Whilst birding Dhahran Waste Water Treatment Lake during the last couple of weeks I have been seeing one or two Purple Herons with the larger number of Grey Heron and Great Egrets. The last visit, there was a marked increase in number of Purple Heron with a minimum of seven birds seen, but possibly many more. It has a status in Saudi Arabia as a rare breeding resident, common passage migrant & uncommon winter visitor. Most birds are seen on spring migration during late March to early May. In the Eastern Province it is a locally common passage migrant and winter visitor seen from August thr ..read more

Whilst birding the scrubby area at the side of Dhahran Waste Water Lake at the end of April I came across an Upcher’s Warbler busily feeding in the abundant vegetation that has been recently planted by Saudi Aramco. Even though I was on foot, as the bird was busy feeding I managed to get quite close and took the below photos, The species is an uncommon passage migrant through the Eastern Province that is rare in summer. The main identification points to separate Upcher’s Warbler and Eastern Olivceous Warbler are that Upcher’s Warbler is generally bigger and has a stockier appearance although t ..read more

The scrubby area next to Dhahran Waste Water Lake has had a lot of warblers passing through in recent days. The weather is cooler and wetter than normal for this time of year and the birds appear to be liking the climate. Graceful Prinia is a resident breeding species and a lot of birds are now singing as they are in their breeding season. Willow Warbler numbers have increased dramatically in the last couple of weeks with upwards of fifty birds seen on a single day. As the Willow Warbler numbers have increase so has the Common Chiffchaff numbers decreased with many days none seen and on a good ..read more

Whilst looking at the large numbers of Yellow Wagtails on the Dhahran Football fields I came across a 'dombrowskii' type Yellow Wagtail. This is only the second time I have seen one in Saudi Arabia and means that every common type of Yellow Wagtail has been recorded in Dhahran this spring. Both 'superciliaris' and 'dombrowskii' can be seen on spring migration in Saudi Arabia and most authors agree that 'superciliaris', 'xanthophrys' and 'dombrowskii' are intergrades, as no area is known in which the majority of the population match any of these ..read more

Whilst birding the Dhahran Cricket field/football field area recently the number of Red-throated Pipits this spring has been much higher than normal. Most days between fifty and one hundred birds were seen between the two adjacent grassy areas with some birds feeding close to the road and allowing some fine views and conditions for photographs. Below is a selection of birds I have photographed over the last week ..read more

Whilst birding the Dhahran Cricket field recently I saw a Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush perched on a tall post. It was a long wat away bit fortunately for me if saw a beetle and flew down onto the ground just next to the car to eat it. This allowed me some very close views and photos and as the light was good it appeared extremely brightly coloured. The Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush breeds from north-western Africa and southern Europe to Mongolia and winters in eastern Africa. It has a status as an uncommon passage migrant though Saudi Arabia with most birds occurring in April during spring migration ..read more

The Lesser Whitethroat has been common this spring on migration with birds being seen every trip in the region. Numbers appear to be higher than normal on migration although wintering numbers were no different to previous years. They breed from Western Europe to northern China and winter south of these areas in the Sahel region and north-eastern Africa through Arabia to India and Sri Lanka. In Saudi Arabia they are a common passage migrant and winter visitor occurring in overgrown scrub, trees and small thickets with dense undergrowth. Over winter it is normally seen in acacia. Ringing studies ..read more

A few single Whimbrel have been seen on the Cricket Field during April but they have kept their distance and have not shown thier underwing patterns to try to work out if there is anything interesting about them. I wanted to get a photo of the underwing pattern of the bird in flight to check for signs of Steppe Whimbrel. Trying to take photos of the bird flying was quite difficult, as it just run away and keep its distance, but luckily for me a walker frightened the bird and I managed to get a few flight shots. Although the bird has quite a pale underwing the underwing pattern does not show an ..read more

Whilst birding the Dhahran Hills football fields in the spring the number and type of Yellow Wagtails has been very high. The main numbers were Sykes Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava beema amongst them, which is an early migrant with March and April being the best months for seeing them. They are more often seen in spring than autumn. The other common Yellow Wagtail seen was Black-headed Wagtail feldegg which is part of the Yellow Wagtail complex a group of birds that are common spring and autumn passage migrants, sometimes in hundreds. Yellow Wagtails pass from mid-Febr ..read more

The number and type of herons at the Dhahran Waste Water Lake have been building up the last few weeks. New species seen include a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and three Purple Herons, the first ones for a few months. Great Egrets have increased to almost double figures and twelve Grey Heron was the high count. A dark phase Western Reef Heron was an unusual sighting with Little Egrets less unusual. Squacco Heron numbers are also steadily on the increase again almost reaching double figures. Western Reef Heron - dark phase Little Egret Little Egret Litt ..read more