Still very few birds – Dhahran Hills

The winter has been very quiet this year and very few birds are about. Birds of prey seen have included two immature Crested Honey Buzzards over the golf course and surrounding areas for the last week or so. A Western Marsh Harrier has been over the spray fields and a few Eurasian Sparrowhawks have also been seen at various places including a very close encounter of a bird with a fresh kill at the golf course. The spray fields still have the smart adult male NCT Stonechat and a female nearby that may of the same sub-species but little else is in the fields with the best other birds seen being a Song Thrush. The settling pond has plenty of birds including good numbers of Water Pipits and White Wagtails, several Little Grebes. Cattle Egret numbers have now reached 107 birds and several Great Cormorants are now roosting in the trees as the percolation pond has been refilled. The best birds seen here have been a Night Heron and a male Northern Shoveller. Common birds seen everyday include White-eared bulbuls and Common Mynas.

White-eared Bulbul