Whilst birding the Jubail area in early May I came across a small group of thunbergi Yellow Wagtails. They are also known as Grey-headed Wagtail and occur from Scandinavia eastwards to northwest Siberia and they winter mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and across South & southeast Asia.
Yellow Wagtails are common in Jubail throughout the spring with various subspecies passing but thunbergia ppears to be one of the late passing subspecies with most records occurring in late April and May.
These birds fit the pattern of occurrence nicely. One or two birds showed a pattern of marks across the breast forming a necklace, a feature I had not noticed previously. As always with wagtails they were difficult to get good photographs of as they are always moving and in areas with lots of vegetation. My best shots are shown below.
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.
Leave a Reply