Slow motion migration

The migration seems to be in slow motion in the Riyadh this spring and its because of the much wetter and cooler weather in the area than is typical. For example we another thunderstorm last night and temperatures today are 8C below the seasonal norm.

On my walk to work through the small university farm, probably as a result of this weather, I am seeing birds which I would have expected to be in their breeding grounds still around. There is also a high density of warblers which are still arriving and less have moved on.

white throated robin

Yesterday I saw a white throated robin and heard and saw a singing (!) common nightingale They don't often sing here but this one obviously flt comfortable. I thought I had seen the last of both species this spring but I was wrong.

lesser grey shrike

Despite the large number of passage birds, over the past few days since I last mentioned the walk I have only seen two new ones on the patch. These are lesser grey shrike and eastern olivaceous warbler.

two of the five lesser grey shrike on my walk this morning

Indeed there were five lesser grey shrike around this morning alongside three red backed shrike and a woodchat shrike.

Eastern olivaceous warbler on the farm

I find that eastern olivaceous warbler and the related Upcher's warbler have two distinct poses. There can be quite hunched and look quite fat (above) but also they have this ability to stretch and then they look quite elongated (below).  The two pictures are of the same bird.

second view of eastern olivaceous warbler

There was an Upcher's warbler on the farm yesterday too.

Upcher's warbler

Among the warblers, I have been noticing a preponderance of female common whitethroat whereas earlier in the month they had been male. However I have checked research on sylvia migration. As far as I can see no one has reported  any gender differences for migration time (unlike for wheatears and buntings for example). Indeed work on blackcaps has specifically stated that there are no timing differences.

female common whitethroat

There are lots of willow warbler about and one or two chiffchaff too.

female common whitethroat

Once again I have still been seeing whinchat.

whinchat

Of course, there are waves contining waves of European bee-eater "visiting" the bee research centre and gorging themselves.

European bee-eater

Tonight I am flying to Abha. It will be cooler than Riyadh but it looks like the weather will hold and the birding conditions should be good.

The shrikes of Hofuf

There were four different types of shrike at Hofuf marshes. The most pleasing for me were two lesser grey shrike. 

lesser grey shrike

It is known as a scarce but regular passage migrant in Saudi Arabia. It is also a late migrant in spring. The good news for me is that these two were the first ones I had seen in Saudi Arabia.

second view of lesser grey shrike

All the shrikes were occupying the zone between the reeds and the steppe-like area (see below). There were scattered bushes especially Tamarisk which are ideal for shrike. The insect population was high too as the bites on my arms will testify.

view inland from the lake

A second shrike was red-backed shrike. This was only my second in Saudi Arabia. It is much more common than lesser grey shrike apparently but like that shrike it is a late migrant so the bulk of the birds are expected to pass through in the next two weeks or so.

red-backed shrike

Once again the most common shrike, as they have been since late September, was the two red-tailed shrike, Turkestan shrike and Daurian shrike.

Turkestan shrike at Hofuf marshes

I didn't see any woodchat shrike (the earliest passage shrike) or masked shrike (the second earliest, though a very small number actually winter in central Arabia). I had thought they had left the region but I read Jem's blog yesterday from the east coast (www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com). He saw one of each at a place only 150 kilometres east of where I was birding.

Tomorrow I will blog about the birds with affinity to water found at Hofuf marshes. 

Suddenly they are all here

Apologies for the lateness of this blog. Google blogger made some emergency maintenance on their worldwide system which took all day and which lost my draft. Can't complain really since the service is free!


I was really keen to blog quickly as well. This is because I was excited at what I saw when I walked from my village of Klimentovo to the next one of General Kandardjievo yesterday. I also walked back! a total of 9 kilometres. The weather was fine, the light was excellent for spotting birds, for their activity and for photos, and what's more I got some much needed exercise. 


You may recall in a previous blog that I was surprised to see woodchat shrike but hadn't seen red-backed shrike or lesser grey shrike which are supposed to be more common in my area.

red backed shrike seen near General Kandardjievo

Well that soon changed as on my journey I saw both red-backed shrike and lesser grey shrike. These were my first sightings this summer of both birds.

lesser grey shrike near General Kanardjievo

Not to be out done I also saw another pair of woodchat shrike although the photo below was taken two days before in another area some 30 kilometres west of my village near a private lake. It's fairly obvious to me that the bird is a lot more common in my general area than the maps in major bird books give credit.

woodchat shrike taken two days earlier near Vaglen

Of course many of the birds I had seen before on this walk were still about. The noise of the local corn bunting and skylark was almost deafening. Barn swallow and swift were darting all around. House sparrow and great tit were in the trees which form an avenue along the road. Nightingale and ortolan bunting were in the small woodland  on the edge of General Kandardjievo village. Jay and magpie were in another woodland on the edge of my own village.


However it was two waves of migrants which caught my eye. I was really pleased to see six roller on wires and on trees slowly drifting north. These were my first roller of the summer too.

roller near General Kandardjievo

It seems that Thursday 12th May was the day when suddenly most of the summer birds were back.

two roller near General Kandardjievo

There were also more bee-eater. I saw two waves resting on the avenue of trees along the road once on my way out and another flock on my way back hours later.

this tree held about 12 bee-eaters (not all on camera)

As far as possible I try to vary the birds I show each time I blog. I have shown whitethroat before but the light was so good yesterday I got a better snaps. One is shown below.

whitethroat in small wood on the edge of General Kanardjievo

There is good news about the weather forecast. It looks like the bad weather is now behind us -all the better for birding.