Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
European Stonechat
Common Kingfisher
Common Kingfisher
Common Morehen
Purple Swamphen
Squacco Heron
29 October 2011
Sabkhat Al Fasl
Another very early trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl and luckily there were no shooters present today. Maybe they knew something as the number of birds were considerably less than normal although there was still plenty to look at. The first bird I saw, as is often the case, was a juvenile Greater Spotted Eagle sitting on one of the street light posts. There were quite a few birds of prey about today with another two Greater Spotted Eagles both of which were adults, two adult Steppe Eagles and 10 Western Marsh Harriers. A few passerines were about with a Red-throated Pipit and two Water Pipits being the first of each species I have seen this autumn in Saudi Arabia. 20+ Blue-cheeked Bee-eater were making short work of the really annoying Horse Flys that frequent Sabkhat, four Daurian Shrike, two Turkestan Shrike, one European Stonechat, 10 White Wagtail and two Yellow Wagtail. Waders included 500+ Dunlin, 1000+ Little Stint, 200+ Black-winged Stilt, 50+ Common Redshank and 20+ Common Ringed Plover. Three Caspian Tern and a single Gull-billed Tern were flying about and at least six Common Kingfisher were seen.