Some bird records from the Dibdibah Plains from the 1980’s - Bird records by Cliff Peterson

The following are some more bird records by Cliff Peterson who birded Saudi Arabia in the 1980’s. These are from the stony desert in the northern part of the Eastern Province. I personally have not seen any of these species with the exception of Bimaculated Lark, a species Phil and I found a flock of in a large Pivot irrigation field in spring 2013.

Bimaculated Lark – Seen on the Dibdibah during the winter, a good place to go to bag several of the unusual larks.  We counted 300 one December.  I did find this species once in Wadi Nisah in February.

Dunn's Lark - Again, the Dibdibah during winter has the highest probability of producing this species. However, this image is one of 60 that we located while camping at Hamra Judah.  They are nomadic: there had been good rains at Hamrah Judah that produced seeds.  This image is from November 1984.  Note the large bulbous bill and prominent eye set into a relatively large amount of white on the sides of the head.

Temminck's Lark - I have records from Haradh and the Dibdibah November to April.

Eurasian Dotterel - This species was only found on the Dibdibah (northern Eastern Province).  We did not see it every year but did locate flocks of up to 400 during December 1983.  By March their numbers are greatly diminished as they returned to high Arctic habitats in Eurasia to breed.