This is my first weekend back in Saudi after an extended trip to the UK and it's still well in the spring migration period. In fact heavy overnight rain promised a possible 'fall' of migrants forced down by the bad weather. And so it proved to be at the Hai'r pivot fields south of Riyadh.
I set out at 5 a.m. and the rain had lifted but had left a fair amount of standing water in the fields. The first migrants I came across were several pied wheatear flitting around the surrounding rocky hills and a couple of bank myna prospecting for nests. This was the first time I had seen bank myna in Saudi but they are very common in Dubai. There was a single whinchat on one of the irrigation machines and as I was watching it a single lesser short-toed lark flew over giving its characteristic soft 'drrrrp' call.
Along the reeds at the back of the pivot fields backing onto the Riyadh river there were plenty more migrants including a single spotted flycatcher but pick of the crop were three lovely male white-throated robin. A single european bee-eater was also hawking for insects from a tall bush.
On the cropped field I was amazed to count over 100 ortolan bunting. I grilled them for something rarer but without any luck. On the next pivot field was an equally surprising huge flock of red-throated pipit and in the surrounding trees a female white-throated robin and a female black redstart. Picking around the leaf litter was one of several rufous bush-chat that I saw.
A few that 'got away' were a single ring-tailed harrier that may have been a hen harrier and two long distance swifts that could have been palm swifts.
All in all a very good day with 62 species from just the fields including 15 new species for me in the country.
________________ FULL LIST ________________
| Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) | 1 | ||||||
| Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) | 9 | ||||||
| Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) | 2 | ||||||
| Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) | 2 | ||||||
| Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) | 2 | ||||||
| Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides) | 4 | ||||||
| Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) | 1 | ||||||
| Eurasian Marsh-Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) | 1 | ||||||
| Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) | 1 | ||||||
| harrier sp. (Circus sp.) | 1 | ||||||
| Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) | 2 | ||||||
| falcon sp. (Falco sp.) | 1 | ||||||
| Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) | 8 | ||||||
| Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) | 1 | ||||||
| Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) | 5 | ||||||
| Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) | 200 | ||||||
| Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis) | 100 | ||||||
| Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis) | 9 | ||||||
| Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) | 1 | ||||||
| swift sp. (Apodidae sp.) | 2 | ||||||
| White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) | 4 | ||||||
| Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis) | 6 | ||||||
| European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) | 1 | ||||||
| Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) | 2 | ||||||
| Rufous-tailed Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) | 6 | ||||||
| Southern Gray Shrike (Lanius meridionalis) | 8 | ||||||
| Brown-necked Raven (Corvus ruficollis) | 1 | ||||||
| Desert Lark (Ammomanes deserti) | 1 | ||||||
| Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens) | 1 | ||||||
| Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) | 140 | ||||||
| Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) | 6 | ||||||
| Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula) | 2 | ||||||
| Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) | 160 | ||||||
| White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) | 180 | ||||||
| Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) | 50 | ||||||
| Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) | 40 | ||||||
| Eurasian Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) | 5 | ||||||
| Graceful Prinia (Prinia gracilis) | 90 | ||||||
| Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) | 1 | ||||||
| Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) | 1 | ||||||
| Black Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) | 6 | ||||||
| Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) | 5 | ||||||
| White-throated Robin (Irania gutturalis) | 3 | ||||||
| Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) | 2 | ||||||
| Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) | 1 | ||||||
| Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) | 3 | ||||||
| Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) | 1 | ||||||
| Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) | 3 | ||||||
| Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) | 6 | ||||||
| Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus) | 2 | ||||||
| Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) | 1 | ||||||
| Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) | 120 | ||||||
| Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) | 1 | ||||||
| White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) | 1 | ||||||
| Long-billed Pipit (Anthus similis) | 1 | ||||||
| Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) | 2 | ||||||
| Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis) | 1 | ||||||
| Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus) | 180 | ||||||
| Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana) | 110 | ||||||
| Desert Finch (Rhodospiza obsoleta) | 3 | ||||||
| Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) | 300 | ||||||
| Streaked Weaver (Ploceus manyar) | 8 | ||||||
| Red Avadavat (Amandava amandava) | 1 | ||||||
| Indian Silverbill (Euodice malabarica) | 4 |
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