First mallard and other good birds

Last Saturday I went to the waste water site north of Nouakchott once again. It is now my most regular site and it has been a long time since I have failed to see at least forty species there.

Saturday was no exception. Once again it provided an addition to my Mauritanian list too.

This time it was a mallard.

mallard swimming

Mallard is extremely uncommon south of the Sahara in West Africa. Records in Mauritania have been restricted to autumn in Nouadhibou and Banc d'Arguin and winter in the Senegal River delta. It is a vagrant elsewhere in West Africa.

mallard resting

It was not the only duck at the main water area. There were three northern pintail and about 15 common teal. 

The mallard, however, was not mixing with them. It was actually less timid and stayed long after the other ducks had taken to the air. 

northern pintail

For the first couple of hours at the site, the weather was very dusty and visibility was very poor. However I could see, through the haze, that one of the northern pintail was more reluctant to fly than the others. I wonder if it was ill or just had a different temperament. 

Before concentrating on the ducks, I spent time observing the waders.

kentish plover

Kentish plover was the most numerous wader for the first time since parts of last winter.

thin dunlin

One dunlin caused me identification headaches. It was thinner than usual and made me consider curlew sandpiper. However it didn't have long legs and the supercilium was weak. Furthermore it's bill wasn't exceptionally long. 

ruff

Ruff were present once again.

litte ringed plover

Little ringed plover is much rarer at the site than common ringed plover. This time two of the former and around ten of the later were observed.

ringed plover

I don't recall seeing any gulls at the site before. A black-headed gull arrived and left within five minutes.

black-headed gull

White wagtail will be around all winter. I haven't seen any yellow wagtail here recently but pipits are still coming and going.

red-throated pipit

I saw one red-throated pipit and two tree pipit which was exactly the same count as two weeks ago. i doubt they were the same birds though.

three blue-cheeked bee-eater

Another similarity with two weeks ago was a wave of blue-cheeked bee-eater coming through on passage. When they passed through, I was left with the same count of around six blue-cheeked bee-eater which have been local since the summer.

namaqua dove

No turtle dove seem to be left from the autumn migration. The only doves seen this time were laughing dove and Namaqua dove.

whinchat

The diversity of passerines was still high. A rather battered looking whinchat was found.

northern wheatear

Both black-eared wheatear and northern wheatear were on site. One beautiful male black-eared wheatear escaped my camera sadly.

The mix of warblers has been constantly changing all autumn. No garden warbler or willow warbler were seen this time.

It has reached the stage of the year where most warbler species now seen are those which can stay all winter.

There were many common chiffchaff. Some birds were almost certainly Iberian chiffchaff. 

Concernig the latter species, it now appears that it does winter in south west Mauritania as confirmed in the Atlas of Mauritanian birds and contrary to other sources which say this happens only in northern Senegal and Northern Mali. 

Iberian chiffchaff 1

The bird in this two pictures is believed to be an Iberian chiffchaff as identified by two Spain based birders. 

The leg colour is intermediate between a typical common chiffchaff and typical willow warbler as is the primary projection. Plumage colours and facial pattern are good for Iberian chiffchaff too.

Iberian chiffchaff

One or two European reed warbler still remain. However the second most common warbler at the moment is now blackcap.

blackcap 1

It is easy to see this species out in the open though they are a little more cautious than the two types of chiffchaff.

blackcap2

While looking at the warblers in one spot with low bushes near mud and shallow water, a very young Fulvous babbler appeared briefly. I have little doubt that the species breeds at the site and probably inside the thick bushes at that spot.

young Fulvous babbler 1

This bird looked like a fledgling.

young fulvous babbler 2

As always I went back towards the car under the canopy of the avenue of trees. Here I saw European pied flycatcher and several common redstart. There was also a sub-alpine warbler and one sardinian warbler. 

European pied flycatcher inside the trees

Sadly the European scops owl I had been seeing was now just a pile of feathers. It had been attacked and eaten either by a cat or bird of prey. The attrition rate of this species in winter was known to be high when I birded in Oman. It looks like it might be here too.

I won't let this sad event detract from an otherwise good birding session.

Species seen at the waste water site

Mallard  

Northern Pintail  

Eurasian Teal  

Glossy Ibis  

Common Buzzard  

Stone-curlew  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Kentish Plover  

Common Ringed Plover  

Little Ringed Plover  

Whimbrel  

Ruff  

Dunlin  

Little Stint  

Common Snipe  

Wood Sandpiper  

Black-headed Gull  

Laughing Dove  

Namaqua Dove  

Eurasian Hoopoe  

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater  

Eurasian Wryneck  

Common Kestrel  

Southern Grey Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Barn Swallow  

Common House Martin  

Common Chiffchaff
Iberian Chiffchaff  

Eurasian Reed Warbler  

Eurasian Blackcap  

Subalpine Warbler  

Sardinian Warbler  

Fulvous Babbler  

Bluethroat (White-spotted)  

European Pied Flycatcher  

Common Redstart  

Northern Wheatear  

Black-eared Wheatear  

White Wagtail 

Tree Pipit  

Red-throated Pipit  

House Sparrow 

Unexpected birds in the fields

Today, I birded around the pivot fields at Al Hayer and then moved on to the farming district of Dirab.

Sadly, all the collared pratincole seen last week have gone from the fields. However the passage has a long way to go. 

There were again plenty of blue-cheeked bee-eater. 

Blue-cheeked bee-eater

In spring they are out numbered 4 or 5 to one by European bee-eater yet this autumn so far these ratios have been reversed. Indeed today I didn't see any.

grey heron

It's difficult to know which members of the heron family are passage, wintering and resident since we get all three categories for most of the heron family. Indeed only great white egret and European bittern of the common members don't breed here. 

Today, I saw several purple heron, grey heron, squacco heron, black crowned night heron and a single cattle egret at Al Hayer. Most were first seen just after dawn when there is a lot of short distance movement among them.

a flock of mallard

On the fields, the most unexpected feature was the degree of grazing by our resident mallard duck. They have been noticed in small numbers in the fields early in the morning for the past couple of weeks. Today I counted 30 in two separate fields (the ones with tall growth).  I think the mallards have worked out that they are unlikely to be shot at on this private ground.  I wonder if other ducks will do this in the winter?

squacco heron

Squacco heron were found in the same places.

greater short toed lark

Joining the house sparrow, Spanish sparrow, streaked weaver, crested lark  and Indian silverbill in the shorter fields today were about 100 greater short toed lark and similar numbers of yellow wagtail.

barn swallow

Alongside the barn swallow over the fields today were at least three common swift. I didn't see a single sand martin today in stark contrast to last weekend.

white throated kingfisher

There is no doubt in my mind that the population of white throated kingfisher has increased in my two and a bit years visiting Al Hayer. There are now much more readily seen on pivot bars.

lesser grey shrike

A passing lesser grey shrike was also seen on a bar. A masked shrike and Daurian shrike were observed in near-by trees and bushes.

great reed warbler

I am still not seeing large numbers and variety of warblers. Today there were plenty of graceful prinia as usual. One eastern olivaceous warbler gave a good show in an acacia and the above great reed warbler was observed. It let me see it for so long because it was pre-occupied with shaking off soot it had accumulated.  Let me explain...

Friday morning, Al Hayer is especially popular with fishermen. Many of them only have one day off so I can't begrudge them their hobby even though birding the water front is pretty much impossible then. There is always Saturday to do that. However, some of the fishermen are clumsy with fire especially when they cook their catch.  

Two significant fires last weekend destroyed large tracts of tamarisk and acacia near the pivot fields. The great reed warbler I saw must have ventured into the sooty remains. I am sure this one will be all right so long as it doesn't keep going it.

rufous bush robin

I was pleasantly surprised to spot two rufous bush robin at Al Hayer. I thought they all might have left by now. We have summer breeders and passage birds here.

pallid harrier at dawn

There is still no sign of the winter's eagles yet. The same old female marsh harrier was patrolling the fields as last week. However almost the first sighting at dawn this morning were two pallid harrier. My best guess is that they roosted over-night and are continuing south since that was the last I saw of them.

ruff

Just before I left for Dirab I spotted a lone ruff next to the car  in the same place as one seen two weeks ago.

Namaqua dove at Al Hayer

En route to Dirab, I stopped briefly outside an agricultural research centre to look at a row of trees which have been the roost for many tens of black kite for the past two winters. As expected none were to be seen. However a lone brown necked raven was perched on one of the trees.

brown necked raven

The stop at Dirab was necessarily short as the weather was hotting up towards midday and that still meant 40C today.

cattle egret, little egret and hoopoe at Dirab

My fairly random choice of field to investigate turned out quite interesting. The watering technique here was totally different to that at Al Hayer. In this field the pivot bars move extremely slowly and so the filed is completely waterlogged next to the pivot.  It was like a very narrow moving paddyfield.

It proved popular with cattle egret and a single little egret. There were no streaked weaver or Spanish sparrow here but very large numbers of house sparrow.

kestrel at Dirab

Yellow wagtail were fully expected in this habitat but wood sandpiper were not. Alone with the mallards at Al Hayer, this was my second unexpected bird in a field today.

some of the 25 wood sandpiper at Dirab

I counted 25 wood sandpiper in the wet land next to the pivot.

yellow wagtail at Dirab

This was quite an interesting end to the day. This field will be worth more visits if the same watering technique continues to be used.

List of birds seen today (46 species)   D = Dirab, H = Al Hayer 
Mallard  H
Black crowned night heron  H
Grey heron  H
Purple heron  H
Cattle egret  H,D

Little egret D
Squacco heron  H
Common moorhen  H

Kestrel  D

Marsh harrier  H

Pallid harrier  H

Common quail  H
Ruff  H

Wood sandpiper  D
Rock pigeon  H,D
Namaqua dove  H,D
Laughing dove  H,D
Collared dove  H,D
Barn swallow  H,D

Plae crag martin  H

Common swift  H

Hoopoe  H,D
White throated kingfisher  H
Little green bee-eater  H,D
Blue cheeked bee-eater  H,D
Masked shrike  H
Lesser grey shrike  H
Asian grey shrike (aucheri)  H
Daurian shrike  H

Brown necked raven  D
White-eared bulbul  H,D
Crested lark  H,D

Greater short toed lark  H,D
Graceful prinia  H,D
Great reed warbler  H
Eastern olivaceous warbler  H
Common myna  H,D
Black bush robin  H,D

Rufous bush robin  H
Blackstart  H,D
Isabelline wheatear H

House sparrow  H,D
Spanish sparrow  H
Streaked weaver  H
Indian silverbill  H
Yellow wagtail  H,D

Ortolan bunting  H

Spring water birds at Al Hayer

Once again its mid week and I'm continuing to show some of bird photographer, Abdullah Amrou's snaps of birds earlier in the year. This time I'm presenting some of his photos of water birds at Al Hayer in March and April.

mallard ducklings

At least two species of duck breed at Al Hayer. One is ferruginous duck and the other is mallard. Some mallard chicks are shown above.

moorhen

Moorhen is an abundant breeder all along the Riyadh river. 

purple heron

Purple heron is one of several members of the heron family that breeds there too.

two white throated kingfisher

White throated kingfisher has breed there in recent years though one of the books or scientific papers have caught up with this development. However one or two authors had predicted this.

little ringed plover in spring

The only wader know for sure to breed at Al Hayer is little ringed plover.  other plovers such as spur winged lapwing breed elsewhere in Central Arabia but not Al Hayer.

common sandpiper

The status of common sandpiper is ambiguous as it appears it is present all year round. It is more common in spring and autumn than the rest of the year. The birds present in summer are almost certainly non-breeding.

little stint

Finally the most common wader at Al Hayer except in summer is acknowledged to be little stint. Yet I saw only my second group at Al Hayer last week!

Thanks are again due to Abdullah Amrou for allowing me to blog his pictures.

Winter has arrived in central Arabia

As I have said in the last couple of blogs, one of the main reasons for going out birding on Thursday was to see if the sudden onset of winter had affected the mix of birds in the area.


Temperatures have dipped to afternoon highs of "only" around 18-19C.


Has any new influx of birds from the north occurred or have any birds left for the south?

masked shrike

Some of the obvious candidates to check if they have left for warmer climes are the shrikes. Helms guide says masked shrike winters in small numbers in south west Arabia and by implication not elsewhere in the region. Yet I have being seeing significant numbers here in central Arabia. Have they moved on? Well the short answer is no. 

first winter Isabelline (Durian) shrike

Of course the second candidates to look for were the red tailed shrikes (both species) which have been abundant at Al Hayer until now. This bird is described as scarce in winter in Southern Iran, Iraq and Arabia in the Helms guide to "birds of the Middle East." It is shown as passage only in the map in the Collins guide to "birds of Britain and Europe". 

However, once again this bird is unmoved and still wintering here in numbers.

The bird above is probably an Isabelline shrike not Turkestan shrike. It's difficult to tell the two first winter birds apart but the mask in Isabelline shrike is much lighter than in Turkestan shrike at this age.

steppe grey shrike

The bird in great grey shrike complex which is most probably steppe grey shrike was also still noticeable.

So the group of birds I thought was most vulnerable to a cold snap has not moved on.

mallard at dawn

One bird which has probably been affected is mallard. Duck numbers have definitely increased in the past week. Even though mallard is a summer breeder in small numbers here, tens of mallard seem to have arrived from the north. They are distributed thinly in small groups along the Riyadh river.

The picture above was taken just after dawn by Abdullah Amrou on Thursday.

newly sown field seen last week as bare looking earth

The large flock of northern lapwing seen last week were still in the same area moving between the various fodder fields but homing in on those which are newly planted.  There is currently no incentive these birds to move back north!

part of the northern lapwing flock

The number of osprey in the wadi has increased to three this week. It's difficult to say whether this induced by the weather but it is consistent with it.

osprey in the wadi

Of the larger birds, I saw my first two black winged stilt in central Arabia but Abdullah assures me they are present all year round.

Meanwhile the passerine winterers continue to show.

white wagtail at Al Hayer

I seem to be seeing white wagtail almost everywhere there is a hint of green now.

stonechat

I am able to pick out stonechat more readily too.They really seem to like being on the pivot water sprinklers in the fields.

chiffchaff

The cooler temperatures are encouraging the warblers to be more active throughout the day. In particular chiffchaff can be seen in many more bushes than I have noticed before.

same chiffchaff from the back

I am now very confident that bluethroat is a common wintering bird. Each time I go out I see a number on reeds at the water margins.

bluethroat

The biggest disappointment with the change of weather is that I still haven't seen any grey hypocolius. This is one bird which is known to come south to central Arabia during cold spells. Maybe I have been looking in the wrong habitat?

 clouded butterfly

Finally, on Thursday, I noticed a lot of yellow butterflies which a quick look at google tells me are a type of clouded yellow butterfly. I have good intentions to take up butterfly identification as well as birding maybe this will spur me on.