Viv was in Tabuk at his compound and saw a Booted Eagle fly over on 11
January 2016. Booted Eagle is a scarce species in the Kingdom and one that was
considered to be entirely a passage migrant. There have been a number of winter
records in recent years and its status has changed to a scarce passage migrant
and winter visitor. In the Eastern Province it is a vagrant with five records
of five birds but I saw a Booted Eagle at Sabkhat Al Fasl 8 January a new
species for me in the Kingdom, although I had a similar record last winter but
could not 100% convince myself the bird was a Booted Eagle. This time I was
certain but failed to get any photographs of the bird. Hopefully these birds
will stay around the same areas until spring allowing more views and
photographs to be taken. I thank Viv for allowing me to use his photos of the Booted Eagle he took in Tabuk which are shown below.
