Whilst birding the bottom of the Raydah Escarpment in late March I came across a Black-crowned Tchagra. This was a new species for me in Saudi Arabia and one I was surprised I had not seen before. The bird was at the bottom of the Raydah Escarpment an area known to attract several African species […]
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.
Immature Eurasian Spoonbill – Jubail
I was birding the Jubail area when I found an immature Eurasian Spoonbill on a wet Sabkha area. The bird was quite some distance away on the ground but flew after a couple of minutes. It circled around but unfortunately did not land again and flew off and away. The status of the species has […]
European Roller Ringing Recovery – Riyadh
Brendan recently sent me a ringing recovery of a European Roller that he and Abdullah trapped and ringed in Bahrain in 2008 that was found dead in the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia in 2014. It was a bit of a shame that it was not found on its wintering grounds as we could have […]
Plenty of migrants – Jubail
Whilst birdwatching the Jubail area at the end of March I saw a lot of good birds and plenty of migrants. Unfortunately the weather was very poor and photography was difficult so most species remained un-photographed. The weather this winter has been very wet and windy and the morning drive to Jubail was through a […]
‘Superciliaris’ type Yellow Wagtail – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area I came across a large group of wagtails including Yellow Wagtails, White Wagtails and Citrine Wagtails. In amongst the mainly Black-headed Yellow Wagtails I saw briefly a superciliaris type bird. I managed to get a single photo of it before it flew off and could see it had many features […]
Birds of prey eating Fat Sand Rats near Jubail – Records by Arnold Uy
Arnold Uy has been seeing Fat Sand Rats at a location near Jubail for most of the winter but reported that recently a large number of birds of prey as well as other birds were in the area probably eating the animals. Species seen included Greater Spotted Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Common Kestrel and Long-legged […]
Eastern Black-headed Yellow Wagtail – Jubail
Whilst birding Jubail at the end of March I found ta number of Eastern Black-headed Yellow Wagtail melanogrisea feeding along a path and near the waters edge. This subspecies is not as common as Black-headed Wagtail feldegg in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia but arrive in early to mid-March similar to feldegg. Some individual […]
Bee-eaters – Records by Vinu Mathew
Vinu Mathew has been seeing quite a lot of Bee-eaters recently and has managed to take photos of both European Bee-eater and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. He has kindly sent me some of his photos and allowed me to use them on my website some of which are shown below. Both species of Bee-eaters have been reported […]