Harald Ris who is visiting Dhahran visiting his father found three
species of Kingfisher together on a small pond on Dhahran Hills golf course on
13 February 2015. Any Kingfisher on the patch is good but three species
together is very unusual but not unique. The species seen were Pied Kingfisher,
White-throated Kingfisher and Common Kingfisher. As I had not seen any
Kingfishers on the ‘patch’ previously I was keen to look for the birds so went
out at first light the next day. The White-throated Kingfisher was present
hunting from the trees near the pond and a male Common Kingfisher was present
as well on the rocks and reeds of the pond edge, but there was no sign of the
Pied Kingfisher. Interestingly the Common Kingfisher seen and photographed the
day before was a female bird. Both Pied Kingfisher and White-throated
Kingfisher are scarce visitors to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with
Common Kingfisher being a common winter visitor to wetland areas. There were a
number of other good birds in the same area with a Great Egret, a Grey Heron
and two Indian Reef Herons, a white and a dark phase bird. Two adult male
Little Bitterns were in the reeds as were plenty of Clamorous Reed Warblers,
two Bluethroats and five Common Chiffchaffs. A single Song Thrush and three
Eurasian Sparrowhawks made up the other good birds seen.
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| White-throated Kingfisher |
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| White-throated Kingfisher |
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| Indian Reef Heron |
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| Indian Reef Heron |