The lake is receding

The lake near Riyadh cricket ground used to have a very large mass of water but it is now receding despite big rains three weeks ago.

Like most water bodies outside the western mountains its existence is heavily dependent on man.

In this case the water is at the bottom of a deep gravel pit. A waste water stream came from the industrial city to a flat area to create a marsh. The water from the marsh would seep through the rocks and earth until it reached the lake. However the waste water stream was stooped about 9 months ago and the rocks have dried out. The lake will surely disappear next year after the winter rains have gone.

In the meantime, it still houses resident European coot, moorhen, little grebe, and ferruginous duck as seen on Friday by me and birding friend Bernard Bracken.

Hunters were about and ominously only one ferruginous duck was seen this time and no mallard unlike on previous occasions.

coots

Spur winged lapwing and black winged stilt were the other water birds seen.

blackstart

We spent proportionately  longer than usual looking at the hinterland rather than the lake itself because of the lack of diversity in the lake.

The was the first time that I had spotted a blackstart there.

Eastern mourning wheatear

The only wheatear was a single wintering Eastern mourning wheatear which are common around Riyadh at this time of year.

white spectacled bulbul

This was the first time I have seen a white spectacled bulbul on the east side of the city. I think it was alone as it was spending a lot of time with the local white eared bulbul.

white eared bulbul

Riyadh is still one of the few places where the range of these two species overlap though the relentless march of the white eared bulbul west will change that soon.

female type Siberian stonechat

I have learned to look closely at all wintering stonechat that I see in Saudi Arabia. The large majority in the Riyadh area are Siberian stonechat. This one at the lake appears to be one too. The hint of an eyebrow more typical of Siberian stonechat and from behind the rump looks pale and plain too.

rear of the Siberian stonechat

Two other birds of note were a pair of desert lark and a male blue rock thrush which I failed to photograph.

desert lark

Birds with an affinity for water have to be very adaptive in Saudi Arabia but for every water source which is in decline (like this lake) another one springs up somewhere else. So I am not despondent. 

After visiting the lake Bernard and I went on to Al Hayer. Al Hayer suffers from re-landscaping very regularly but  is essentially as near to a permanent water source as there is in the Riyadh area. 

Al Ghat

Riyadh is on a plateau at about 600 metres. If you travel north, north west or north east the plateau drops 200 metres down an escarpment. Along the bottom there is a farming area stretching over 100 kilometres. 

When Bernard Bracken and I visited Buraidah on Friday we went down the escarpment at al Ghat. However we briefly birded the area at the top on the way out and the bottom on the way back.

On the way out at the top we came across two eagles sitting about 30 metres apart near the main road.

steppe eagle

By habitat and time of year my first reaction was steppe eagle. However the gape was short on both eagles and the second bird was very light coloured.

second steppe eagle

Apparently the gape can be short especially with orientalis sub species sometimes called western steppe eagle. 

However the nostril is always peanut shaped and so the first bird is certainly a steppe eagle after all.

The second lighter bird was photographed further away so the nostril shape isn't clear but is probably a steppe eagle by shape and built.

Thanks are due to Tom Conzemi for his analysis.

Greater spotted eagle would be darker anyway though the rarer (in these parts) lesser spotted eagle was a possibility I considered.

white wagtail at al Ghat

A service station at the top of the escarpment provided the other venue near Al Ghat on the way out. Here a waste water pool and reed beds acted as magnet for some birds.  We saw collared dove, laughing dove, house sparrow, a common redstart, white wagtail and an Eastern mourning wheatear at this spot. The common redstart was not the only late passage bird seen on Friday as my next blog will tell.

On the way back from Buraidah we had about 25 minutes birding a farm with a cut fodder field, some palms and low scrub. 

male blue rock thrush

Being just under the shadow of the escarpment, the sighting of a blue rock thrush was no real surprise though it was next to a field rather than up a hill side.

Asian grey shrike (aucheri)

An aucheri Asian grey shrike was close by. In such a small patch there was quite diversity of species.

Indian silverbill

A flock of Indian silverbill were in nearby low reeds. House sparrow were in the bushes.

Siberian stonechat

Two Siberian stonechat were on raised stalks.

crested lark in front of Eastern mourning wheatear

No less than three Eastern mourning wheatear were crowded in some scrub land and seemingly tolerating each other though not a desert wheatear which was chased off. We think they were attracted and sustained by flies on four animal carcasses.  

Eastern mourning wheatear

The main field itself held crested lark, collared dove, laughing dove and a small number of bimaculated lark which made a short appearance at the edge helping my identification of it.This is only the second time I have seen it in Saudi Arabia where it winters in the northern third of the country. The other place I have seen the species was at Zulfi which is only about 35 kilometres away.

white cheeked bulbul

Other birds there were white-cheeked bulbul mostly in the palms, chiffchaff in the Tamarisk bushes and graceful prinia in all types of low bush.

The location and habitat as well as the variety of species observed in such a short time leads me to conclude this area is worth a more serious look rather than a short stop on a longer journey.

The next blog looks at what was seen at our main destination: Buraidah.

Round up of recent walks to work

In between the excellent birding at weekends and holidays I have been having recently, I have also been to work.

This blog is a round-up of birding while walking to and from work in late October and the beginning of November.

I walk past or through a small experimental farm which incidentally is slowly being closed down. Next to it is a small temporary holding lake for water being removed form the ground.

First I can say that passage activity has virtually finished. I saw three blue-cheeked bee-eater land on a tall tree on November 3rd. Before that the last of the immature migrant wheatears was seen on October 24th.

Blue-cheeked bee-eater

The sad thing is the farm wont be there to support the spring passage. Having spoken to a researcher there it is being relocated and to a place not on my walking route. I suspect all the trees will go and some have gone already.

juvenile pied wheatear 

At the moment there is still plenty of bushes and greenery to attract birds and I will enjoy while it lasts.

Turkestan shrike

Now its the turn of wintering birds to take the spotlight. Both Turkestan shrike and Daurian shrike winter in central Arabia with some travelling on as far as East Africa. The bird above as been around the farm garden long enough to convince me it is a winterer. 

Juvenile and female red-tailed shrike are very difficult to tell apart. Turkestan shrike tend to have warmer upper-parts and colder underparts. Their tails tend to be darker at the end and lighter towards the rump.

eastern mourning wheatear

Another bird which has stayed around for over two weeks and will almost certainly winter is an Eastern Mourning Wheatear. The wintering birds in the centre and east of Saudi Arabia come from Iraq and Iran. In the west of the country there are fewer Eastern Mourning Wheatear which come south from the near-east and they travel less far too. 

green sandpiper

In the holding lake, a single green sandpiper has been seen for over 5 weeks now and is probably the same bird.

white wagtail

In recent days one or two white wagtail have been seen there too. 

black winged stilt

Two black winged stilt have been with the green sandpiper most of the time. They left when the water level went low on a couple of occasions. 

four of the black winged stilt

However recently the water has been continuous and the number of black-winged stilt have multiplied. There have been six present all week.

pale crag martin

There are no longer any migrant barn swallow hawking for insects over the lake. This is left to the resident little green-bee-eater and pale crag martin.

little green bee-eater

Crested lark are occasional visitors to the lake too. 

crested lark

Two more resident birds which caught my eye over the past two weeks are the hoopoe and Indian silverbill.

hoopoe

I can go many days without seeing either but the silverbill in particular have been prominent recently.

Indian silverbill

I'll continue to give occasional updates on the walk if any changes happen.

A wave of wheatears

Even though I have been seeing plenty of wheatears on my visits to the west and east coasts this autumn, relatively few have been seen in the Riyadh area. This is in stark contrast with spring.

However over the past few days this has suddenly changed and it has coincided with cooler temperatures here. 

I am still visiting the university farm despite its apparently slow dismantlement and its here I have observed the wheatears walking to and from work.

Eastern mourning wheatear

The easiest wheatear to identify has been this Eastern mourning wheatear. It is the first sighting this season and its not a passage bird because it winters in this area and not much further south.

sideways profile of eastern mourning wheatear

The other wheatears have been much more problematic. But thanks to BirdForum I have fairly definitive conclusions. 

first year black-eared wheatear

The first one, above and below, is a young black-eared wheatear almost certainly pale throated. 

first year black-eared wheatear standing upright

Likewise a second bird seen two days later is the same species and morph. It is conceivably the exact same bird.

another first year bird two days later

Other wheatears have been young pied wheatear. I know what adult female pied wheatear look like and there are close similarities.

first year pied wheatear

Indeed I believe this particular first year bird is also female.

second look at pied wheatear

Separating young dark throated black-eared wheatear from pied wheatear is the most difficult but I have had one dark throated black-eared wheatear come through as well (not shown).

spotted flycatcher

As I said in a previous blog, until this wave of wheatears the passage had almost dried up at the farm. Nevertheless there has been other limited passage activity to report. This includes another spotted flycatcher. They have been seen on and off for nearly two months now.

spotted flycatcher moves onto a post

Two evenings ago I spotted three tree pipit but they must have moved on quickly because they were nowhere to be seen the next day.

Tree pipit on a post

This is another species which has been visiting for a while. The first one was here about a month ago.

Tree pipit on ground

I am on a short trip to Ethiopia soon followed by a visit to Tabuk in the north of the country. The latter visit is all birding whereas the trip to Ethiopia is not. In the meantime I may have time today for some local observations. Let's see what all this brings.