I went birding to Sabkhat Al
Fasl as it was too windy for ringing and although we did not see anything out
of the ordinary we did see a good mix of winter visitors and migrants. Winter
visitors included Greater Spotted Eagles, Common Kingfishers, European
Stonechats (although this bird may have been an early migrant) and Red-spotted
Bluethroats. Other winter birds included Great Cormorant and Pied Avocet. Most
of these birds will be feeding up now to get ready for their long migrations
north to their breeding grounds. Migrants included Yellow Wagtail, Barn Swallow
and Little Ringed Plover all of which are early migrants through the Eastern
Province of Saudi Arabia. One Barn Swallow had very rufous underparts suggesting it may have been a different subspecies to the ones we normally get. A few of the resident species were also seen with
good numbers of Purple Swamphens and Little Grebes in particular.
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| Greater Spotted Eagle |
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| Common Kingfisher - male |
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| Red-spotted Bluethroat |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
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| Little Ringed Plover |
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| Barn Swallow |
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| Great Cormorant |
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| Pied Avocet |
_Swamphen.jpg "Purple Swamphen") |
| Purple Swamphen |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Little Grebe |