Phil
Roberts and I found two Woodlark Lullula
arborea at the edge of a pivot irrigation fodder field near Sarrar on 15
January. Initially the birds were feeding along the edge of the field giving
good views but eventually moved into the crop where they were not possible to
see unless flushed when they could be seen in flight only. Luckily for us the
man tending the field, Stanley, allowed us to walk through it but it eventually
became obvious we would not get better views than the initial ones so we left
them in peace. This was only the second record for Saudi Arabia following the
first confirmed one on the afternoon of 22 December 1994 that remained until 25
December 1994, in an area of low sandy dunes immediately south of the Holiday
Inn, Jubail. There were previous claims of the species at Dhahran in December
1973 and at Jubail in March 1983 but In the absence of a description, both
Saudi records were regarded as unacceptable by Bundy et al. (1989) in their
review of the avifauna of the Eastern Province. The plumage of the bird we
found, like the one in Jubail, was of the race pallida as it was paler and greyer than nominate with less buff and
more obvious white below as well as narrower black breast. The race pallida breeds in the Mediterranean
region and the northern Middle East from Turkey east to Iran. It is migratory
or partially so in the northern parts of its range, but mainly resident or
dispersive elsewhere. Phil has kindly allowed me to use his photo of the bird (top one shown here) as he was on the correct side of the car to get initial shots.
