Whilst birding the Jubail area I found a few Yellow Wagtails with one bright example giving very close views. I am assigning this bird to flava but the Yellow Wagtail complex is as it name suggests – complex.
The Yellow Wagtail is a common passage migrant with various subspecies occurring but they are much commoner in the spring than the autumn. Autumn numbers are still relatively high with tens of birds generally seen during the migration period from late August until late October.
Numbers appear slightly higher this autumn than normal supported by the fact we have trapped an ringed more birds this autumn than previous ones even though we keep the number of nets and location the same each ringing session.
Jem Babbington
Jem Babbington is a keen birder and amateur photographer located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia where he goes birding every day. Jem was born in England and is a serious local patch and local area birder who has been birding for almost forty years and has birded in more than fifty countries. Jem is learning to ring birds in Bahrain as a perfect way to learn more about the birds of the area. Saudi Arabia is a very much under-watched and under-recorded country.
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