Whilst birding the Jubail area recently I came across a number of
Garganey Anas querquedula. The species is a common migrant to all
areas of the Kingdom with often hundreds seen together. A few birds also occur
in the winter months. Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) stated
they are a spring and autumn passage migrant, generally numerous. Occasional
winter visitor in variable numbers. Passes February to early May, peaking late
March/early April with flocks sometimes exceeding 100. Return passage is much
lighter and occurs mid-August to late October with groups seldom exceeding 20. In
the Eastern Province, it is a common
passage migrant, rare summer and scarce winter visitor. Generally, they
occur during spring migration from mid-February to late May with peak numbers
in early March. Numbers are much more common during autumn migration which
occurs from late August to mid-October with a peak in September when flocks of
twenty plus birds are quite frequent. Records are rare between late May and
late August and only small numbers are seen in the winter months of November to
early February. Birds normally occur on freshwater lakes, pools and lagoons
away from the littoral although in autumn birds are sometimes seen on the
shoreline and occasionally they have even been seen on the sea. Birds
normally stay at some distance from the shore as they are frightened of possible hunters but
luckily for me one flew right past and landed close to the shoreline allowing
some photos to be taken before it was frightened off by a passing security
vehicle.
