Ha'ir, Saudi Arabia

This morning I took a drive along the wadi between Dirab and Ha'ir and finished with a long walk around the Ha'ir pivot fields.

The two rubbish dumps in the wadi didn't hold much of note except a hoopoe, a couple of desert lark and a single adult white-crowned black wheatear. But trees and irrigation equipment around the KATC Fish Farm were teeming with 87 black kite still roosting in the early dawn light plus a juvenile eastern imperial eagle for good measure. The black kite count is the highest I've seen for Saudi Arabia.

Part of the black kite roost

As usual the pivots fields were hard work but I hiked across several of them and was rewarded with an almost adult male pallid harrier, two adult male marsh harrier, several desert wheatear, another juvenile eastern imperial eagle and a good count of 22 squacco heron by the pools.

Male desert wheatear

___________________ DAY LIST ___________________

DIRAB RUBBISH TIP

1 Hoopoe

2 Desert lark

HA'IR RUBBISH TIP

1 White-crowned black wheatear

2 Desert lark

KATC FISH FARM

87 Black kite

1 Eastern imperial eagle (juv)

RIYADH RIVER

1 Mallard

2 Coot

2 Little grebe

2 Common snipe

1 White-throated kingfisher

1 Common kingfisher

1 Black bush robin

1 Bluethroat

1 Black redstart

2 Chiffchaff

100 House sparrow

HA'IR PIVOT FIELDS

6 Grey heron

8 Purple heron

22 Squacco heron

1 Eastern imperial eagle (juv)

3 Marsh harrier (inc. 2 adult male)

1 Pallid harrier (sub-adult male)

4 Common kestrel

2 Coot

1 Moorhen

200 Northern lapwing

3 Common snipe

150 Eurasian collared dove

50 Laughing dove

3 Namaqua dove

8 Pallid swift

3 White-throated kingfisher

20 Green bee-eater

30 Crested lark

15 African rock martin

5 Tawny pipit

300 White wagtail

1 Citrine wagtail

20 White-cheeked bulbul

1 Black bush robin

7 Bluethroat

5 Stonechat

1 Isabelline wheatear

6 Desert wheatear

1 Southern grey shrike

1 Daurian shrike

1 Turkestan shrike

2 Brown-necked raven

35 Common myna

100 House sparrow