Things have slowed down considerably on the birding front in the last week with very few interesting birds to see. The summer in Saudi Arabia is very hot with daytime temperatures over 40 °C each day. Migrant birds will not start returning until August, with the exception of a few early waders in July so looking for the odd stray or out of place bird is the challenge now. During the last few days there have been a few interesting birds including a late Western Cattle Egret feeding on the wet areas of the spray fields. Western Cattle Egret is a winter visitor to the Eastern Province and summer records are scarce. The same wet area as the Western Cattle Egret was using also had an adult and well-grown immature Little Ringed Plover, indicating they had bred again in Dhahran Camp. The only other waders seen were six Black-winged Stilts and two Kentish Plovers, species that have also bred on the camp.
 |
| Western Cattle Egret |
 |
| Western Cattle Egret |
 |
| Western Cattle Egret |
 |
| Little Ringed Plover - juvenile |
There has been little else to see recently with the exception of an adult Purple Heron that was seen on the percolation pond and again flying over the spray fields. Four Little Terns are still feeding around the percolation pond and one was seen to take a small frog. The Arabian Red Fox has also been seen on a number of occasions just as it is getting dark but not much else.