Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
29 May 2019
Ehrenberg's Redstart - Jubail
A really smart
Common Redstart of the sub-species samamisicus
which is often known as 'Ehrenberg's Redstart' was seen in Jubail recently.
This sub-species breeds in the southern Balkans and Greece east to
Turkmenistan, south Uzbekistan and Iran and winter in north-east Africa and the
Arabian Peninsula. They are slightly greyer and darker above, with a large white
wing patch, which can be variable in size. The light was poor so I did not get
a good photograph but you can see how really smart and different this
sub-species looks to the normal Common Redstart.