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 regular passage migrant from March to early May and from August to November in the Eastern Province as well as a scarce summer and winter visitor. It is more common in Riyadh where it is predominantly a passage migrant and winter visitor but ones and twos are normally present throughout the year.
They pass through the Riyadh area from March to early June, usually in small flocks but up to 40 together have been recorded, and again from late July to November, often in groups of 20 plus.
Winter populations vary but seldom more than a dozen present. Elsewhere it is most commonly seen in the southwest of the Kingdom.
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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