European Goldfinch Dhahran Hills – Bird records by Mats Ris

Mats Ris is a birder in the Dhahran Saudi Aramco camp who is originally from Sweden. He goes out birding quite frequently and has seen some good birds in his time in the camp. Yesterday morning he saw a European Goldfinch in the sprayfields in the corner close to the new ponds being constructed, on a small road going across the sprayfield, parallel to the same road, going to the big pond. This is a very good bird for Saudi Arabia and one I have not seen on the camp, or in Saudi Arabia for that matter. Records are mainly seen in the north of Saudi Arabia with them being common in the Tabuk area in some winters. I hope the bird stays around until this evening and I have the opportunity of seeing it on the 'patch'. Mats kindly sent me a couple of photos he took of the bird with a small camera and allowed me to add them to my website below.