Whilst ringing at Jubail in mid to
late November we trapped and ringed two Caspian (Eurasian) Reed Warbler A. s. fuscus. This species is a common
passage migrant and uncommon breeding species seen from early February to May
and late July to early November in Saudi Arabia. The species has been proposed
as being resident in the Eastern Province but this is not borne out by our
ringing data, where we only caught birds during migration and the summer
months. Birds were first seen at the site on 31 January when six singing birds
were seen and numbers increased over the next three months. All birds trapped
and ringed were Caspian Reed Warbler A.
s. fuscus with DNA samples confirming the identification. Small reed
warblers with wing lengths as small as 61mm have been noted in Israel and
Riyadh in Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain. These birds have in the past been
confused for Blyth’s Reed Warbler Acrocephalus
dumetorum due to their short wing length. We have also caught Reed Warblers
with short wing lengths of 61mm on 2 May 2014 and one with a wing length of 60
mm on 10 April 2015 and it would be interesting to find out where these birds
originate from as presumably they are not Caspian Reed Warblers but a different
subspecies?
