Up and down Wadi Rabigh

Wadi Rabigh is one of the relatively few places in Saudi Arabia with permanent fresh water. It's been known to the small Saudi-based birding community for many years.

However it has recently undergone significant change as a new dam has been built upstream. There is now less water and greenery downstream though there are still some pockets of permanent water and associated wetland.

black crowned night heron at the dam

Brian James and I visited the dam itself on Thursday afternoon and then moved downstream towards the small pockets of wetland.

It's obvious that the amount of water contained in the new lake behind the dam is huge.  What we don't know is what the back waters look like. Are they rocky or is there a hinterland wetland?  Google earth doesn't help as its map is for the area is out of date and we don't now how to access the area using any other tool. However, it is an intriguing prospect because if there is vegetation at the back the birding would be very good indeed.

Wadi Rabigh dam

At the dam itself, we saw only five species. These included a flock of about 32 garganey swimming in the middle of the lake. The others were a few little grebe, a single black crowned night heron perched on a pipe, a couple of European bee-eater and some white winged black tern. However, this paucity of species tells us nothing about the back waters.

a close group of garganey

Moving down the wadi was not a bad experience that I feared!

We didn't spend long in the acacias on either side of the valley though birds such as little green bee-eater and white spectacled bulbul were much in evidence there. Instead we concentrated on the pockets of wetland.

adult female honey buzzard

There was a small passage of birds of prey seeming to consist mostly of honey buzzard and steppe buzzard. The former seemed to be attracted to water to drink.

Two honey buzzard dropped down and drink about 50 metres from each other. One was an adult female while the other was an immature. 

immature honey buzzard

As I understand it, male birds have dark orangey-yellow eyes whereas females and immatures have yellow eyes. Furthermore, immatures have barred fronts so I have identified the two birds using those features.

yellow billed kite

At the time Brian and I assumed the small number of kites in the air were migrants from the north too. Indeed in previous winters the population of black kite near Rabigh can build up to well over 1000. However on returning home and looking closely at the pictures it is apparent these birds were yellow billed kite. 

They don't come from the north and its quite possible there is small resident population which is dwarfed in winter and not noticed.

black crowned sparrow lark

Apart from the ubiquitous (for this time of year on Saudi wetlands) yellow wagtail, other birds included three types of lark: black crowned sparrow lark, crested lark and greater short toed lark.

greater short toed lark

The full list of birds from here and elsewhere on my trip to Thuwal will be given in the next blog.

On the way back to Thuwal we passed a wheatear which caused me a few identification problems but is now clearly a first year black eared wheatear. The white fringes are only seen on young birds.

first winter black eared wheatear

The final blog in the series will recount what we did either side of midday on Friday with the temperature reaching 43C. We actually saw many and varied birds in quite a lucky but clever way.

Rabigh waste water wetlands

Late morning on Thursday and mid morning on Friday, Brian James and I visited Rabigh waste water wetland.

The time of day may have been important because on Thursday we saw many birds of prey but on Friday we saw very few.  The hotter air temperatures towards midday could have explained the arrival of Thursday's birds of prey. Alternatively there just may have been a bigger passage in the area that day anyway.

immature honey buzzard

Either way, on Thursday we observed no less than eight types of raptors and we spent most of our time there looking at these.

sideways view of an immature honey buzzard

At least three honey buzzard dropped down to drink. One was an immature bird (pictured above).

adult male honey buzzard

Another was an adult male which took flight before we could approach it (see above). 

juvenile Montagu's harrier

Montagu's harrier, pallid harrier and marsh harrier were around. Indeed we saw adult representatives of both sexes for marsh harrier and pallid harrier such was the variety.

second view of juvenile Montagu's harrier

An immature steppe eagle flew over and at least one young greater spotted eagle landed.

immature greater spotted eagle

Both steppe buzzard (at least two) and long legged buzzard landed too. Only the latter bird could be a local resident. All the others must be passage birds.

glossy ibis

The wetland on Thursday was productive for other larger birds too. A bold glossy ibis had no fears even though there were (sadly) hunters around.

juvenile European roller

A juvenile European roller was seen resting on an apple of sodom bush. I noted the much browner head and upper breast compared with an adult.

On Thursday, I also noticed many ruff, plenty of barn swallow, a few sand martin and a couple of little stint though very little attention was given to other birds.

juvenile common cuckoo

Friday was different we arrived two hours earlier and saw very few birds of prey even though one of the first birds met was a smart male pallid harrier. At the same time we came across a first year common cuckoo.

cuckoo showing white nape patch 

The white nape patch marks it down as a first year though the adults will have moved through on passage  about a month ago

departing cuckoo 

Without the birds of prey, we settled down to looking more closely to the other birds. The waders in the one small lake included black winged stilt as well as ruff and little stint seen in other parts of the wetland the day before. However we didn't linger around the lake mostly because it was near where the workmen were disposing of the waste water.

Cretzschmer's bunting

Two Cretzschmer's bunting were seen. One was adult and the other a first year.

Greater short toed lark

Around the edge of the wetland were both greater short toed lark and crested lark.

two tawny pipit

There were two types of pipit too. Both tawny pipit and tree pipit were observed but perhaps surprisingly we didn't encounter any red-throated pipit.

European reed warbler

In the long grass were a group of at least three European reed warbler and another unidentified warbler. 

whinchat

A whinchat was also present close to the warblers.

lesser grey shrike

Red backed shrike, lesser grey shrike and Daurian shrike were also there.

yellow wagtail

Yellow wagtail are everywhere I go at the moment which has any greenery. This wetland was certainly no exception.

a group of African silverbill at the wetland

African silverbill were numerous. I have missed several birds out but a full list of birds seen will be posted in the fourth blog of the series on this trip.

two demoiselle crane

Towards the time we were going to leave the wetland, two interesting sets of birds flew over. Brian spotted two demoiselle crane flying over. His observations and records over the years prove that the Thuwal and Rabigh areas are definitely on the main flyway for this bird. A flock of chestnut bellied sandgrouse were the second interesting group.

The next blog is the third in the series on my western trip. It covers our visit to Wadi Rabigh which is one of the relatively few places in Saudi Arabia with permanent fresh water.

Honey buzzard at al Hayer

There are a small number of very accomplished wildlife photographers who can often be seen in the al Hayer area south of Riyadh over the weekends.


I met up with one, Ahmed Al Kassim last Thursday. We compared notes and he showed me some pictures he had taken earlier in the day.

honey buzzard at al Hayer

One bird he photographed that morning before we met up intrigued me. It was of a honey buzzard taken at some distance and yet his photography brings out its features very well.I have taken the liberty of cropping it and showing it above (with permission).

I sent the picture to BirdForum for identification. The general consensus is that it is most probably a honey buzzard rather than an oriental honey buzzard.

This is very interesting because although both types are seen on the Saudi coasts mainly in passage times, the two main historical recorders never saw either inland near Riyadh.

This record should be seen in conjunction with my sighting of a probable oriental honey buzzard when I visited Najran in the south west of Saudi Arabia at the beginning of February.

oriental honey buzzard at Najran

I was lucky enough to get very close to that bird and even my camera work (with a camera since superseded) got good photos!

Clearly the story of the status of honey buzzard and oriental honey buzzard in Saudi Arabia is still not totally clear. Ahmed has shed a light more light on the situation.

Incidentally I strongly recommend visiting Ahmed Al Kassim's flickr site. There are currently 73 bird pictures mostly taken in the Riyadh area with some superb shots.

The URL is http://www.flickr.com/photos/aseel/   My favourites are of bluethroat and white throated kingfisher but you may have your own. Take a look!