This week has not only been about reminiscing about the weekend and I have been out in the Dale although with lots of rain my visits have been short. There has still been lots to see though. The Three-toed Woodpeckers seem to have failed with their breeding as a 70 minute vigil at the nest […]
Tag: Red-backed Shrike
Springtime – Quraish
May in the Asir is great for birding as most if not all the African breeding species have returned and additional passage migrants can be seen as well as the resident highland birds. We saw a few passage birds including an Olive-tree Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Turkestan Shrike, Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Whinchat. […]
Migrants – Jubail
A steady trickle of migrants have been passing through the Eastern Province in the last couple of weeks with several Red-backed Shrike appearing. Lesser Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Pied Wheatear, Tree Pipit and Western Siberian Stonechat were also seen in small numbers. Very few Yellow Wagtails have been around recently compared to recent years […]
Migrants passing – Jubail area
The last few weeks a few more migrants have been passing through with plenty of warbler seen. Most have been Eurasian Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat and Barred Warbler but also a few Eastern Olivaceous Warbler have been seen and one or two Asian Desert Warblers. Wheatears have also arrived with Black-eared and Pied being the most […]
A little holiday update
I eventually found up to 9 breeding pairs of Red-backed Shrikes (5 pairs plus single birds at 4 sites) plus Wrynecks at 2 sites so these two species may well have an OK year after all. One of the pairs of Wrynecks had 3 young already out of the nest and I heard their begging […]
Sweden Road Trip
Got back last night from a week-long family trip to Sweden. Sweden is a wonderful country. We landed at VästerÃ¥s and drove from there up north. First night we stayed near Sandvik, second near BispgÃ¥rden and then we reached our destination – LuleÃ¥ in the far north of Sweden. Lots of driving…From a family point […]
Summertime birding – Jubail
Birding the Jubail area in June gave a few surprising migrants including Whinchat, European Bee-eater, Red-backed Shrike, Barn Swallow and Sand Martin. A Western Cattle Egret was also a surprise as they are a winter species that has normally departed by this time of year. A few summer plumage Squacco Herons were also present showing […]
Hedmark Guiding Highlights
So, the last 2 days I have been guiding a group of Chinese bird photographers. It has been fun but was definitely a new experience for me. We visited Østensjøvannet yesterday where we had lots of photogenic birds and then the magical forests of Hedmark today where there were fewer birds but they were most […]