Abyssinian Roller and Singing Bush Lark – Phil’s Fields

Whilst birding the southwest of the Kingdom this winter I went to Phil’s Fields which is a large pivot irrigation set up with three large fields. It is an excellent place to see good birds and I always see Singing Bush Lark and Zitting Cisticola there, and this visit was no exception. More unusual birds seen this trip included African Stonechat and Abyssinian Roller, both of which I have not recorded at the location and probably only occur in winter as this was my first winter visit to the site. Western Cattle Egret, Isabelline Wheatear, Green Bee-eater and Indian Silverbill were a few other more common species seen there. 

Abyssinian Roller

African Silverbill

African Silverbill

African Stonechat

Green Bee-eater

Singing Bush Lark

Singing Bush Lark

Isabelline Wheatear

Ringtail Hen Harrier - Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area in January I found a ring-tailed Harrier that looked quite interesting due to its short and broad wings. It was a long way away from me and I managed to take a single photo which on inspection looked like a juvenile Hen Harrier. I then saw the bird again flying at some distance and managed to move the car to an area where I suspected it could reappear. When I saw it again, it was unfortunately flying away from me. I took a few photos, looked at the bird through my binoculars and became sure it was a Hen Harrier. The Hen Harrier is a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor with more birds seen in the north-west than anywhere else in the Kingdom. In the Riyadh & Central Arabia areas the Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) states the species is a vagrant with only four sightings in March, April, September and November. With only four additional records that I know of from the area of one juvenile at Al Safi Dairy Farm on 19 October 2000, one adult female on the same site 25 January 2001, a male in late march 1992 at Wadi Hanifah and a male in September 1993 over Dywidag compound. Elsewhere it is a rare autumn visitor to the southwest and Jeddah areas in winter and spring. In the Eastern Province, it is a scarce migrant and winter visitor from October to April but I have only previously seen one adult male in winter. Females could be overlooked due to their similarity to other ringtail harriers whereas males are quite distinct and are relatively easily identified. The bird stayed on the same area for at least a week.

Steppe/Common Buzzard – Phil’s Fields

Whilst birding Phil’s Fields I saw at least two Steppe/Common Buzzards. Birds are seen much more commonly in the west of the Kingdom than the east. This bird in Phil’s Fields was circling around very close to us and later a second bird was seen in a similar location. I thank Yoav Perlman for helping with the ID of this bird.

Moustached Warbler trapped – Sabkhat Al Fasl

While ringing on Friday 12 January 2018 we trapped and ringed a Moustached Warbler, this is the fifth bird we have ringed at this site with the first being on 7 February 2014. This is the third January bird trapped with the others in November and February. The bird showed an appearance similar to the eastern subspecies A. m. mimica that occurs from eastern Turkey, Iraq, Transcaucasia, and the lower Volga east to Kazakhstan and northwest India. Records of Moustached Warbler are now quite widespread from the Eastern Province, with the first record at Sabkhat al Fasl seen in 1990 but there have been no breeding records from the site. We have not seen or trapped birds in the spring, summer or autumn at the site, and there is evidence of an influx of birds in winter to the area, suggesting they are a winter visitor to the site. Away from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, they are mainly a scarce migrant and winter visitor mainly in the north of the country. The Moustached Warbler has been recorded as a local breeder in the Central region and Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with the first breeding site in Saudi Arabia located at Hufuf in the Eastern Province where birds are regularly recorded at Al Asfar Lake.

Measurements of birds (n5) are as below:

Tarsus       19.7 – 20.8

Wing          55.0 – 64.0

Weight       9.2 – 11.2

Tail            49.0 – 55.0

Bill / Skull   15.3 – 16.3

Bill depth    2.6 – 3.1

Fat             0.0 – 2.0

Muscle       2.0 – 2.0

White-eyed and Sooty Gulls – Jizan Corniche

The best place to see White-eyed and Sooty Gull in the Kingdom is the fish market at Jizan but the morning we went it was so bust with people that few birds were around. Luckily, as we moved south along the coast we saw a small mixed gull flock with a number of both species present. Also seen were Baltic Gull and Steppe Gull. Waders present were a small flock of Ruddy Turnstone, European Oystercatcher and several Bar-tailed Godwits. Plenty of House Crows were flying around and further up the corniche a Western Osprey was located with many Crab Plover.

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull