Greater Spotted Eagle & Daurian Shrike - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday at the 'patch' I found a first year Daurian Shrike in the spray fields sitting on top of a dead reed stem looking for something tasty to eat. There is a small area of Phragmites reeds in one corner of the spray field and the bird was spending most of its time in this area. There was not much else about in the spray fields apart from two Isabelline Wheatear but the percolation pond as always had a few birds. These included 11 Garganey, one Eurasian Teal, one Northern Shoveller, six Marsh Sandpiper, one Common Ringed Plover, 13 Black-winged Stilt, four Grey Heron, one Little Egret, 10+ Barn Swallow, eight Sand Martin, one Citrine Wagtail and eight Yellow Wagtail. A juvenile White-winged Tern was hunting over the pond and is the first returning bird I have seen on the 'patch' although I have seen quite a few at Sabkhat Al Fasl over the last few weeks. Birds seen around the edge of the pond included a juvenile European Roller, 12 European Bee-eater, one Spotted Flycatcher and the best bird of the day a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle that flew over the scrubby desert and landed on one of the jebels in the military base.

Daurian Shrike (1st Year)