Whilst birding watching in the west of the Kingdom I came across three juvenile Barbary FalconsFalco pelegrinoides. This is a rare breeding species whose numbers have declined significantly during the last twenty years and is rarely seen in the Kingdom nowadays. Two birds where seen flying high with another one luckily flying lower overhead to allow some reasonable photos to be taken.
Although I have seen Barbary Falcon once before, these are the first photographs I have taken of the species in the Kingdom. I sent the photos to Andrea Corso, a renowned bird expert, for confirmation on my identification as Barbary Falcon and Andrea very kindly responded with the following comments: “The darker bird is a more Peregrine-like juvenile, with dark markings on underbody reaching the lower flanks, thigh-feathers, and undertail.
The paler birds are more Barbary Falcon like juveniles, with dark markings concentrated on the middle breast/belly, and little or no patterning on undertail coverts, lower flanks and trousers”.
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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