Forbes-Watson's swift colony

Yesterday, I went out birding very early on my own and then was joined by Graeme Knight for the afternoon.

The birding before breakfast by necessity had to be local. I called in at East Khawr and over looked the fence at Sahnawt farm. The farm is out of bounds to birders for disease control reasons.

This was my first visit to East Khawr for nearly two weeks. The European spoonbill and the one African sacred ibis were still there as were several grey heron, little egret, western reef heron and one great egret. Northern shoveller had joined the garganey. The wader numbers were low so perhaps they don't roost there.

slender-billed gull

In contrast the gull numbers were higher than before. I was particularly pleased to see five slender-billed gull. These were my first in Oman.

three slender-billed gull

After over half an hour at the Khawr I made the short journey to Sahnawt farm and looked over the fence. I saw fifteen or so cattle egret arrive from a roost in one of the palm plantations. In one of the fields European collared dove were already hard at work eating. It seemed a bit strange to see a rose-ringed parakeet on the ground apparently eating with them.

rose-ringed parakeet

However the best sight was a distant one (and still in poor early morning light). It was a pallid harrier.  

top of pallid harrier

This is a classic bird of pivot field birding and made me realise one feature that has been missing since I left Saudi Arabia. There is no easy access to large pivot field based farms in Salalah since Jarziz farm closed down.

bottom of pallid harrier

After breakfast and some domestic arrangements, I returned to birding around noon with Graeme.

We elected to do some coastal birding in the Taqah area which I hadn't been to before. It was hot and humid but just about bearable because of the sea.

a Forbes-Watson swift

The khawr at Taqah was been completely ruined by over-zealous landscaping so we quickly moved on from there to the beach. The long streatch of sand had many tens of sooty gull, Heuglin's gull and a few more slender-billed gull (only seen earlier in the morning).

We headed towards the eastern end of the beach where some limestone cliffs meet the sea.

As we got close it was apparent that swarming around the cliffs were about 300 Forbes-Watson's swift.

several Forbes-Watson's swift

This is obviously an important site for them.

Forbes-Watson's swift

My camera is not good for photographing such fast moving birds but they slowed down when they reached the pot holes in the limestone and some landed.

yet more Forbes-Watson's swift

It was difficult to get pictures of their heads as these were facing away. However they seem to have more in common with common swift than pallid swift to me.

more views

I would hazard that this is not only a roost but a colonial nesting site.

resting Forbes-Watson's swift

This is the only picture with a clear view of the face of one resting bird. I don't know whether it is a nestling. I would be interested to know when they are supposed to breed. Also it has been suggested that they migrate in winter. I will keep a look out for this.

an interesting crab on the same rocks

Today is the last day of my holidays before re-starting work. There will be a lot less birding next week.

A gull in Riyadh

My walk to work isn't really active with passage birds anymore this year. However they have been some highlights and one very big surprise.

The big surprise was the presence for two days early this week of an immature slender-billed gull in the holding pool.

Gulls of any type are really rare in the Riyadh area and this was the first of any type I have seen. I can't find any other records of it either.

slender-billed gull

As well as between two and six black winged stilt being present at the holding pool most days, the single green sandpiper has been around on and off for over a month now.

green sandpiper

I caught it washing itself just after dawn one morning this week. It's certainly looking like it will try and stay the whole winter.

grey wagtail

After a gap of about one month, I have seen two grey wagtail back at the holding pool over the past two days. White wagtail have been there much of that time. Grey wagtail is an uncommon winterer in central Arabia.

wryneck on November 5th

Meanwhile back in the gardens of the university's experimental farm, the dismantling is continuing. The farm is being relocated. However the process is slow and a wryneck appears to be attempting to stay the winter there.

The bird is very shy and I can only find it at dawn and dusk when it seems to go to the same tree. It is always well hidden. I first saw it on the evening of November 5th and it was seen again on November 6th and just after dawn on November 12th.

a well-hidden wryneck on November 12th

Most wryneck are passage birds but this is the third I have seen in the winter months near Riyadh including one in late December two winters ago.

chiffchaff

As the farm gets dismantled, the native trees are some of the first to go. Yet I have found these are the ones with the most variation in birds. The one the wryneck can be found in at dawn and dusk is one such case. 

second view of chiffchaff

A chiffchaff has also picked out this tree to spent a lot of time.

white-cheeked bulbul

White-cheeked bulbul and little green bee-eater regularly perch there.

black bush robin

This black bush robin was photographed underneath the same tree.

I am going to miss this farm when it closes and so will the birds.

Tomorrow I am on a day trip north to Buraidah with Bernard Bracken. My next blog will report back. 

Changing gulls and terns

Andy, Helen and I saw plenty of interesting terns and gulls last weekend when we visited different wetlands around Benghazi.

In summer the only significant breeding gull in Libya is the yellow-legged gull. This breeds mostly in north east Libya.  Similarly the main breeding tern is the lesser crested tern which also breeds in north east Libya. There are also small breeding colonies of little tern all across the Libyan coast and an even smaller breeding group of Caspian tern on the coastal border with Tunisia. 


This situation changes radically in winter. There is a big influx of wintering gulls and in turn the lesser crested tern mostly migrates south.

slender-billed gull,  Ain Azziana October 30

In north east Libya (Cyrenaica) the two biggest groups of wintering gulls are black-headed gull and slender-billed gull.  They have been arriving gradually over the past two or three weeks.

When we were at Ain Azziana over the weekend there were a mixture of local yellow-legged gull and wintering slender-billed gull.

black-headed gulls,  New Benghazi, October 28

Black- headed gull will venture in-land. Above is a group seen next to my house in urban Benghazi.

whiskered tern, Juliana, October 30

Just as lesser crested tern have left, the wetlands around Benghazi all have sizeable numbers of whiskered tern. Again (like the gulls) they have arrived over the past two or three weeks. Unlike most whiskered tern who pass through other countries and winter south of the Sahara these birds will stay.

I know that Andy and Helen were as impressed as I was at the show these birds put on while feeding.  

By the way Andy writes his own travel blog called "two drifters off to see the world"  http://andyparkin.wordpress.com/  I recommend a visit to his site. Andy promises he will write up about his visit to Benghazi.   

whiskered tern, Juliana, October 30 

So what happens to the lesser crested tern in winter?


Here is part of a very recent email message to the Egyptian Birding Group from Libyan expert  Abdulmaula Hamsa who is writing a PhD on the bird


In Libya there is three breeding sites for Lesser crested terns Sterna (Thalasseus) bengalensis,those are Elba island (Jaziret Al Elba 32°13' N; 23°18'E) which is the closest to Egyptian border with in the historic Bumbah bay, and the breeding population here is about 60-80 adults, the second is Gara island (30°48' N 19°54'E) where 1500-2000 pairs breed each summer, and lastly Jeliana islet in Benghazi  32° 05 N 20°03E) which is an inshore site, and 200-300 terns breed.

So far the chicks of this species were ringed in seasons from 2006-2010, mainly with metal rings donated by Birdlife Malta and color (bi character rings) from Italy. you can see more on our ringing scheme at http://home.scarlet.be/~pin02658/cr-Lesser%20Crested%20Tern.htm

So far we had some good number of resightings and recoveries from both Benghazi and Gara sites in Northwest and west Africa, amazingly non of the birds rings in Elba (the most easter site) were sighted or recovered anywhere.

I believe that Elba birds may head east not west as other terns from Gara and Benghazi sites, and mix with huge population of the Red Sea. I am appealing to you to have a closer look whenever possible on little legs of these birds during April-June and during September-November on the mediterranean coast of Egypt and along the whole year at Red Sea sites. These birds usually associated with Sandwich terns and other crested tern species.

So it looks like most lesser crested tern go to west Africa and the others to the Red Sea. I will keep the blog informed as when we find out for sure.