 |
| Purple Swamphen |
 |
| Greater Flamingo |
 |
| Kentish Plover |
 |
| Daurian Shrike |
 |
| Daurian Shrike |
Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
Pages
▼
08 March 2014
Warblers returning – Sabkhat Al Fasl
A trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend was a little quiet with no sign of the previous weekends Lesser Spotted Eagle we had found. There were two Greater Spotted Eagles as well as a number of Western Marsh Harriers, but not much else in the way of raptor sightings. This was probably due to the cloudy and misty conditions that were not good for thermals. The normal selection of species were seen with the best being a few Purple Swamphens, several Western Great Egrets, a single immature Great Black-headed Gull, a really fine male NCT (Caspian) Stonechat and plenty of Daurian Shrikes. 5000+ Greater Flamingo made a beautiful sight out on the flooded sabkha where waders were few due to high water levels although a number of Kentish Plover and Green Sandpiper were using the flooded puddles next to the main track where there were also two male Citrine Wagtails. The best birds of the trip were two singing Savi’s Warblers and a brief sighting of a Moustached Warbler. Several European Reed Warblers were singing from the reeds often drowned out by the loud calls and song from the Indian (Clamorous Reed Warblers.