Dammam – Al Khobar Wader Roost South

A trip to Dammam – Al Khobar Wader Roost South at high tide produced three adult Crab Plovers. The tide had pushed the birds well up under the bank and good views were possible. Wader numbers are still not high with the main species being Greater Sand Plover & Eurasian Curlew. The first Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stints were showing today along with a few Terek Sandpipers, Lesser Sand Plovers and Common Redshanks. Other waders included a single Bar-tailed Godwit and three Whimbrels. Eurasian Curlew is a common passage migrant and winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with a few birds staying the entire summer. The subspecies that occurs is the long-billed N. a. orientalis if you thought the birds loked slighty odd.

Crab Plovers (adults)

Crab Plovers in flight (adults)

Black-winged Stilt (adult)

Eurasian Curlew

Eurasian Curlew in flight

Terns were about in good numbers with 30+ Little/Saunder’s Terns, one Gull-billed Tern and 17 Caspian Terns and the Western Osprey was sitting on an offshore buoy surveying the scenery. The Greater Hoopoe Lark was still present in the same area but little else of interest was seen. Sevn Indian Reef Heron were feeding with all being white phase birds exceppting on grey phase and a single Indian House Crow was seen in the palm trees on the way into the site.

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Saunder’s/Little Tern (juvenile)

Saunder’s/Little Tern in flight (juvenile)

Indian Reef Heron (adult white phase)

For more information about my birding exploits in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia and ringing trips to Bahrain, please visit my website “Birds of Saudi Arabia“.

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.

• Web
|
• More Posts (141)