overwintered in Bet Shean valley, northern Israel between December 1994 and February with further reports of four or five japonicus race birds in the same area in December. The species now regularly overwinters, in varying numbers, in the Eilat area. There was also a probable at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Sinai on 24 December. In Saudi Arabia an unprecedented passage of Citrine Wagtails Motacilla citreola was recorded, with at least 20 in the Riyadh area from mid-September to late October. In Egypt two African Pied Wagtails M. aguimp were at the now regular locality of Abu Simbel on 18 November. The UAE hosted its seventh (and only the eighth Arabian) Forest Wagtail Dendronanthus indicus at Bateen Gardens, Abu Dhabi on 16-23 October. All have been since 1987 with the two most recent in 1994 (Orn. Soc. Middle East Bull. 34: 32).
UAE hosted two flocks of Grey Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus: seven at Al Wathba from 2-15 November and 20 at Sila on 10 November, whilst 62 were at Riyadh on 24 November, but a male at Abu Simbel, Egypt on 16 November, which was incredibly joined by a female or immature on 8 December were only the second country record (the other being in 1938). There is one other record from Africa: on the Eritrean Red Sea coast in 1850 (Urban & Brown 1971). Mist-netting at Jahra Pool, Kuwait produced the first record in Arabia of Wren Troglodytes troglodytes on 23 November, closely followed by Arabia's second Black-throated Accentor Prunella atrogularis five days later: the first was a specimen taken in Oman (Alström 1991). Other exciting finds there included t he second and third national records of Dunnock P. modularis in the same period (see Birding World 8 (12): 451). A Siberian Rubythroat Luscinia calliope previously reported at Eilat on 25 April 1994 (Orn. Soc. Middle East Bull. 33: 36) has been rejected by the Israeli Rarities Committee (RDCNI) (Shirihai 1995). In Israel the first breeding Rock Thrushes Monticola saxatilis away from Hermon were a pair with nestlings at Biq'at Qadesh, Galilee on 23-24 April (Brit. Birds 89 (1): 39). Two Blackbirds Turdus merula were the 12-13th records in UAE: on Das Island on 14-16 November and at Jebel Ali on 8 December. A male Black-throated Thrush T. ruficollis was at the Emirates golf course on 10 November, whilst in Oman there were two at Dauka on 29 January and three at Hilf in the same month. This specie s appears to be increasingly regular in eastern Arabia. The first Armenian record since 1953 was a male at Yeghegnaozor on 15 October. It was followed by five at Mormazar on 16 November and two near Uedii on 25 November (see Birdwatch 43: 61). Surprisingly there are no records from adjacent Turkey. In Jordan there was a Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus at Jabal Sarab on 6 December and eight more at Alqadissiah on 8 December; the species is a scarce winter visitor. Stonechats Saxic ola torquata of one of the eastern races, either maura or stejnegeri, were reported at Sharm el Sheikh, Sinai on 25-27 November (Birding World 8 (11): 418), near South Shuneh, Jordan on 24 November and the first record in Armenia of one of these eastern races, was at Massis fishponds on 29 September. Another first for Armenia was a Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti at Horom on 30 October. There is one record from adjacent Turkey. An adult female Pied Wheatear O. pleschanka at Kourion beach, Cyprus on 19 April 1992 has recently been accepted as the first island record (J. Sadler in litt.). Two Cyprus Pied Wheate ars O. cypriaca at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 21 September constituted a new species for the area.
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