Water loving birds

Today's blog looks at the birds with an affinity to water which Lou and I saw on Thursday on the Riyadh river south of Al Hayer.  


I have been surprised how few waders that have been seen this spring. Little ringed plover have been observed recently for the first time since November and green sandpiper has been seen almost every visit. On Thursday a common sandpiper made an appearance. It was clearly very tired and allowed close contact. We assumed it was a passage bird which had recently arrived.

common sandpiper

Bluethroat are still present but surely they must travel north soon. The best place to see them is usually near the water's edge. They are being very bold at the moment.

bluethroat and common sandpiper

Every time since I arrived in Saudi Arabia I have seen grey heron and purple heron in the area. There are often other herons and egrets too. This time we saw both a little egret and a great egret.

little egret

After a break of a few weeks, one of the white throated kingfisher seems to be regularly exposed.  

white throated kingfisher

Last week there was an osprey in the area. This was the first time since three birds stayed a while during mid-winter. This bird is presumably on passage.

osprey

The next blog will look at my return on Friday to the "Birds (sic) ringing centre". One passage bird in particular made me very happy to see.