I made another visit to Dammam Port Mangroves a couple of days ago at high tide and saw a juvenile Eurasian Spoonbill amongst the small wader flock. This site is the best place to see Eurasian Spoonbill in the Eastern Province as far as I am aware with birds seen regularly throughout the year. This species has obviously become more common in the Eastern Province over the years as I have seen quite a few now and they were a scarce bird in the late 1980's. Other birds seen here included 50+ Greater Sand Plovers, five Eurasian Curlew, 15 Saunder's Terns, one Western Great Egret and six Indian Reef Herons. One the way out of the site I saw a House Crow flying across the road.
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| Saunder's Terns |
One word of caution for anyone who may be thinking of birding this site, and that is the local coast guard are very active here. They do not really like me being there and certainly object to the camera hence the lack of photographs from this site. They do tolerate me when I show my identification card but be aware they will more than likely stop you if you go there. They have always been very friendly to me but have asked me to lave on a few occasions, although allowed me to stay on many more occasions.
