Ha'ir, Saudi Arabia

I took my usual route down to Ha'ir pivot fields today along the wadi from Dirab and it seems that migration is now starting. On the way to the pivot fields I stopped by the roost at the fish farm which held 82 black kite.

I spent 8 hours walking most of the pivots and the waterside edges to the south. The irrigation equipment provided a good perch for a large count of 105 cattle egret.

Cattle egret

The first group of migrants were two flocks of common swift that moved quickly through, clearly much darker than the usual pallid swift. The next flock of migrants was 9 lesser kestrel hovering over an irrigated alfalfa field. The paths around the fields held the usual desert wheatear but also present were 3 pied wheatear no doubt newly arrived.

Steppe grey shrike

Several species of shrike were present including my first woodchat shrike for Saudi Arabia and at the side of the same pivot field was a nice rufous morph steppe buzzard.

Steppe buzzard

_______________ FULL LIST _______________ 

KACST FISH FARM

82 Black kite

HA'IR PIVOT FIELDS

4 Mallard

1 Teal

1 Little grebe

1 Great cormorant

1 Little bittern

12 Grey heron

6 Purple heron

105 Cattle egret

4 Squacco heron

4 Marsh harrier

1 Steppe buzzard

1 Greater spotted eagle

9 Lesser kestrel

4 Common kestrel

12 Moorhen

2 Coot

4 Lapwing

3 Green sandpiper

2 Wood sandpiper

8 Snipe

200 Eurasian collared dove

100 Laughing dove

40 Namaqua dove

30 Common swift

3 White-throated kingfisher

20 Green bee-eater

1 Turkestan shrike

2 Southern grey shrike

1 Steppe grey shrike

1 Woodchat shrike

2 Brown-necked raven

20 Crested lark

3 Skylark

2 Sand martin

2 Rock martin

150 Barn swallow

5 White-spectacled bulbul

50 White-cheeked bulbul

5 Chiffchaff

25 Graceful prinia

3 Black scrub robin

9 Bluethroat

7 European stonechat

3 Pied wheatear

15 Desert wheatear

15 Starling

1 Yellow wagtail

120 White wagtail

8 Tawny pipit

120 Spanish sparrow

1 Streaked weaver

3 Indian silverbill