Spur-winged Lapwing - Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili)

On the way out of Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili) we stopped again at the wetland area to see what was there. Apart from a similar selection of waders to those seen on the way in five hours before, including the still present Pacific Golden Plover, we also found an adult Spur-winged Plover. Records of this species are apparently becoming more common in the Eastern Province with four records in the last two years, but there are still only seven records of seven birds classing it as a vagrant. All records I know of are shown below:

Haradh 24^th October 1986

Dhahran 22^nd November 1986
Sabkhat Al Fasl 30^th October & 6^th November 2009
An adult Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp, percolation pond 12^th & 13^th May 2011
An adult Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp, percolation pond 8^th August 2012
Dhahran Saudi Aramco Camp, percolation pond 27^th September to 2^nd October 2012
An adult Ash Shargiyah Development Company Farm (Fadhili) 12^th October 2012

Spur-winged Lapwing has a distribution from the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East up the River Nile to central & southern Sudan, and South of the Sahara from Senegal through Nigeria to Ethiopia, and southwards to Uganda and Kenya. Birds are regularly seen in the Riyadh area and further west in Saudi Arabia.