The Red-spotted Bluethroat is an uncommon wintering species in Saudi Arabia with birds wintering at Sabkhat Al Fasl each year, where it is locally common. The first birds return to Sabkhat Al Fasl around the same time and appear to be females with ringing data suggesting they first return in mid-October.
A week or so later males are also seen with females and numbers then build up throughout the winter with birds staying around until the end of March to early April. Ringing this year has shown the same pattern with both male and female birds trapped on 28 October 2016. We have retrap data showing that some birds use the same small area of Sabkhat Al Fasl each winter returning to exactly the same spot.
It is not possible to tell it they are Red-spotted or White-spotted unless they are adult males. We have caught many Red-spotted Bluethroats but only two White-spotted, with White-spotted being a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia birds have been seen from August to May.
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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