Whilst birding the Jubail area, I found and photographed three Collared Pratincoles Glareola pratincola along the edge of a flooded area of Sabkha on 2 June 2017. This is quite a late date for the species to be recorded in the Eastern Province of the country.
The Collared Pratincole is an uncommon passage migrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, with a similar status in the Riyadh area where they occur from late March to May and in August and September.
During the remaining summer months and in October it tends to be scarce and irregular. Records are more common in the autumn than spring in Riyadh with autumn movement from late July to late October, peaking late August to early September, when flocks of 40 plus (mainly juveniles) are regularly encountered.
In the southwest, west and northwest of the country records are more common mainly at freshwater inland areas where flocks of over 100 have been recorded at Tabuk.
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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