The large movement of birds through Dhahran has continued probably helped by the unsettled weather of cloud and strong, mainly northerly, winds. Last Saturday we had a large arrival of shrikes, but over the next few days they gradually reduced in numbers. Then another arrival of shrikes occurred and again many species were associated with it. The largest numbers were Red-backed Shrikes with over 20 birds seen including adult males, adult females and juvenile males. Eight Turkestan Shrikes and six Daurian Shrikes were in the spray fields, which is a big increase in the number of Daurian Shrikes seen recently where only one or two have been seen. Two Lesser Grey Shrikes were giving good views at the edge of the spray fields and a single adult male Woodchat Shrike was seen in the spray fields as well.
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
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| Lesser Grey Shrike |
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| Red-backed Shrike - adult male |
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| Red-backed Shrike - immature male |
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| Woodchat Shrike - adult male |
An
impressive ten plus Whinchats were in the spray fields with a small group of 15
Ortolan Buntings still feeding on the seed heads but now in a different area of
the field. Red-throated Pipits were common but always hiding in the long grass
and many Willow Warblers were doing likewise. Two brownish grey Common
Chiffchaffs were seen in the trees along the edge of the fields and were
probably tristris types. A single dark
phase Western Marsh Harrier was hunting over the fields and a large number of
at least thirty Yellow Wagtails were still present including some quite bright
lutea/flavissima type birds. Pallid Swifts and Sand Martins were still present
in good numbers and two Little Stints and two Wood Sandpipers were feeding on
the flooded area along with a late Western Cattle Egret, the first bird of this
species I have seen for a couple of weeks.
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| Ortolan Bunting |
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| Whinchat |