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01 May 2024

Dombrowskii type Yellow Wagtail – Dhahran Football Field

Whilst looking at the large numbers of Yellow Wagtails on the Dhahran Football fields I came across a 'dombrowskii' type Yellow Wagtail. This is only the second time I have seen one in Saudi Arabia and means that every common type of Yellow Wagtail has been recorded in Dhahran this spring. Both 'superciliaris' and 'dombrowskii' can be seen on spring migration in Saudi Arabia and most authors agree that 'superciliaris', 'xanthophrys' and 'dombrowskii' are intergrades, as no area is known in which the majority of the population match any of these forms, and the majority of breeding records of 'superciliaris' and 'dombrowskii' come from the wide zone of intergradation between feldegg and flava. Intergrades between feldegg and flavaare highly variable in the colour of the crown, and many birds are intermediate and difficult to place in either 'superciliaris' or 'dombrowskii'. This bird does not have the black crown of‘supercilliaris’ and has a greyer crown matching ‘dombrowski’.