Birds of Saudi Arabia: Large numbers of Black Kites and Steppe Eagles in Tabuk

Viv went birding along the road from Tabuk towards the Jordanian boarder and saw a lot of Black Kites and Steppe Eagles. It appears to be a good winter for wintering Steppe Eagles with good numbers of birds also seen in the Rabigh area of the Red Sea coast, where they normally move south by this time of year. We would have been happy to see one Steppe Eagle on our trip north last weekend but alas we could not identify the three eagles we saw due to their distance from us. Viv also saw a few Common Kestrels and mentioned there are still good numbers of Western Cattle Egrets in the spray fields. I have put below a number of photographs Viv took and has kindly allowed me to use on my website. I would like to thank Greg McIvor who pointed out an error in the first photo below that should have been Greater Spotted Eagle rather than Steppe Eagle. I have corrected the mistake now.