Western Great Egret - Dhahran Hills

There were a lot of good birds on the 'patch' yesterday including an adult Western Great Egret which is a new 'patch' bird for me. It was feeding quite happily in the centre of the pond as the water levels are dropping and was often near to a Little Egret where the large size of the Western Great Egret could be seen easily. Duck were still plentiful with three Garganey, six Mallard, 81 Northern Shoveller and 107 Eurasian Teal. A Spotted Crake and a single Water Rail were feeding along the reed edges with a single Bluethroat all of which are new birds for the autumn for me at this site. Waders were again present in large numbers and Common Snipe are easy to see at the pond now that the main reed beds have been grubbed up and 12 were feeding at the edge. Other waders included one Curlew Sandpiper, three Green Sandpiper, three Marsh Sandpiper, four Temminck's Stint, six Common Redshank, six Common Ringed Plover, seven Dunlin, 12 Little Ringed Plover, 15 Wood Sandpiper, 22 Black-winged Stilt and 36 Little Stint. One Squacco Heron, Four Water Pipit, five Cattle Egret, six White Wagtail and 12 Yellow Wagtail were the other good birds at the pond. The Spray fields had a single Northern Wheatear and a single Turkestan Shrike.

 Common Snipe

Common Snipe