A visit to
the ‘patch’ on 7 November to help show Lou, a birder from Riyadh, Common Pochard and Gadwall, two new
species for him in Saudi Arabia proved to be quite good. When I arrived I found
all the duck from the last few days still in place and also a Black-necked
Grebe quite close to the edge. After some time it was joined by a second bird.
This is only the second time I have seen the species on the ‘patch’ with the
first being on the settling pond. Duck numbers remained high with plenty of
Common Pochard, Ferruginous Duck and Northern Shoveler. A single Pintail, one
Tufted Duck, two Gadwall and two Eurasian Wigeon were also present. Other birds
of note included five Little Egrets, two White-winged Terns, a Gull-billed Tern
and a flyover flock of about twenty Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. Two Clamorous Reed
Warblers were also seen in the reeds and the first five Great Cormorants of the
winter flew in to roost. The only waders seen were five Black-winged Stilts and
three Ruff.
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| Black-necked Grebe |
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| Common Pochard |
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| Gadwall |
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| White-winged Tern |
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| Great Cormorant |