Early morning at Al Hayer

Lou Regenmorter and I met up for the first time since the summer break to go birding at Al Hayer. We went fairly early and birded from 6 to 10 am. It was noticeably cooler than last weekend's birding in the afternoon though by 10 am it was probably pushing 40C.

eastern olivaceous warbler

One of the features of today's birding was finding a small zone of bushes close to both water and fodder fields which had a lot of warbler activity. Being there early almost certainly helped us.

Both graceful prinia and Eastern olivaceous warbler were very numerous and both are breeding birds. Graceful prinia is resident and some of the Eastern olivaceous warbler probably stay too.

I was surprised to see Eastern olivaceous warbler make forays into the fodder field in the same manner as graceful prinia. 

eastern olivaceous warbler in a fodder field

In the early morning sun, Eastern olivaceous warbler can look very warm coloured and could be mistaken for other warblers without care. Having said this, one definite of each of common whitethroat, marsh warbler and willow warbler were seen in the same area. Later at the edge of a different field, we saw a great reed warbler too.

warm-looking eastern olivaceous warbler

Finches and weavers were very active too. Many streaked weaver and Spanish sparrow were observed and this time Indian silverbill, red avadavat and house sparrow were easily seen as well.

Indian silverbill

Two of the less common members of the heron family were seen.

Red avadavat

Grey heron and squacco heron are usually seen on any prolonged visit to the area irrespective of the time of year. This morning was no exception. Two cattle egret were also observed. However its not often that little bittern is viewed in three separate places. 

Little bittern

Black crowned night heron flew overhead too. 

Black crowned night heron

Only one shrike was observed all morning. It was a young woodchat shrike.

young woodchat shrike

At the end of our visit we moved on to a place a little north of the fodder fields which has some muddy flats to the "river". We were rewarded by the sight of a mixed flock of waders. Most were little ringed plover (which breeds here) and little stint. There was also at least one Kentish plover.

Little ringed plover and little stint

Lou was first to notice that two were slightly larger and different. Having rejected dunlin as a possibility, it became clearer and clearer that Lou's first idea that they were broad-billed sandpiper was right.

Broad billed sandpiper

Note the broad bill which droops at the end.

second view of broad billed sandpiper

A double supercilium is another distinguishing feature and it is apparent on the above photograph.

Broad billed sandpiper does venture inland on passage here but it is very uncommon and it was my first time seeing them away from the coast. It was a great end to the morning. 

List of 38 species seen at Al Hayer today
Mallard
Little bittern
Black crowned night heron
Cattle egret
Squacco heron
Grey heron
Moorhen
Little ringed plover
Kentish plover
Little stint
Broad billed sandpiper
Rock pigeon
Eurasian collared dove
Laughing dove
Hoopoe
Little green bee-eater
Woodchat shrike
White eared bulbul
Crested lark
Barn swallow
Graceful prinia
Great reed warbler
Marsh warbler
Eastern olivaceous warbler
Willow warbler
Common whitethroat
Rufous bush robin
Black bush robin
Isabelline wheatear
Spanish sparrow
House sparrow
Streaked weaver
Indian silverbill
Red avadavat
Grey wagtail

Dammam coast

On Friday morning, after leaving the high tide roost at Khobar, Lou Regensmorter and I moved slowly up the coast through Dammam.

There were several stopping points. We found a set of enclosed mud flats right next to the high tide roost. Then there were two sets of mangroves, one at the port and the other off the north corniche. The beachy and rocky coast connecting these places was also searched.

close view of flamingo

The day was very productive. We added 28 more species to Wednesday evening and Thursday's total count of 51 making a grand total of 79.

Of course, one of the most attractive sightings were the flamingo. They were seen in four different places although the greatest numbers were at an off shore island. 

flock of flamingo on distant island

However before we even reached them we spent a long time at the enclosed mud flats. Here there were literally hundreds of waders. The most common were little ringed plover, kentish plover, common ringed plover, lesser sand plover  and little stint but there were also ruddy turnstone ruff, black winged stilt, common redshank, common greenshank, marsh sandpiper, green sandpiper, wood sandpiper, common sandpiper and dunlin.  The number of bar tailed godwit was remarkable and next to them were a smaller number of black tailed godwit.

waders - mostly bar-tailed godwit

The proximity and numbers of both species was a lesson in separation. Black tailed godwit was plainer and larger and had a longer and straighter bill.

grey plover

There were also plenty of grey plover often in the same depth of water as the godwits but also sometimes in shallower places.

Terek sandpiper

By looking carefully for any oddities, we picked up a couple of terek sandpiper.

Mostly Caspian tern

Along the coast itself the proportion of waders decreased and the proportion of terns and gulls increased. Slender-billed gull was common as was common black-headed gull. The latter was a first for me in Saudi Arabia. There were also a few Caspian gull present.

The terns were Caspian tern, gull billed tern, lesser crested tern and a single greater crested tern (swift tern). Gull billed tern was the sole lifer I found over the weekend.

 

Broad billed sandpiper

In among a flock of dunlin on the coast was a single broad billed sandpiper. We had hoped to see it though we had been warned it was late in the season.

Mostly curlew

The port mangroves had a different cross section of birds. There were at least 80 Eurasian curlew and ten or so whimbrel. This was also the only place that we saw oystercatcher. I regret not spending any time while there identifying the terns. It is clearly another species but I can't tell from the distance shots in the photos.

In the bushes we spotted a black redstart.

Reef heron in a mangrove

Indeed. the mangroves were the only place along the coast on Friday where we saw any non-sea birds. Even then the most common was house sparrow.

Turkestan shrike

The shrike above was seen on the edge of a mangrove. Identification wasn't easy. Although its supercilium is weak and its underparts not particularly pale it is almost certainly a Turkestan shrike (rather Daurian) because of its rufous crown.

A few minutes after visiting the second mangroves, it was time to leave the east coast and overall it was a more than satisfying trip.  Some species evaded us  and some are not there at this time of year so another visit will take place in the future.

In the meantime, here is the list of 79 species seen over the weekend complied by Lou Regensmorter.

Blue Cheeked Bee-eater	Daurian Shrike
Red-vented Bulbul	Turkestan Shrike
European or Common Coot	Common Snipe
Great Cormorant	House Sparrow
House Crow	Barn Swallow
Eurasian Collared Dove	Purple Swamphen
European Turtle Dove	Caspian Tern
Laughing Dove	Gull-billed Tern
Namaqua Dove	Lesser Crested Tern
Greater Flamingo	Little Tern
Spotted Flycatcher	White-winged Tern
Great Crested Grebe	Swift Tern (Greater Crested Tern)
Little Grebe	Common Nightingale (Eastern)
Common Black-headed Gull	Bar-tailed Godwit
Slender-billed Gull	Black-tailed Godwit
Great Egret	Black-winged Stilt
Grey Heron	Broad-billed Sandpiper
Little Egret	Common Greenshank
Purple Heron	Common Redshank
Squacco Heron	Common Sandpiper
Western Reef Heron	Dunlin
Hoopoe	Eurasian Curlew
Crested Lark	Green Sandpiper
Greater Short-toed Lark	Little Stint
Sand Martin	Marsh Sandpiper
Moorhen	Pied Avocet
Common Myna	Ruddy Turnstone
Rock Pigeon	Ruff
Common Ringed Plover	Terek Sandpiper
Greater Sand Plover	Whimbrel
Grey Plover	Wood Sandpiper
Kentish Plover	White Wagtail
Lesser Sand Plover	Yellow Wagtail
Little Ringed Plover	Asian Desert Warbler
Common Quail	Graceful Prinia
Marsh Harrier	Isabelline Wheatear
Osprey	Mourning Wheatear
Pallid Harrier	Northern Wheatear
Brown Necked Raven	Pied Wheatear
Black Redstart