Big arrival of Kentish Plovers – Dhahran Hills

There have been relatively few birds about on the camp in the last few weeks but on 17 June there was a large arrival of Kentish Plovers and Black-winged Stilts. Normally there are a few Kentish Plovers as birds breed on the camp in small numbers but this number increased from less than ten to 38 birds with almost all of them on the settling pond and the flat areas surrounding it. Numbers of Black-winged Stilts are building up as well with many more juveniles seen now. The best places for seeing these are the settling pond and percolation pond with over 50 birds present now. The great thing about doing a local patch is that you immediately recognize anything unusual and although Kentish Plover is common on the coast with hundreds seen each day they are less common on the patch and this high number for my ‘patch’ made my day. Things like this keep birding interesting even in the quietest part of the year.