Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia
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26 August 2014
Waders passing through - Dhahran Hills
The last few days have seen a marked passage of waders in
the area and the camp has been good for them as well. The three areas of
permanent water that are on my local ‘patch’, the wet ditch, settling pools and
percolation pond have all had good birds on them in the last few days. The
ditch had a couple of Little Stints, Wood Sandpiper & Little Ringed Plover,
all of which allowed good photographs to be taken. The settling pond had a good
gathering of waders with the majority on Saturday 23 August including the
second record of Sanderling for me on the ‘patch’ as well as Marsh Sandpiper,
Curlew Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover, Common Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Green
Sandpiper, two Ruff, two Little Ringed Plovers, 20 Black-winged Stilts, seven
Kentish Plovers and 14 Little Stints. Waders seen on the percolation pond
included my second record for the ‘patch’ of Pacific Golden Plover and only the
third record for me in the Eastern Province which was an early record for the
species in the area as well. There were also plenty of Wood Sandpipers, Little
Stints, Black-winged Stilts and Kentish Plovers on the muddy edges of the pond,
but there was no sign of the White-tailed Lapwing.
Wood Sandpiper
Little Ringed Plover
Little Stint
Little Stint
Little Stint
Black-winged Stilt
Ruff
Pacific Golden Plover
Other migrants seen included a juvenile Lesser Grey
Shrike, one Yellow Wagtail, one Sand Martin and several Barn Swallows. The
first autumn record for me of Spotted Flycatcher was also seen along the fence
line of the pond. Two Garganey were on the percolation pond with hundreds of Little
Grebes.