Whilst birding at Jubail 28 October
Phil Roberts informed me he had seen a White-throated Kingfisher along one side
of the reed beds. Later on the same day Mohammed Al-Ruqaya met me whilst I was
ringing and showed me photos on his camera of a bird he and Arnold Uy had seen
on the other side of the reserve. Arnold later sent me a couple of his
excellent photos of the bird that are reproduced below with his kind
permission. White-throated Kingfisher is a scarce bird in the Eastern Province
with most records coming from Sabkhat Al Fasl but they have been seen as far
south as Dhahran in previous years. Up until the end of the 1980’s there had
only been two records from the Eastern Province, both from the Dhahran area but
there have been more sighting since mainly from the Jubail to Al Khobar region
although a northern record from Jebal Nayriyyah and a southerly record from
Udhailiyyah have also occurred in the last two years. This is the first record
I know of this winter from the Eastern Province.
