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21 October 2014

Adult male Montagu’s Harrier near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson sent me some nice photos of an adult male Montagu’s Harrier near Tabuk taken in early October 2014 that he has kindly allowed me to use. This is a scarce passage migrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where they are seen in April, September and October with up to eight seen in a day at Haradh in September. The only birds I have seen on my local ‘patch’ were a second calendar year female and second calendar year male over the spray fields on 22 April 2103. In the Riyadh area they are scarce but regular passage migrant that passes in March and again in late August to mid-October that since 1988 have taken up residence around alfalfa fields south of Riyadh during December and January. In the north where this bird was photographed they have been seen at Harrat al Harrah Reserve where they are a passage migrant mainly in April and September but have also been seen in December. The species has been recorded rarely throughout the rest of Saudi Arabia all the way down to the Yemen boarder near Jizan.