Whilst birdwatching at Deffi Park in Jubail in the earl morning of 27
January I found two Redwing Turdus
iliacus in with a group of migrant Black-throated Thrush and Song Thrush.
Unfortunately after finding them and getting a couple of poor photos a walker
disturbed them and they flew off and despite three hours searching could not be
relocated. This was a new species for me and takes my total of species seen in
Saudi Arabia to 350. All these species have been found by myself or others whilst
I have been with them so is not a bad reflection of six years birding the
Kingdom. The species is a rare winter visitor to the Kingdom mainly to the
Eastern Province where Bundy states single birds in Dhahran 23 December 1973 to
23 January 1974; one on 13 February and two on 17 February 1974, 8-19 December
1974 and 4-15 February 1975, three 16-23 January 1976 and two 5 March 1976. Two
at Abqaiq 25 November 1975, two 17 February 1976 and a party of five flying
over Abqaiq town 30 November 1977. The only birds seen away from the Eastern
Province that I know of was a small influx in Yanbu during 1991/92 winter with
two from 5-16 January 1992 feeding on fallen dates in a palm grove and a flock
of seven on 20 January 1992. These were the first for the west part of the
Kingdom. Since this date I do not know of any other records but this may partly
be because of the lack of observers in the country.
