Either side of midday I birded Dowkah farm on Friday. The bad news was that there were no passage passerines in the shaded wooded area. The other news is more interesting. In particular the larger birds in the field were a mix of strangely off course herons and storks. An Abdim’s stork was a most […]
Category: Blogs
Eastern (Siberian) Stonechat – Jubail
Whilst birding at Jubail I came across a Stonechat with extensive white wing patches and a white rump but did not show any white down the side of the tail that many show, indicating it was not a variagata/armenicus type. These birds are uncommon winter visitors to the Eastern Province from late August until March […]
Siberian Rubythroat
Today I went on my first international twitch. I met up with Nick early am to catch a 06:50 flight out of Heathrow. Our original plan was to hit the Siberian Rubythroat that took up residence in the small village of Hoogwoud, about 40 minutes north of Schiphol airport, since January 15th. Then head straight […]
Some good birds in and around Jubail
There are some good areas for birdwatching in Jubail but they take some looking for. The birds that frequent these areas are also good at times and again take some looking for. Whilst birding the area recently I have come across a few good birds including a Citrine Wagtail, and a fly past Long-legged Buzzard. […]
Ringing abietinus type Chiffchaff – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl in January I trapped a quite grey/brown looking Chiffchaff with few greenish tones. Unfortunately, with Chiffchaffs, things get complicated in the Middle East. With Mountain Chiffchaffs nearby, which look quite like Siberian Chiffchaff tristis, and a series of taxa with intriguing combinations of abietinus or intermediate plumage but tristis-like […]
Great Cormorants – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Great Cormorant was quite an unusual bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl three or four years ago, but now it is a common winter visitor with hundreds seen on each visit. Birds can be seen in the very early morning flying into the site from their roosting areas nearby, with some birds staying all day in […]
Feeder Style
House finches were hanging around the bird feeders last week in the section of Central Park called the Ramble. In this picture a few of them are gathered on one of the homemade feeders — a plastic bottle full of seeds with a hole and a perch on each side. The finches perch, reach in […]
Glossy Ibis – Jubail
Whilst birding Jubail I came across a single Glossy Ibis in flight over a wetland area. The bird flew around and landed in some flooded sabkha and then flew again and disappeared. The species is seldom seen in the Jubail area with only one or two records a year. Glossy Ibis is an uncommon but […]