I was birding the Jubail area when
I found an immature Eurasian Spoonbill on a wet Sabkha area. The bird was quite
some distance away on the ground but flew after a couple of minutes. It circled
around but unfortunately did not land again and flew off and away. The status
of the species has changed over the years in the Eastern Province, with it
being regarded as a rare and irregular visitor usually involving immature birds
until the end of the 1980’s. Today it is an uncommon visitor in all months to
the province. In Central Saudi Arabia the status of the species has also
changed with the List of Birds of Saudi Arabia (Jennings 1981) saying there
were no inland records for the country. By the mid 1980’s the Birds of the
Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) stated that prior to 1987 the Spoonbill was a rare
autumn visitor. Since then it made frequent appearances along the Riyadh
watercourse and became a spasmodic spring and autumn passage migrant and a
regular winter visitor in growing numbers. In the late 1990’s the species was
not recorded at all by the local birders and is still regarded as a scarce bird
in the area. The main stronghold for the species in Saudi Arabia is the Red Sea
where it is a common resident breeder. Largest numbers are seen in the
southwest near Jizan but birds have been recorded all along the coast to north to
Yanbu. Jubail is the best location to see the species in the Eastern Province
but it is far from guaranteed here being only see on a few days per year.
