Mohammed Alruqaya found some Rueppell’s
Weaver Ploceus galbula in Qatif
whilst birding in mid-March. This is a species that does not occur in the
Eastern Province of the Kingdom but one that I have seen once in Dhahran Camp
in 2014, so these are very interesting records and it will be interesting to
see if they start breeding there. These birds are probably from escaped or
released cage birds as is the case with the speices in Riyadh the nearest area
where they occur. In Saudi Arabia Rueppell’s Weaver is a common and widespread breeding
resident species in the southwest of the Kingdom occurring north to north of
Jeddah. Apparently it is only a summer breeding visitor to Hejaz and Asir
mountains preferring to spend the winter at lower elevations and is not found
on summits or in juniper and is less common here than in the lowlands. It has
been introduced into the Riyadh area where it has bred but remains uncommon. I would like to thank Mohammed for allowing me to use his excellent photos on my website some of which are shown below,
