During the last few summer trips to Jubail I have found a few Squacco Herons in full breeding plumage as well as some is less pristine plumage. The species is very common here on spring and autumn migration as well as in the winter but is scarce in summer. Birds do occur here year round […]
Author: 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.
Anderson’s Rock Agama – Tanoumah
Whilst birdwatching in the Tanoumah area, in the mountains of southwest Saudi Arabia, I came across a very well camouflaged Anderson’s Rock Agama. This species is endemic to the Arabian Peninsula, where it is found in west and south Arabia, from Taif (Saudi Arabia) in the north to Dhofar (Oman) in the east. It is […]
Cream Coloured Coursers – Jubail
Whilst birding Jubail with Phil we came across two juvenile Cream-coloured Courser Cursorius cursor a locally common breeding resident of all scrub desert areas, but a species not often seen due to its habitat preferences. This was the first time I had seen the species in Jubail although Phil had seen them there once before. […]
Pied Avocet – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area in late June I found an adult Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta. Records at this time of year are scarce and always a pleasure to see. The Pied Avocet is an uncommon migrant and winter visitor to all coasts. Locally common along the southern Red Sea coast. Scarce inland but recorded […]
Collared Pratincoles – Jubail
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 […]
Little Terns – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area I came across a few Little Terns some of which had well grown young to feed. Some were resting on the muddy edge of some sabkha and other flying around. I took the opportunity to try to get a few flight shots of the birds as they flew about with […]
European Roller – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area in late May I came across two European Rollers of which one I was able to photograph and is shown below. Saudi Arabia has three species of roller on the country list. These are Indian Roller Coracias benghalensis a vagrant, Abyssinian Roller Coracias abyssinicus a breeding resident of the southwest […]
Yemen Rock Agama at Al Mehfar Park – Thanoumah
Whilst birdwatching the Al Mehfar Park area of Tanoumah I came across a few Yemen Rock Agama Acanthocercus yemensis. The Yemen Rock Agama occurs in northern Yemen and adjacent Saudi Arabia, but the limits of its distribution in Saudi Arabia are currently not well known, although I have seen it as far north as Bani […]