Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl on 8 June 2014, I found
a juvenile Red-wattled Lapwing. The bird was always into the sun and unfortunately a bus came by and scared it into flight, where it was mobbed by Black-winged Stilts, that had young nearby, and driven off. This is an interesting record as Lou and Brian
found an adult at this site 15 February 2014 raising the possibility that birds
may have bred at Sabkhat Al Fasl this year? As a result I asked Simon Price and
Neil Morris from Qatar about their breeding birds and when they disperse. They
mentioned their birds are still present with two adults and a juvenile and
Simon sent me a photo showing the juvenile bird that appears to be quite a bit
younger than the juvenile at Sabkhat Al Fasl. The birds in Qatar were hatched
in the first week on May so the bird at Sabkhat Al Fasl must have hatched in
April sometime but who knows where. As mentioned previously the species is scarce in Saudi
Arabia with records from Riyadh, the Empty Quarter and the Eastern Province. This
species is a resident breeder at wetlands in eastern Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, and is gradually colonizing westwards. It would be
great to think that the birds breeding to the north and south of us are trying
to join up their breeding ranges, but so far it has not yet been recorded to
breed in Saudi Arabia. In the Eastern province it is regarded as a scarce
passage migrant and winter visitor and there have been fifteen records prior to
this one of single birds from October to December (especially November), but
also January, April and July. Birds have been seen at Nayriyyah in the north,
three times at Haradh in the south with the last records being sixteen 24
November 1983, four times at Abqaiq and four times in Dhahran with the last
record 13 December 1985. The most recent records for the Eastern province was an
adult Lou and Brian found on a birding trip to the Eastern Province at Sabkhat
Al Fasl 15 February 2014 and an adult at Dhahran 1 June2014
