Birds of Saudi Arabia: The first signs of migration starting

Migration starts very early in Saudi Arabia compared to my home country of the UK. Here migrants can be seen in January and by early February numbers are increasing. The first signs of migration are normally Barn Swallows and Pallid Swifts with small numbers of each seen in the last few weeks. Phil Roberts also saw a couple of House Martins that are also early migrants. A good number of singing Reed Warblers were also migrants as these are not resident in the Eastern Province although stay until November and are only absent for a couple of months. A few Purple Herons in the last three weeks may well also have been migrants but it is difficult to tell. A number of waders may also be moving as there are now a few more Green Sandpipers and Wood Sandpipers present. Another species it is difficult to tell if they are migrants or not are the Stonechats as some winter and some are on passage We saw a few SCT Stonechats as well as a smart male NCT Stonechat this I failed to get any photographs of. Migration should start building over the next few weeks and peak in March and April. Let’s hope we get a good spring migration this spring as last year was relatively poor compared to other recent years.