Pages

29 March 2017

Western Siberian Stonechat trapped and ringed - Jubail

Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl we trapped a female Siberian Stonechat of the sub-species maurus known as Western Siberian Stonechat. The bird was looked at closely and the rump and uppertail feather moved to see if there was any white extending down the tail feathers, but on this bird there was not. This was a new ringing species for Saudi Arabia although I had trapped and ringed ne in Bahrain some years ago and it was interesting to see the bird in the hand at close quarters. The rump appeared warmer in the hand than when seen in the field but it was completely unstreaked as would be expected. The white wing patch was also well developed on the bird. There has been a good passage of Siberian Stonechats of various types through the Eastern Province in the last few weeks so it was not so surprising to trap one.