An early morning trip to the Dammam / Al Khobar wader roost south and Dhahran Expro wader roost produced a good number of waders along with growing numbers of gulls. The most common gull seen now is Common Black-headed Gull rather than Slender-billed Gull which is seen throughout the summer and autumn. Terns are also starting to reappear with two Lesser Crested Terns, one Caspian Tern and a Gull-Billed Tern being seen. Quite large numbers of Greater Sand Plovers and Bar-tailed Godwits were present and number of Grey Plovers had built up considerably since my last visit. As the weather was overcast, birding the Dhahran Expro site was quite pleasant as I was not looking into the sun as is normally the case in the early morning here. Waders here included Eurasian Oystercatcher and large numbers of Eurasian Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwits. Small waders were made up of mainly Dunlins and a few Little Stints with 20+ Ruddy Turnstone also seen. At the Dammam site there were three Western Great Egrets sitting in the water, which is unusual for this site, along with 11 Indian Reef Herons and three Greater Flamingos were feeding a bit further out to sea.
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| Common Black-headed Gull - first winter |
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| Dunlin |
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| Little Stint |