Whilst birding the Sarrar area at then end of February I found a singing Corn Bunting. I could hear the bird singing but could not locate it, but after some time and moving around to try to pinpoint it I saw it at the edge of a large pivot irrigation field sitting on the ground.
The Corn Bunting is an uncommon and irregular winter visitor to the Eastern Province and a bird I see infrequently. Although I have seen birds in Dhahran I mostly see them in the large pivot fields to the north around Qaryat Al Ulya Qaryat.
This bird was well south if these fields showing that they can be found around any pivot field in the winter if conditions are right. The bird was very happy singing and allowed close approach and was even in the same place thirty minutes later when I went past the area again.
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.
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