Whilst at Jubail this winter I have seen good numbers of Greater Flamingo with numbers exceeding two-thousand birds. Occasionally the birds were close to the shore, whch is unusual at this location, allowing good views.
I spent quite some time looking to see if I could locate any birds with plastic Darvic rings on them as they have been seen in previous years but without luck. A bird with a large white plastic ring, originally ringed in Turkey also spent one winter in the Al Khobar area recently.
The Greater Flamingos included both adults in bright pink plumage and juveniles in their more drab greyish pink plumage. The species is a common winter visitor to the entire length of the Arabian Gulf in the Eastern Province.
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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