Gulls & Terns - Dammam / Al Khobar Wader Roost south

The Dammam / Al Khobar Wader Roost South is now getting more and more difficult to view due to the continual building work going on at the site. A trip there on Friday produced a few waders but a large build-up of Terns and Gulls has occurred since I was last at the site. Most of the Terns were Lesser Crested Terns with at least 150 birds present most of them in wing moult. A number of Saunders/Little Terns were also present. Slender-billed Gull numbers had increased to 57 birds with everyone an adult. A number of Large White-headed Gulls were present with three Steppe Gulls and a Caspian Gull and a number of other birds too distant to identify. Waders included Terek Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel, Sanderling (three birds), Dunlin, Common Redshanks and Black-winged Stilt. I went to the Dhahran Expro high tide wader roost, but the sun was in the wrong direction making viewing almost impossible. There were a lot of birds present but the only interesting one I could identify was a Temminck’s Stint.


Lesser Crested Tern

Lesser Crested Tern

Lesser Crested Terns

Slender-billed Gull

Eurasian Curlew

Dunlin

Black-winged Stilt