Whilst birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl in January I saw and photographed a second calendar year Eastern Imperial Eagle. The species is rarely seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl although the Greater Spotted Eagle is seen almost every visit during the winter. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most […]
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.
Spanish Sparrows a ringing ringing species for me in Saudi Arabia – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 8 January with Nicole we trapped and ringed a male and two female Spanish Sparrows. This is the first time either Nicole or I have ringed the species and made two new site species for the day after the Jack Snipe. I had seen a small group of […]
A retrapped and returning Red-spotted Bluethroat – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 8 January I trapped a male Red-spotted Bluethroat that we had previously trapped in January 2014. This bird had presumably been back to its breeding grounds in the far north and then returned to spend its winter in exactly the same small area of Sabkhat Al Fasl as […]
Jack Snipe a new ringing species for the site – Sabkhat Al Fasl
Whilst ringing at Sabkhat Al Fasl on 8 January I trapped and ringed a Jack Snipe, a species that we had not ringed previously at the location. The Jack Snipe is an uncommon winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where it is normally found in marshy areas away from the coast from […]
Arabian Green Bee-eater – A new Arabian endemic?
The Handbook of Birds of the world have just split Arabian Green Bee-eater from Green Bee-eater. Philothrus cyanophrys Cabanis and Heine, 1860, Arabia = mountains of Al Qunfudhah, southwestern Saudi Arabia. Usually treated as conspecific with M. viridissimus and M. orientalis, but differs from both in its very short stub-ended central tail feathers; bright blue […]
Greater Flamingos – Al Khobar Sea Front
I had a couple of spare hours between dropping the family off and picking them up again in town so went to the Al Khobar Sea Front. This area is being heavily developed but has good tracks along the sea front allowing views over the tidal mud flats. The tide was completely out when I […]
NCT Stonechat – Sabkhat Al Fasl
A number of Stonechat have been seen at Sabkhat Al Fasl in recent weeks with all the ones I have seen appearing to be European Stonechat. I saw a male bird with a very white rump patch and plenty of white extending down the outside of the tail in a Wheatear type tail pattern. This […]
Greater Hoopoe Lark taking advantage of hay bales – Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili)
Greater Hoopoe Lark is known to take advantage of various items to help it regulate its temperature and slow down water loss during the heat of the day. Using the large burrows of Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizards to get out of the sun has been well documented as one way they achieve this. Whilst we were […]