Birds of Saudi Arabia: Highest site count of Greater Spotted Eagles

Last weekends birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl produced a good number of winter visitors including the largest number of wintering Greater Spotted Eagles recorded at the site when 17 were seen in one morning. Birds normally arrive in September and stay until April or early May. Western Marsh Harrier is another wintering raptor seen regularly at the site with a minimum of twenty but probably many more seen each winter. They also occur and depart around the same time as Greater Spotted Eagles but tend to turn up a week or two earlier. The eagles were seen almost everywhere including five together sitting on the edge of the main flooded sabkha area. This area is also is now holding large numbers of wintering Greater Flamingos with well over a thousand birds present. Wintering passerines included large numbers of White Wagtail, smaller numbers of Water Pipits, twenty Eurasian Skylarks and three Daurian Shrikes.