Black-winged Kite still present - Dhahran Hills

I have not been able to get out birding on the patch for a few days so yesterday I went down the 'patch' full of expectation. On the way to the spray fields I saw a Honey Buzzard sp. flying over but got poor views and was not able to speciate it. The next bird I saw was the Black-winged Kite sitting in a tree eating a Jerboa. The weather has cleared up the last couple of days so I was able to get a couple of half decent photographs of the bird. Brian Small pointed out to me that the Black-winged Kite is from an eastern population as it has dark secondaries to the underwing, unlike the birds from the western populations like Spain. The bird has now been in Dhahran for 13 days, lets hope it stays around for a while as it is a good bird to watch hovering and catching rodents.

 Black-winged Kite (adult)

 Black-winged Kite (adult)

 Black-winged Kite (adult)

 Black-winged Kite (adult)

Otherwise things were quiet, with the only good bird on the percolation pond being an adult male Little Bittern that showed well on one of the muddy fringes. The spray fields had six Red-throated Pipits, three Tree Pipits and two Tawny Pipits as well as seven Turkestan Shrikes and four Daurian Shrikes. Two new migrants for the year were seen as well, with 13 Willow Warblers in two small bushes and two European Turtle Doves in a tall tree. A single Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin was feeding along the tree lined side of the pond and a single Little Ringed Plover was on one of the settling ponds.

Willow Warbler