstart

Female semi-rufus black redstart are much greyer and washed out than the male.

female semi-rufus black redstart

The first bird I saw at the start of the weekend in very windy conditions was a blue rock thrush at the top end of the valley. However the next day I saw four blue rock thrush together very near the main road to the hotel in the middle level (1700 metres)of the valley. Four is the largest number of blue rock thrush I have ever seen together and yet it is unlikely to have been a family group.

blue rock thrush on a wall next to a main road at first light

There were two other thrushes in the valley. One was the endemic Yemen thrush (and a lifer for me) for which I don't have a picture. It looks very like a female blackbird and appeared to be quite common but shy, darting low between trees and bushes.

song thrush

The second was most unexpected. It was a song thrush. This is a vagrant to southern Saudi Arabia. Indeed I wanted to be completely sure of my identification so I posted the picture to the Bird Forum web site where the correspondents confirmed with my view.

This thrush was a real bonus to my trip list.

Buntings, finches and friends at Baha

2012-03-04T04:58:00.000+02:00

This blog continues the report on last weekend's birding of a single valley in Baha, South West Saudi Arabia which yielded so many endemics and lifers.

In the same field in Al Baha, that I saw my first dusky turtle dove was another lifer for me. There was a flock of about six Cretzschmar's bunting. This bunting breeds on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, often at elevation, but winters either side of the southern part of the Red Sea. The farming areas of Baha look like a perfect wintering spot for this bird.

male Cretzschmar's bunting

The first bunting I saw was a female which I found looked quite similar to the ortolan bunting that summer near my adopted home in Bulgaria. However as soon as I saw a male I was in no doubt it was a Cretzschmar's bunting.

female Cretzschmar's bunting

In the same farming area and further up the valley I spotted several flocks of Yemen linnet over the two days I walked up and down the valley. This is another endemic but it wasn't the first time I had observed this bird. I saw one near Taif last November.

Yemen linnet

My best observation at Baha came near two large puddles in a built-up area where four or five of them perched near-by and occasionally dropped down to drink.

view of Yemen linnet from the back

Unlike the common linnet, Yemen linnet shows much white in the wing in flight which helps identification. The picture above shows part of the white flash on the wing.

Strictly speaking Abyssinian white-eye isn't related to the other birds featured in this blog. White-eyes aren't closely related to any other bird family but this is as good a place as any to report I saw the first one in my life one some 25 metres away from the flock of Yemen linnet.

Abyssinian white-eye

Like a large proportion of the world's settlements there are plenty of house sparrow in the city. Many are busy nest building and aiming to breed at the moment.

house sparrow

Yet it was with one flock of house sparrow that I initially saw a lone Ruppell's weaver (before it went off on itsown). In fact it was the only one I saw all weekend. I think it is clear that they aren't very common in Baha presumably because the altitude isn't ideal.

Ruppell's weaver

Partridges and doves at Baha

2012-03-03T07:04:00.002+02:00

As I said in the last blog, I visited Baha in the south west of Arabia over the weekend. I birded by walking straight out of the hotel with no driving to sites. I got very lucky. The valley 200 metres to the east had virtually everything I could have asked for in a two day period: 6 endemics, over 40 species and 10 plus lifers.

I am going to blog by species type for want of a better way of doing it. This blog looks at doves and partridges.

valley at the top looking down, edge of Baha city

Although I birded the valley on Thursday, I went back again on Friday because the birding had been so good and I thought I might see more. I did. Before breakfast I looked at the top part of the valley and accidentally flushed a flock of Arabian partridge. This is an endemic bird to Arabia. They actually flew over the cliff down into the ravine below. There was no way I could follow them!

Arabian partridge near the hotel

I made a mental note to try looking for them again later in the day. As it happens I re-visited the top of the valley in mid afternoon. And I found a flock of partridge in nearly the same place. This time managed to get closer before any bird was flushed. You can imagine my surprise when I found this flock was not Arabian partridge but Philby's partridge. Philby's partridge has a black face and a grey crown. They are immediately distinguishable from Arabian partridge as I discovered. Philby's partridge is also an endemic to Arabia.

Philby's partridge running away

The only problem with birding the top of the wadi is baboons. On Friday morning there was 120 of them in the deserted supermarket car park near-by. I'll show the photo in a later blog. Meanwhile I wonder whether their presence was one reason why I didn't meet a single person all weekend on foot in the top end of the valley or maybe it was just the windy conditions up there?

male baboon staring at me

I have already blogged about the dusky turtle dove I saw further down the wadi in the cultivated area. In fact the cultivated places were teeming with doves and pigeons.

dusky turtle dove

There were several dusky turtle dove, a few namaqua dove and many tens of pigeons and laughing dove. I don't know weather it is me or what but like in Najran (in another part of the south west) I failed to see an African collared dove.

Namaqua dove

Namaqua dove were only found in the lower part of the valley (which is still above 1500 metres!) whereas laughing dove was everywhere part from the very top.

laughing dove

The next blog will feature finches and friends seen in the valley. There will be an endemic, a bunting, a white eye and more!

Baha magic

2012-03-02T22:36:00.001+02:00

Tonight, I have just returned from one of my best birding experiences!

Once a month, I am visiting places in other parts of Saudi Arabia away from Riyadh. This weekend,I followed up my trip to Najran a month ago with one to Baha. Like Najran, Baha is in the south west but it is a more mountainous region.

The relatively few birders who have been to the south west usually go to Abha for land birds (250 kilometres further south). If they do go to the Baha area they often chose Mount Shada and Raghadan forest. I had intended to visit at least one of these but as it turned out this never happened. I'll explain why.

I arrived at my hotel which is the Golden Tulip on the edge of Baha on Thursday morning. The hotel is on one of the highest points in the city and there is a 300 metre drop directly behind it. I noticed there was a wide wadi right next to the hotel which starts at 2,100 metres and descends into the city. It is lightly forested but I could see some cultivation further down.

I had a hunch that I didn't need to go far to have good birding. I decided to bird the wadi before setting off for the "normal" birding venues.

I never left the wadi all weekend.

I saw over 40 species, at least 10 of them were lifers (more depending on some identification issues) and there were 6 Arabian endemics there too. All were within walking distance of the hotel. I am sure the diversity of birds was because the wadi is an uncommonly diverse habitat itself.

dusky turtle dove

I will blog about the trip over the next few days. Since the trip turned out to be so eventful,I'll divide up the birds seen into groups.

As a taster: dusky turtle dove is an almost random example of one of the lifers I saw. This one was eating seeds in a fallow field in the farming area of the wadi.

second angle on dusky turtle dove

I almost missed it as there were pigeons in the area and there is a superficial resemblance to them.

To build on the sighting of dusky turtle dove, in the next blog, I'll take a look at doves and partridges in the wadi.

Shrikes and others at al Hayer

2012-02-29T08:29:00.001+02:00

I have already blogged about the wheatears, bluethroat, stonechats and menetries warbler seen at Al Hayer last weekend. Thursday was actually a bumper day when I saw the most species I have seen there in one session since I arrived in Saudi Arabia.

In part, I have to thank Lou Regenmorter for this. The newly arrived American birder provided a second set of eyes through out the day.

Today's blog highlights many of the other birds seen. First, let me tell you the passage has definitely started. Common swift was the latest addition to the small but growing list of passage birds seen in the past two weeks. The list contains barn swallow, alpine swift, pied wheatear and woodchat shrike. The menetries warbler could be passage too or it might have been around all winter. Isabelline wheatear and desert wheatear numbers have also swollen. Nevertheless the main passage is still to be looked forward to.

Daurian (Isabelline)shrike

Meanwhile, every time I have visited Al Hayer since I arrived in late September I have seen Isabelline shrike or Turkestan shrike or both. I am much better at separating them though some first winters are still tricky. The bird above, seen on Thursday, is an Isabelline shrike. Overall they are dull and less contrasting that Turkestan shrike. In detail, this one has a very weak supercilium and a weak mask. It has no sign of any white patch on its primaries. Generally it is not a cold enough grey on its back for a Turkestan shrike either. The rufous patch on its crown is also very subdued. So I am quite confident about this one!

probable aucheri shrike

The great grey shrike complex here is arguably more complicated than the red-tailed shrike situation. Partly this is because I can't keep up with which sub species are grouped with others to form so called species. As far as sub species go, I have seen both pallidirostris (sometimes called steppe grey shrike) and aucheri all winter (which I believe is classed as a southern grey shrike). The one above (seen on Thursday) seems to be aucheri.

One of the two top historical observers in the area says some of both stay all year round.

wood sandpiper

We didn't visit the best local place for waders last Thursday for lack of time having been very thorough in a small are around the pivot fields. Nevertheless this green sandpiper was out in the open.

tawny pipit

The pivot fields contained three types of wheatear as described in a previous blog. Of course white wagtail was the most numerous passerine in them and a few tawny pipit were still present too.

Of the larger birds in the fields, the large flock of cattle egret was still around. The similar sized flock of northern lapwing which has often been seen in the same field or near-by seems mostly to have finally gone. Though we did see six lingerers. Other people have observed in the past that northern lapwing here seem to leave very early in the passage season.

cattle egret

The week before's sighting of swollen numbers of hoopoe was repeated last Thursday.

hoopoe

My only duck sighting on Thursday was a single ferruginous duck which is a known breeder here. The small number of ducks seen was more a function of where I birded (not much time spent looking at the river) rather than a definitive case for lesser numbers being around.

ferruginous duck

Of course moorhen were abundant but I did snatch a picture of the a much less common coot.

coot

Talking of rarer birds, I hadn't seen a desert finch in the pivot fields at Al Hayer until two weeks ago. I returned to the spot I had seen a single last Thursday. This time there were two.

two desert finch

On the bushes near the same field were a mobile flock of Indian silverbill. I don't see them every week but I have eventually worked out where it is most likely.

Indian silverbill

The usual selection of birds of prey were present. Again the most obvious is kestrel. You are guaranteed to see at least a couple on or over the fields. Fellow birder, Clive Temple managed to see the same day a group of eight lesser kestrel but Lou and I weren't so lucky. I guess his sighting is another element of the early passage.

kestrel

Just as we were leaving Al Hayer, a beautiful male marsh harrier landed in front of us. Unfortunately it evaded my camera.

sitting greater spotted eagle

That wasn't the end of the sightings of birds of prey though. There was greater spotted eagle sitting near the road back to the town of Al Hayer. Actually I have seen probably the same bird in the same spot three other times during the winter. Sometimes its been the first bird I have seen on my way out. On Thursday it proved to be the last bird on the way back.

flying greater spotted eagle

Apart from the start of the passage there are other tangible signs of spring, many plants are flowering. Unfortunately, I couldn't identify the beautiful one below.

unknown flower

The wheatears

2012-02-27T07:26:00.000+02:00

Ten days ago I saw my first pied wheatear of the spring passage at Al Hayer. By last Thursday several more had arrived.

Apparently pied wheatear begins its passage early but is well-known to stop off for days and even weeks en route at suitable locations. It seems Al Hayer is one of those suitable locations.

pied wheatear

None of this week's pied wheatear were anything like as "burnt coloured" underneath as the single one last week. Indeed last week's was so yellow on the belly that I asked people on BirdForum if it could be a cyprus pied wheatear. The verdict was that it was within the natural variation of "normal" pied wheatear.

second view of pied wheatear

All the pied wheatear were in the same field which was a fairly recently sown and wet one.

It was popular with two other wheatears too. Isabelline wheatear winters at Al Hayer in significant numbers but the numbers are swollen at the moment presumably with passage birds arriving from further south.

Isabelline wheatear

It's a similar situation with desert wheatear. They too were plentiful with additional numbers especially in the same field.

desert wheatear

There were only definitively three types of wheatear in the fields. Northern wheatear is well recorded as a passage bird but comes later. This is consistent with what I saw when birding in the past in Azerbaijan (directly north of here). The Isabelline wheatear always arrived in spring before northern wheatear.

unknown wheatear

There was one wheatear in the field which could conceivably have been a northern wheatear. It's picture is shown above. It's moult makes it difficult for me to hazard any sort of identification.

As for other wheatears, I have seen two different persian wheatear near-by,in more rocky areas, during the winter. There have been mourning wheatear close by but in drier places too. White crowned wheatear is a resident bird of drier areas such as Dirab which is only a few kilometres away.

Three more wheatears I haven't seen which are recorded for central Arabia are black-eared wheatear, hooded wheatear and Finsch's wheatear. The first will almost certainly be seen on passage in the Al Hayer area in the next few weeks. Hooded wheatear is apparently a rare resident but I haven't found suitable habitat yet. Finsch's wheatear is a very rare wintering bird so I have probably missed my chance this winter.

Furthermore, Kurdish wheatear is feasible on passage though not recorded.

As you can see central Arabia has more than its fair share of wheatears. Its a great place to learn about them.

The chats

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

I have taken a more in-depth look at the wintering stonechats along Wadi Hanifah over the past few days. This has included a very tricky identification issue! More on this later.

My first conclusion is the big majority of wintering birds are Siberian stonechat (or eastern stonechat as some people call it). My observations supports the Helms guide's view on this.

The two top historically recorders in the area were aware of the variation in stonechat in the area but didn't analyse them between common stonechat and Siberian stonechat.

To choose between the two options, I find that Siberian stonechat are distinctly more white overall - usually with a larger white collar, more white on the wings and more white on the lower breast and always having a white rump. At first, I looked at collar size alone but found this is a poor indicator (for me at least though others swear by it).

probable nominate Siberian stonechat (maurus)

All three pictures of stonechats in this blog were taken on the same day, last Thursday. The top picture is almost certainly of the nominate Siberian stonechat (maurus) found east of the Caspian and north of there. It's in breeding plumage.

probable eastern stonechat (variegatus)

The second bird above is even whiter and is may well be of the sub species variegatus. This sub species is found west of the Caspian.

unknown stonechat in winter plumage just starting the transition to breeding plumage

However it was the third bird which caused me the most heart ache. It looks intermediate between an whinchat and a stonechat.

There is some contradictory evidence over the whinchat's status here. Collins guide says whinchat winters in the area whereas the Helms guide says it uncommon even on passage. Of the two historical recorders I turn to, Tom Tarrant saw them in spring and autumn passage but Pers Bertilsson only saw them on spring passage.

On these occasions I tend to post on BirdForum and ask the world for their views on a tricky identification. Having heard back from several people, the slight balance of opinion was that it is a stonechat though views were nowhere near unanimous.

In the end I found an excellent article on wikipedia which clinched it for me that it is a stonechat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Stonechat

I quote from the article " males in plumage are intermediate between summer males and females with a supercilium resembling a whinchat." and the picture of a wintering male in India (from the article) is very similar to my bird above. The only difference is the wings of my bird look more like summer plumage. So I assume it is a bird transitioning.

Eitherway,the mystery of its identity is getting closer to conclusion. It's a wintering stonechat possibly a male Siberian stonechat.

The bluethroats

2012-02-25T06:57:00.000+02:00

Bluethroat is a common wintering bird along the "Riyadh river". From October to January they are best seen in the early morning or towards dusk. They are usually near the water's edge.

However, in February, I have noticed they are active all day long provided it isn't too hot. I have also seen them further away from the water in the very low shrubbery at times.

male bluethroat at Al Hayer on Thursday

It's been very easy to see them in past two or three weeks because of this activity. I wonder if they are fattening themselves up for the long migration to their breeding grounds which will take place soon.

same male bluethroat

And it is a relatively long migration because many of the bluethroat here seem to be orange spot. This makes them the sub species called svecica which is the most northerly sub species from northern Europe.

female bluethroat on Thursday

I spent five or ten minutes looking at these birds with newly arrived American birder, Lou Regenmorter. He told me he once went on a nature holiday to Alaska and it was one of the possible birds there. He didn't see it. He has now.

The list

2012-02-24T08:53:00.001+02:00

Many birders keep lists. Some birders could even be called "listers". They watch birds to see their lists grow.

Some birders twitch. That is, they visit rare birds which are in the wrong place. Many of them do it for their lists.

At the other extreme some birders are behaviouralists. They love to study bird behaviour and they gain a list by chance. It's not a goal. They don't twitch because a bird under stress (or worse) in the wrong place doesn't tell you much about natural behaviour and to them it isn't fun.

Other birders take photographs. For some, the photograph collection becomes the thing or even a photograph list becomes all important! For a few, watching birds no longer happens but photographing them continues.

Most birders have a balance which may include elements of all four traits (listing, twitching, behaviour watching and photography) in their hobby. Or they may have do less common things such as ringing or they specialise in certain birds.

I have described myself as behaviouralist with a photographic hobby. But recently I have become a lister by accident. By the way, I don't twitch at all but you might have guessed that by my writing!

Menetries warbler at Al Hayer yesterday

When I started putting information into the ebird database, it started producing me a list or more precisely lists. And I have started taking notice of them. If used wisely I confess lists can be helpful. My Saudi list stood at 137 before yesterday. That was without any conscious attempt to tailor my birding to inflate the list. However it has helped me have a truer understanding of my expertise or lack of it.

The largest list for Saudi Arabia I have seen is 336 by Per Anders Bertilsson who left the Kingdom about 10 years ago. There are an estimated 525 birds possible to see apparently.

I have only been here since late September and I have only seen just over a quarter of the possibilities.

For what its worth, my Libyan position is much healthier. My list scores are higher!

Anyway, yesterday I added 4 new ones to the Saudi list. I want to write about two of them in particular. These were Menetries warbler and common starling. You'll have to wait for the other two in later blogs.

I first and last saw Menetries warbler in Azerbaijan in summertimes when I used to teach there. Both Collin's European guide and Helm's Middle East guide suggest it winters in Arabia in a few select places (in small numbers). Though Pers Bertilsson only saw it during the passage months. Of course, I cant tell whether the one yesterday was a late wintering bird or an early passage one.

common starling at Al Hayer

For all the fuss over Menetries warbler, the better find yesterday was almost certainly a flock of 12 common starling. Of the two historical birders in the area with the best records, Tom Tarraat never saw it in central Arabia and Pers Bertilsson saw 3 at Kharj once (on 2 March). My friend Abullah Amrou photographed a single near Al Hayer once too.

I had expected to see passage birds yesterday (and the other two additions to my list probably are) and yet I also saw a bird which seems to have come in the opposite direction following the very cold weather further north.

Thanks for this one are due to Lou Regenmorter. Lou is an American birder who is here on business for a while. He accompanied me yesterday and saw the birds first!

Caspian gull and cousins

2012-02-22T07:04:00.000+02:00

A few days ago a fellow birder in Sudan identified a gull as yellow legged. This is apparently the first record of the species there.

At the time I wondered what the fuss was about. After all, my first edition of "Birds of the Middle East" says its common on all Arabian coasts in winter. And I found it difficult to believe that some wouldn't make the short trip over the Red Sea to the Sudanese coast. Indeed when I was in Jeddah in early November I saw a couple of medium-large gulls and identified them as yellow legged gull at the time.

However in the back of my mind I thought something wasn't adding up.

So to build on the dialogue about the Sudanese bird, I posted a picture, on BirdForum, of my gull from Jeddah. Shock and horror, it turns out in all probability my gull is actually a Caspian gull.

Caspian gull seen in Jeddah, November 3rd

So what's going on?

I now know what I should have known all along. There are three similar gulls - herring gull, yellow legged gull and Caspian gull. Each gull dominates a geography. Herring gull dominates the north Atlantic, yellow legged gull the Mediterranean and Caspian gull dominates the Caspian Sea and most of the Black Sea.

Only in the south West Black Sea and northern tip of the Red Sea do Caspian gull and yellow legged gull vie for dominance. In winter there is dispersal and Caspian gull can be seen along all the Arabian coasts. Hence the reason my Caspian gull was in Jeddah. (Just to add to the complexity - there is fourth similar bird called Steppe Gull found in winter on eastern Arabian coasts alongside Caspian gull).

So what went wrong for me?

First, my Middle East bird guide is out of date. In the first edition of it, Caspian gull was still seen as a sub species of "yellow legged gull". Hence the comment in the guide book that yellow legged is found all along Arabian coasts. Furthermore the illustrations of the "yellow legged gull" in the book look like a compromise between the two birds.

Second, I was aware of the existence of Caspian gull from my second guide, the Collins guide to the birds of Britain and Europe. However I didn't investigate the Caspian option because the first guide said yellow legged gull was the one for Arabian coasts and the second guide says 75% of Caspian gulls don't have light eyes. Mine did - just like a yellow legged gull!

Now it all makes sense. The Jeddah bird is a lighter grey than a yellow legged gull and its legs aren't yellow enough. Its posture and bill are a perfect fit for a Caspian gull. It's in the right geographical location too. It just doesn't have dark eyes.

In all probability, it's a light eyed Caspian gull and it's where it should be.

The other birds on Friday at Al Hayer

2012-02-21T07:12:00.001+02:00

It wasn't just the wintering birds that caught my eye on Friday. The others were very interesting too. One of which turned out to be a lifer but more about that later.

One of the main features of Friday's birding was the presence of large numbers of hirundines hawking for insects over the pivot fields. Last week I noticed the first barn swallow of the year. This Friday there were many more of them. There were also at least two red-rumped swallow and although its not strictly a hirundine there was also an alpine swift.

local barn swallow

Not all of these birds were on passage either. Red-rumped swallow have been recorded to breed in the area and I have first hand evidence that barn swallow breed here. I saw a barn swallow fly into a farm workers building. Inside were several barn swallow nests being built. The four barn swallow in the picture above were barn swallow waiting patiently to re-enter the building once I left!

barn swallow nest in making

Hirundines are often early passage birds. Another one in this region which can start early is lesser whitethroat.

lesser whitethroat

I saw my first lesser whitethroat in the area on Friday. According to previous records this could be the first of many.

common myna

Near-by on a pivot was a small flock of common myna. Although I have got several photos of common myna in the area before, I felt the need to take more shots. I am pleased I did.

bank myna

It was only when I got back home and started sorting out the photos for this blog that I realised at least one of the mynas in the flock was a bank myna. What an unexpected lifer. In the back of my mind, I knew it was meant to be in the area. Indeed Per Anders Bertilsson reported seeing it several times during his stay in Riyadh around the year 2000. Bank myna becomes the 136th species I have seen in Saudi Arabia since arriving in late September last year. This is well behind Pers who has set the benchmark with 336. I wonder how many I will add during the passage season which has just begun?

Indian silverbill

Given that Riyadh is officially in the Afrotopical zone, its amazing how its been colonised with so many birds from the Indo-Malay region. Both mynas comes from there as does, for example, the Indian silverbill which is common in the area and apparently in the city.

black bush robin

Of course Afro-tropical birds are here too! The black bush robin in the picture above was standing on the top of a bush rather than under it. You don't see that very often and yet it takes me back to my first ever sighting of one in Senegal, Africa where one was doing exactly the same thing.

crested lark

Finally lets not forget crested lark which I have seen in all the countries I have lived in during the past 5 years - Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Libya and Saudi Arabia. In fact I can't escape it! It was there again on Friday.

A late look at the wintering birds

2012-02-20T07:03:00.000+02:00

In contrast to Thursday's windy and sandy weather, Friday was a gloriously sunny day. I returned to my local patch which is Wadi Hanifah near Al Hayer. Here I met up with Clive Temple, the other main expat birder in the region.

Also unlike Thursday, the birds were very active and I probably saw a record number of species for one session in this area.

I want to dedicate this blog to all the wintering birds I saw on the day and throughout the winter. Many will be leaving in the next month.

Turkestan shrike

One of the first wintering birds I saw on Friday was a Turkestan shrike. Both Turkestan shrike and Daurian shrike winter at Al Hayer. Steppe grey shrike and small numbers of masked shrike winter here too though I didn't see either on Friday.

black stork

The skies were active with birds of prey from the large wintering greater spotted eagle to the much smaller resident kestrel. It was while I was looking up at what I initially thought was a bird of prey that I finally got my best sighting of a black stork this winter. A small but loyal group of black stork have been reported to come to the area every winter in the past 20 years.

marsh harrier

Marsh harrier is known to breed in central Arabia so I would expect the birds that have been here all winter to depart sooner or later. The one above allowed closer contact than usual as Clive and I approached it under cover of reeds. The strange moulting pattern made it look a bit like an osprey which I have also seen here in the past few months.

bluethroat

Turning to the smaller birds, one of the most common wintering birds is bluethroat. It's clicking sound has been an ever present in any cover near the water for months.

female eastern stonechat

Another common one has been stonechat. This bird is often seen a little away from the water on any vantage point whether it is a bush or a pivot arm or simple a mound.

My observations and those before me have been that eastern stonechat provides more than half the total winter population though European stonechat are not uncommon. I have learned to differentiate them by the greater amount of white/light colour on the lower front, on the upper tail and on the collar. In some cases the females even have an strong, light eyebrow like the one above. I am still not completely confident in my identifications but this winter has given me lots of practice.

In the past I only looked at the collar size and made many mistakes.

another eastern stonechat

Above I believe is another eastern stonechat. The upper tail has no pattern and its front is very light.

desert wheatear

Two types of wheatears have been around the fields all winter in this area. They are desert wheatear and isabelline wheatear. There numbers seem to be swollen at moment probably with migrants from further south. Its hard to believe they will leave. Don't forget there are also a few mourning wheatear in the drier areas near-by who apparently will also go.

Isabelline wheatear

Very large numbers of white wagtail stay the winter at Al Hayer. A smaller number of tawny pipit are often seen in similar places though they tolerate drier conditions better.

tawny pipit

It has been a treat to see a small number of citrine wagtail (though none seen on friday)in my local patch too. Strangely I haven't seen a single yellow wagtail in the area all winter even though a few winter in the farms at Kharj some 40 kilometres further south.

white wagtail

It's not long before the cast will change and these birds will be gone for another year.

The sandstorm ends

2012-02-19T07:01:00.000+02:00

On Thursday afternoon, after a difficult morning, the sandstorm reported in my last blog slowly started to subside.

Some of the first birds to re-appear from shelter were the shrikes.

Turkestan shrike

I have been seeing Turkestan shrike and Daurian shrike all winter. On Thursday one Turkestan shrike was again seen, boldly perching atop pivot wire.

one of the lagoons near Al Hayer

On a bush not far away was a member of the great grey shrike complex. I didn't analyse which sub species this time.

great grey shrike

A woodchat shrike was also in the vicinity. It may have been the same bird I saw last week in another field 350 metres away.

woodchat shrike

However, one of the most noticeable features of Thursday afternoon's birding was not the shrikes. It was the density of hoopoe. I counted seven. Whereas all winter I have been lucky to see one or two in a session. The situation for this bird is complicated. There appear to be a small number of residents, a slightly swollen number in winter and apparently larger numbers still on passage. Thursday must have been a passage day.

hoopoe

One category of bird which was well down on similar days this year was birds of prey. I didn't notice any of the larger ones. I had to make do with two marsh harrier, one sparrowhawk and of course the more numerous kestrel.

kestrel

Whatever the weather or time of year, you are guaranteed to see the resident little green bee-eater at Al Hayer. In addition, it won't be long until the regular passage of blue cheeked bee-eater and European bee-eater heads through. The earliest records from previous observers are March 8th and March 18th respectively.

little green bee-eater

Unusually, herons and egrets weren't very much in evidence. I only saw one grey heron. Apparently there is no evidence of them breeding at Al Hayer unlike purple heron, little bittern, squacco heron, and black crowned night heron for example. I'll need to keep an eye out to see when the grey heron leave.

grey heron

Many of the doves were still keeping low after the sandstorm including the namaqua dove below. I have started to look for turtle dove on passage but I researched last night and found they have been surprisingly uncommon and late. Mid April has been reported as the best time to see any.

namaqua dove

Of the small birds, both house sparrow and graceful prinia were very easy to see.

house sparrow

As I have mentioned before, graceful prinia are very bold at the moment. I put this down to the fact that the central Arabian spring is in the air.

graceful prinia

There is still some time to study the stonechats before they leave. The one below is European but many and probably majority are eastern stonechat according to most observers.

stonechat

The next blog will be a tribute to the winter visitors as they get ready to leave in the coming days and weeks.

Birding in a sandstorm

2012-02-17T18:56:00.002+02:00

I stopped at the new quarry lagoons area near Al Hayer when and where I saw the pied wheatear (see yesterday's blog) for no more than half an hour. The sandstorm made things very difficult and I had a late start anyway.

Nevertheless, there were one or two other birds on show despite the weather. A tame green sandpiper was feeding at the water's edge. They are present all winter but this one allowed close contact. I wonder if this one was on passage? Passage birds like the pied wheatear are often so tired on first landing that they allow closer contact. The green sandpiper was also keen to feed and drink despite everything going on weather-wise. This is another feature of passage birds.

green sandpiper

In the water and so protected from the worst wind, were three ducks oblivious to the weather.

two of three female teal

I have agonised over the identification of these three birds. I only saw them at distance and am not very good with female ducks. I have flirted with mallard but have settled on teal thanks to expert help.

one of two little grebe in the area

Having not seen little grebe for a long while until last weekend, I met up with two more on Thursday. Like the teal they were protected on the water and busily feeding. I think I have said before that some observers believed little grebe was no longer present on Wadi Hanifah. The theory was that the catfish in the river had predated all the young ones. Whereas it appears they have simply moved to a different (more downstream) location.

white wagtail was one the few active passerines

The other birds especially the passerines were reluctant to move unless I walked up close or flushed them by mistake. The collared dove and laughing dove were the most obvious movers when I walked near. They are so jumpy at the moment.

After visiting the lagoons, I moved further downstream which coincided with a lessening of the storm. I'll blog about what I saw, under improved conditions, tomorrow.

Which pied wheatear?

2012-02-16T20:54:00.001+02:00

I went out birding a bit late today for domestic reasons and when I did get out there was a strong, hot sandstorm blowing in from the south west. It made birding very difficult.

Nevertheless I am pleased I made the effort.

Much of the reason I was pleased was down to one bird I saw close to the new quarry lagoons near Al Hayer.

pied wheatear

I came across a pied wheatear. It is recorded as a common passage bird in the Riyadh area in spring but much rarer for an unknown reason in autumn.

After last weekend's sightings I was expecting more passage birds today and I got a few of them including this one.

second view of the pied wheatear

The bird was clearly tired. It allowed very close approach. However it didn't look quite right to me as a typical "common" pied wheatear.

sideways view of the pied wheatear

The sooty grey area on the head is stronger and larger than my understanding of a typical pied wheatear. The buff area on the front is also substantially more than just on the breast area. This left me wondering if it could be a cyprus (pied) wheatear.

from the back

So I posted the pictures on Bird Forum in the bird identification group. So far the 3 respondents who have called it, have all said they think it is a cyprus (pied) wheatear!

Have a look at this link for pictures of the bird on Cyprus.

http://www.pbase.com/dophoto/monachellacipro

If it is a cyprus wheatear, its a big call. They are supposed to winter in Southern Sudan and Ethopia and travel north through Egypt.

However it's entirely possible people haven't birded south west Arabia looking out for it. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't winter in west Yemen and south west Saudi Arabia as well. However even if they do, this one would have to have been blown off course (on its way back north) by the strong south west winds we have been having.

I am waiting on the view of one the world's experts on the related black-eared wheatear, pied wheatear and cyprus wheatear trio of birds.

Even if it turns out to be "just" a pied wheatear, it is a first for me in Saudi Arabia.

Writing for "Focusing on wildlife"

2012-02-14T08:51:00.000+02:00

I was invited a a couple of weeks ago to be one of a team of writers for the Focusing on Wildlife website (www.focusingonwildlife.com). It looks at the latest wildlife news and other topical subjects. Obviously, I thoroughly recommend it.

My first article appeared a week ago and I am reproducing it here. It's on birders in remoter places and their reliance on guidebooks. I hope it is thought provoking.

I can't believe it. The book's wrong again

I was once deep in the Libyan desert visiting a government farm when four common crane flew up out of a field. Not again.

Cranes south of Jalu, Libya

It was just like the Dartford warblers I saw at Yefren reservoir, north-west Libya, weeks before. The trusted book which everyone uses for guidance doesn’t have crane wintering within 800 kilometres of the desert site. The news on the Dartford warbler is better. It’s only supposed to be 200 kilometres way in Tunisia.

These two incidents are part of the beauty of working and birding in places very few birders reach. There are simply many more and varied birds than the books present.

I could catalogue many more examples of my Libyan experience but I won’t. Instead, I’ll share with you how it’s happening again in Saudi Arabia where I now bird watch. But first a little context is called for.

I am now working in Riyadh. The birding locally is surprisingly good. The residential compounds in the city and the farming districts of Kharj and Dirab are within easy driving distance. However, the jewel in the crown is the Wadi Hanifah valley with its lush green vegetation and lagoons courtesy of the treated-water “river” from a city of nearly 6 million people. Go to Wadi Hanifah for breeding white-throated kingfisher and four types of breeding heron and bittern, and wintering birds by the bucket load including even a few black stork.

However, it is Riyadh’s central position in the country along with the excellent and cheap domestic flight network that is transforming my birding. You can leave Riyadh on Wednesday evening, which is the start of the weekend, and return on Friday evening with change from 100 quid.

honey buzzard, Najran

Take last weekend when I visited Najran. It’s a city on the eastern and dry slopes of the Asir mountain range and right on the border with Yemen. One mystery bird of prey in the local park turned out to be a honey buzzard. But they winter in Ethiopia and farther south and west of there, don’t they? This is at least 350 kilometres way. Hmm… let’s look at it from the bird’s point of view. He is flying towards Africa on his normal route and he finds a forest, albeit man-made and unnaturally there. However it’s just like the ones he sees in Africa and just as warm. After all, he doesn’t need a Saudi visa or landing permission so he stops there. Why bother to go on. He doesn’t.

Arabian serin, Najran

And then there was an Arabian serin in the same park. Hasn’t he read the book (this time the best seller for the Middle East) that says he doesn’t belong below 1500 metres? So what’s happening and what can we and especially I do about it?

First, as Jem Babbington pointed out in an earlier article on this website, Saudi Arabia is very under-reported. It’s our duty as local birders to report what we see. But will anyone listen? I blog to a small but loyal audience but that’s not enough.

I have been introduced to e-bird as an electronic database of findings. I use it now. Will anyone who writes guides notice the data?

Second, the few tours and scientists who visit Saudi seem to go to the same places each time and I understand their reasons. They are few in number and concentrate on the main chance: the mountainous Abha and the sub-tropical coastal Jizan in the south-west. However, the devil’s advocate in me says it’s like returning to a 1000 piece jigsaw every two years or so and always placing down the same first two pieces.

My next trip will be to Baha, next door to Abha and ironically an anagram of it. It’s nearly as high as Abha too, yet it’s closer to the coast. I predict it will surprise.

Return to Al Waha compound

2012-02-13T07:52:00.000+02:00

Al Waha residential compound was the first place in Riyadh where I saw red-vented bulbul back in October. It also had a varied bird life worth of another call. So on Friday I went back.

red-vented bulbul

Red-vented bulbul is the least common of the three bulbul species found in the Riyadh area. On the previous visit, I had seen only one red-vented bulbul and it was associating with the far more numerous white-cheeked bulbul.

second red-vented bulbul

This time I saw three and two of them were on the same tree. Breeding at Al Waha would not surprise me.

hypocolius

The red-vented bulbul, very helpfully, perched on a tree with no leaves at one stage. At the same moment a single hypocolius was on the same tree.

part of Al Waha compound

The bulbuls were not the only bird which seemed to be pairing off. The resident black bush robin were also in pairs.

two black bush robin

Al Waha has a very high density of collared dove. Riyadh is one of the few places in the world where Eurasian collared dove and African collared dove co-exist in significant numbers for both species.

collared dove

I find it very difficult to separate them. I thought the above bird was African collared dove because I have read that young ones often have a grey head and some grey on the upper breast. I posted this picture on bird forum (as a representative of those seen at Al Waha) and only one person ventured his view on the identification. He also thinks it is an African collared dove.

several collared dove

They had been nesting when I visited in October and I saw one on a nest during this visit too. I wonder if they breed all the time in this environment?

young collared dove

One young bird allowed so close approach that I realised it couldn't fly yet.

lurking kestrel

There were also a small number of laughing dove present in the compound. With all these doves it was no surprise that a kestrel was lurking around ready to pounce.

Other birds including common myna and plenty of house sparrow. There were at least two warblers as well but they kept to the safety of a tree in a private garden that I couldn't approach.

My friends from the compound told me that the hoopoe I had seen on the previous visit was still around but he evaded me this time.

male ornamental jungle fowl

Finally there were two ornamental chickens (or jungle fowl) scratching around near the front gate. There appear to be different breeds. No one in the compound knows where there came from including the management.

female ornamental jungle fowl

Two of the very large compounds near-by keep ornamental birds on their lawns and my guess is that somehow these two have escaped.

Over the years, these compounds are being occupied by more and more exotic birds which have escaped. Red-vented bulbul in the city is almost certain to be in that category.

Field and river, Al Hayer

2012-02-12T09:58:00.001+02:00

Having blogged on passage birds and on birds of prey over the past two days, I still have something left to write about from Thursday's visit to Al Hayer.

The cast of wintering and resident birds also provided good birding.

For a start, I am still finding new resident (or at most short distant migrant) birds. This time I saw my first desert finch in the Wadi Hanifah corridor. I had only seen it in Kharj farming district before.

desert finch

Once again, looking hard at the birds on the pivot cross beams paid dividends.

squacco heron

In another field there was a small flock of squacco heron superficially behaving similarly to have I normally see cattle egret. Indeed in previous weeks I have seen cattle egret in the very same field. The squacco heron were grazing as a loose group. I have just looked up what they eat and it appears that larval insects are an important part of their diet. That would explain their presence in a mature field where insects have had time to grow large in the larval stage.

part of a larger group of squacco heron

At the far end of the field and still easily spooked were the large flock of northern lapwing who have stayed in the area all winter.

northern lapwing

Historical records suggest that the Al Hayer area doesn't receive a flock of northern lapwing every winter but this year a hundred or so have been faithful to the pivot fields.

steppe grey shrike

Every winter there are a number of steppe grey shrike and one of the two main historical observers for the area suggests that they stay all summer too.

painted lady butterfly

After visiting the pivot fields, I moved on to the river side south of there. On the country lane between the two areas, I spied a painted lady butterfly. I understand this butterfly is not native to Saudi Arabia but the newer man-made environments must look attractive.

moorhen

The previous twice I have visited this part of the river, I have seen something new. However every time there is the ubiquitous moorhen.

little grebe

On the two other occasions there have been a selection of ducks, this time I didn't see any but there were a couple of little grebe. I think I mentioned it in a blog sometime ago that there had been fears that the catfish had polished off the resident little grebe population but this looks untrue.

graceful prinia

Once again graceful prinia and bluethroat were evident by voice and sight. The graceful prinia are taking up more exposed poses at the moment and singing strongly, a sure sign that they want to pair off for spring.

citrine wagtail

Further down stream, the river course has been altered recently and the vegetation near the river is much less. There are lots of sand flats. Its starting to attract waders. I saw three green sandpiper and a flock of unknown waders which unfortunately flew off before I could identify them. The problem for me was the lack of cover!

Among the white wagtail in the area was a least one citrine wagtail. This is the second place along wadi hanifah I have seen one this winter. There were also several in a Kharj farm about 40 kilometres south east. Its clearly not that rare a winter visitor.

close up of citrine wagtail

Finally I have to remind myself every now and again that some of the most obvious birds for many first timers along the river are the grey heron and purple heron, usually seen in flight unless you are cautious. Its very easy to get complacent about them.

purple heron

Birds of prey at Al Hayer

2012-02-10T17:18:00.001+02:00

Yesterday at Al Hayer, I saw three birds of prey I have been seeing all winter there and one different one. Of course I got the most pleasure out of the new one.

Once again, as you would expect, kestrel was very much in evidence. I find the best place to see them is on a water pivot.

kestrel

In winter the most common big eagle is greater spotted eagle but steppe eagle is also regularly seen. The reverse seems to be true in the Kharj farming district farther south of Riyadh. There steppe eagle is more common.

greater spotted eagle seen yesterday

The enormous size of this eagle was made clear to me as it dwarfed two brown necked raven which were on the ground near it. I can't believe they were trying to mob it but I have seen a group of them have a go earlier in the winter.

female marsh harrier

In the lagoons area, at least two marsh harrier were plying their trade.

"fox red" steppe buzzard

The surprise for me was the steppe buzzard. It is the first time I have ever seen the fox red morph and it is a beautiful sight. It is so strongly red (not rufous!) I don't I think it is even confusable with rufous long legged buzzard. The latter bird is an uncommon breeder in central Saudi Arabia and which I have only seen at Kharj.

I suppose A Hayer must be seen as my local patch and yet I have never been there without seeing another new bird or sub species.

And the passage is still to come.

The first hint of the spring passage

2012-02-09T17:36:00.000+02:00

I noticed the first signs of the spring passage at Al Hayer pivot fields today.

It all started when I bumped into two of the local wildlife photographers in a different part of wadi hanifah. After exchanging greetings, they showed me a picture of an unknown shrike taken today which I identified as a woodchat shrike.

I asked where they had seen it and they replied "in the farms". Actually I rather stupidly didn't ask them for any more detailed directions.

Nevertheless, on my walk round the fields I came across one, it may have been the one they saw or maybe not!

woodchat shrike

I haven't seen a woodchat shrike all winter unlike a few masked shrike for example so I am assuming this one was a passage bird. It allowed me very close which could easily have been due to tiredness. The books and previous observers in the area also mark it down as a passage bird.

second view of the masked shrike

There were other signs of the passage too. The pivot fields have a much higher density of both Isabelline wheatear and desert wheatear. I know from past experience that Isabelline wheatear are one of the first birds to move back north. However, the gathering of desert wheatear was a new phenomenon for me.

one of today's female desert wheatear

Desert wheatear has the largest black band in the upper tail of any wheatear. I managed to capture a bird in flight which showed this feature.

desert wheatear in flight

Finally one of the clearest signs of the passage was my first sighting of barn swallow in the area since the very beginning of November. Things are going to get hectic very soon.

A wadi on the Khamis road

2012-02-08T10:13:00.000+02:00

The road to Abha out of Najran is long, very steep, rocky and at least for the first hour out of town - dry and brown.

I took a detour from my birding in the Najran valley to travel up the hills on this road, often called the Khamis road.

I was travelling in a minibus actually provided by my company but it couldn't make it to the top of the hills. So we had to make a makeshift decision. I birded the first decent wadi we came to.

blackstart

At 1500 metres the landscape on the eastern slopes is in stark contrast to what I have been told the western and seaward slopes of the Asir range at this latitude look like.

Some birds still manage to make a living though. Two or three blackstart were seen around the wadi. I have seen a few now which have seemingly random buff areas on them. The one photographed above has one on its face. I assume they are stains.

A flock of yellow vented bulbul call the wadi home too. It really is a hardy species in western Saudi Arabia.

view of the wadi

Otherwise the most common species was actually desert lark. I have never thought of this bird as a bird of wadis before but maybe it is in relatively dry places.

two desert lark

There was not much sign of any rust colour on the tails of these desert lark. The landscape seemed to be mostly basalt and I wonder if the local sub species has adapted colours to blend in better.

house sparrow

Finally the other bird seen on this brief stop over was the ubiquitous house sparrow. There was only one house close-by but that's enough for house sparrow to make a base.

Tomorrow I will be going to my local patch near Al Hayer near Riyadh. Is it too much to expect the first passage birds to have arrived?

River bed at Najran

2012-02-07T08:41:00.000+02:00

Part of the plan while in Najran was to visit the dam which although unlikely to have had much water at this time of year, has a small park.

However as is often the case in this part of the world my guide didn't remember or know that it was only open from 9 until 11 in the morning, and it was 2.30 in the afternoon! Not to worry, we stopped off at the river bed just downstream of the dam instead.

yellow vented bulbul

What struck me immediately was how wide the river valley is. It certainly looked like, at some time in the year, it holds a mighty river. However in early February I think we were lucky there was even a trickle. Most of the rain, which incidentally falls on the mountain tops not on the eastern side, is in early summer. This area actually catches the very edge of the so called "Indian" monsoon.

What ever rain is channelled down here is enough to allow verdant vegetation in the wide and shallow river valley all year round. The bushes and trees were thronging with the sound of yellow vented bulbul and graceful prinia.

the river bed

However close to the river there was a different habitat and a different set of birds - not much vegetation but plenty of mud flats.

wood sandpiper

This helped me boost my list of Najran bird species by two. All down the trickle of a river were small numbers of wood sandpiper and green sandpiper.

green sandpiper

The odd white wagtail made an appearance too.

white wagtail

Meanwhile back on drier land among the trees, I spotted a couple of Isabelline shrike. This is obviously another place, along with Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia where they winter. The Collins guide to birds of Britain and Europe maps them as passage only. This is another victim of under-reporting in the Kingdom.

Lots of little green bee-eater were in the trees too.

Isabelline shrike

More prosaically there were plenty of crested lark on the ground. Most were in pairs so the breeding season can't be far way.

crested lark

The valley housed other fauna too. I came across a lizard which I can't identify despite researching and a butterfly which I can.

Saudi lizard

The butterfly is a plain tiger. It is a relative of the monarch butterfly which my American readers will know. Apparently the plain tiger is only found on the wing in Arabia between October and April. In the summer months the butterfly is literally cocooned.

Plain tiger butterfly

Finally I can't finish the blog without re-assuring people that there are indeed plenty of camels in Najran. However I think that just as many end up as food as beasts of burden.

dark camels

Farms of Najran

2012-02-06T07:39:00.001+02:00

I spent two sessions walking around some farms in Najran. It should have been easy as they can be reached by walking out of my hotel straight onto a country lane. However the second session, on Friday morning was complicated by a very thick sand storm which cut visibility down. It also made photography difficult. You can probably tell which shots were taken on Friday by the quality!

Nevertheless the birding was seriously good.

African silverbill next to the hotel

Straight out of the hotel and turning right, I had to walk barely 20 metres to come across a flock of African silverbill.

forts in the sand storm

The silverbills were there on Thursday when the weather was good, at dusk and on Friday when the dust storm brewed. I wondered if they ever move far.

Talking of the dusk storm, on Firday morning it was serious. Most people stayed in doors. Those who ventured out wore masks. My birding was probably a bit foolish but I continued anyway!

laughing dove

In the farming areas, there are very large numbers of laughing dove almost everywhere. However, I said in the previous blog, I failed to see even one African collared dove!

Namaqua dove

In the sandstorm, I managed to pick out a few Namaqua dove though.

a couple of common myna

Another bird which didn't seem frightened by the sand was common myna. They may officially be a pest but they have lots of character.

little green bee-eater

Just like in the Riyadh area, little green bee-eater is common in the greener places.

Rose ringed parakeet

In Riyadh we also get rose ringed parakeet but only in the artificial parks and residential compounds. However in Najran it is widespread in natural and man-made habitats. I saw it everywhere almost I looked.

Hoopoe

The only other medium and large sized birds I saw on the farms were pigeon, a couple of hoopoe and a small flock of cattle egret flying overhead. There was also one noisy kestrel.

Otherwise the farms belonged to the passerines. If you were attentive, especially required in a sand storm, there was plenty to see.

Crested lark

The melancholic sound of crested lark was commonplace and once heard easy to see.

Graceful prinia

However the prizes for the most common birds went to house sparrow and graceful prinia. The latter bird was so common even I managed to get a good photograph of them on several occasions.

chiffchaff

Apart from graceful prinia the other warbler I saw was a wintering chiffchaff. He allowed me close access and seemed very reluctant to leave his tree. The sand must have been more daunting than me.

palestine sunbird

Two types of sunbird reminded me that I was in an exotic place. Palestine sunbird was the more common but I did come across one male Nile Valley sunbird and it was in eclipse plumage.

Nile valley sunbird

I found this most interesting because my first edition of Helms guide to Birds of the Middle East says both are in summer plumage from December until July. Yet, in Najran at least, I can clearly see that one (Palestine sunbird) moves into summer plumage ahead of the other (Nile Valley sunbird).

female Ruppells weaver

The one or two tourist web pages I have found for Najran while researching this trip had all shown Ruppells weaver's nests. I suppose this gave me an impression there would be hundreds of them around such is the power of advertising. However they were certainly outnumbered by house sparrow, yellow vented bulbul and graceful prinia.

male Ruppells weaver

Some fields contained many white wagtail but it's a mystery to me why I didn't see any pipits or any yellow wagtail. If the farms at Kharj (south of Riyadh) have small numbers of yellow wagtail in winter I thought that Najran being much further south would certainly have them. I am sure they must have been around somewhere but not where I visited.

I did see a few members of the chat family. There were a small number of both male and female stonechat. Both resident and wintering birds are known in South West Saudi Arabia. I didn't study them well enough to decide which I had seen.

stonechat

One winter chat which I did discover the sub species of was a beautiful male semi-rufus black redstart. Unfortunately it evaded my camera.

Isabelline wheatear

One of the last birds I met before heading off to the airport was a wheatear. I am confident it is an Isabelline wheatear but tried very hard to convince myself it was the similar looking red-breasted wheatear. Both stand bolt upright and have similar colouration. However red-breasted wheatear has adarker crown and a more distinct supercilium. Furthermore, according to books, it's not supposed to come down to 1200 metres (Najran's altitude).

Nevertheless the last bird I saw before I finished was a second Arabian serin of the trip. Its also not meant to come down this low but as yesterday's blog testifies with a picture, it does.

The surprises at King Fahd Park, Najran

2012-02-05T08:22:00.000+02:00

First, a big thanks to the experts on Bird Forum who helped yesterday with the identification of a couple of birds featured in today's blog.

I visited Najran in South West Saudi Arabia on the eastern (and dry) slopes of the Asir mountain range. It's in a fertile valley fed by dammed rain water in the rainy season and from underground aquifers most of the time.

It's a farming district but this blog is about King Fahd Park and Forest which was grown for recreational purposes. A forest below the normal tree line is unnaturally there. However it provides a habitat and eco-system akin to sub Saharan African forest.

honey buzzard

This unusual habitat might explain the presence of a second cycle wintering honey buzzard! This is one of the birds identified in Bird Forum yesterday. Honey Buzzard like forest and warmth in winter. This place gives them both. Its also 300 kilometres north east of the received wisdom on where you can start to find them in winter (in north East Africa southward).

part of the forest

There was a second bird of prey in the forest too. However despite the best endeavours, there was no consensus on Bird Forum as to what it was. This is primarily because I only had one poor quality picture.

unidentified bird of prey

The bird has been narrowed down to a crested honey buzzard, short toed eagle or even another honey buzzard. We will never know.

Arabian babbler

Before I saw either bird of prey, my first bird on being dropped off to visit the area was an Arabian babbler or more precisely a group of babblers. Although this is a strictly Middle Eastern bird having babblers around adds to the African feel to the place.

yellow vented bulbul

Of course there is no escaping the more mundane birds too. Plenty of yellow vented bulbul and house sparrow to break any momentary silence.

laughing dove

One of the strange things was not the presence of laughing dove but the absence of African collared dove. I failed to see any in Najran at all. It was one bird I would have thought guaranteed.

black bush robin

Black bush robin were just as common as in the Riyadh area. I kept a look out for rufous bush robin but I didn't see any. My hunch is still that they are around somewhere.

palestine sunbird

There were two lifers for me in the park. The first was a palestine sunbird which I later discovered is common throughout Najran. The second was Arabian serin which I reported on in yesterday's blog.

Arabian serin

I saw surprisingly few Ruppells weaver but they were in the park nevertheless.

Ruppells weaver

Finally, there were two birds of note which I failed to photograph. Rose ringed parakeet was present in large numbers screaming as they flew around. A masked shrike was also seen. It winters in small numbers in the Riyadh area and it looks like it winters in Najran too. This is another indication of the under-representation of Saudi Arabia as a wintering ground in the text books.

The next blog looks at the farms of Najran and their birds.

Arabian serin at Najran

2012-02-04T06:49:00.001+02:00

I have just spent the Saudi weekend in Najran, South West Saudi Arabia. I am very happy with the birding despite a sandstorm on the second day! I saw over 50 species and at least 2 were lifers for me.

Najran is on the Yemen border. Its 125 kilometres from the sea but has the Asir mountain range between them. It's actually on the eastern slopes of the range. Many of the birds have more in common with East Africa than anywhere else though it is close to areas where there are known to Arabian endemics.

Its under-birded.

I will blog my findings, hopefully starting with King Fahd park and forest, Najran. However I have posted two birds of prey I saw there on bird forum for identification. In the meanwhile. Here is a taste.

Arabian serin in King Fahd park

This bird was singing its heart out and immediately reminded me of my days in Tripoli, Libya where in spring European serin would sing outside my bedroom window.

It's like a monochrome version of all the brightly coloured serin we have seen.

My first edition of Helms guide says Arabian serin is found above 1500 metres in the area. This one was at 1200 metres. Someone forgot to tell him what the book says. Seriously though either it disperses downwards a bit in winter or no one has looked for it in Narjan. It wasn't a fluke either. I saw and heard another in a bush next to my hotel the next morning.

Hopefully I'll be able to post more on the trip tomorrow depending on the bird identifications being completed.

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.