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11 February 2016

At least five Pied Kingfishers wintering - Jubail

The weekend of 29 January Phil and I saw five Pied Kingfishers perched together in the reed-beds. There were two groups of two and another single, with all five birds being females. These birds appear to be wintering at the site as they are presumably part of the influx that happened late last year. Initially a female Pied Kingfisher was found by me on 23 October 2015 with numbers increasing to twelve by 5 December 2015, the largest gathering of the species ever recorded in the Kingdom. At least four staying until the year end with five seen 29 January 2016. These birds were part of a significant influx of Pied Kingfishers into the eastern part of Arabia in late October and early November 2015 with birds seen in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait as well as Saudi Arabia where other birds have been seen at Al Hair, near Riyadh.
Pied Kingfishers

Pied Kingfishers

Pied Kingfishers