Whilst birding at Jubail I came across a Stonechat with extensive white wing patches and a white rump but did not show any white down the side of the tail that many show, indicating it was not a variagata/armenicus type. These birds are uncommon winter visitors to the Eastern Province from late August until March […]
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.
Some good birds in and around Jubail
There are some good areas for birdwatching in Jubail but they take some looking for. The birds that frequent these areas are also good at times and again take some looking for. Whilst birding the area recently I have come across a few good birds including a Citrine Wagtail, and a fly past Long-legged Buzzard. […]
Ringing abietinus type Chiffchaff – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl in January I trapped a quite grey/brown looking Chiffchaff with few greenish tones. Unfortunately, with Chiffchaffs, things get complicated in the Middle East. With Mountain Chiffchaffs nearby, which look quite like Siberian Chiffchaff tristis, and a series of taxa with intriguing combinations of abietinus or intermediate plumage but tristis-like […]
Great Cormorants – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Great Cormorant was quite an unusual bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl three or four years ago, but now it is a common winter visitor with hundreds seen on each visit. Birds can be seen in the very early morning flying into the site from their roosting areas nearby, with some birds staying all day in […]
Glossy Ibis – Jubail
Whilst birding Jubail I came across a single Glossy Ibis in flight over a wetland area. The bird flew around and landed in some flooded sabkha and then flew again and disappeared. The species is seldom seen in the Jubail area with only one or two records a year. Glossy Ibis is an uncommon but […]
Returning Waders – Jubail
The number of waders in the Jubail area is increasing with one or two quite unusual species being seen. An early Broad-billed Sandpiper was an unusual sighting by a small area of water alongside a track as was the well marked Black-winged Stilt seen previously that is still in the same area. More usual waders […]
Three Great Black-headed Gulls – Jubail
Whilst birding the Jubail area last weekend we came across three Great Black-headed Gulls sitting on a flooded area of sabkha. One bird was an adult in full summer plumage with the other two being second calendar year birds. Jubail has turned out to be a good site to see the species in the last […]
A winter Egyptian Nightjar – Jubail
When travelling to a birding site in the very early morning, when it was still completely dark I found an Egyptian Nightjar sitting under a line of trees. The bird flew a short distance and landed where I took a couple of photos of the bird using a flashgun before it flew again a short […]