This autumn there have been large numbers
of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters passing over Jubail as well as many other areas of the Eastern
Province. The species is a common passage migrant through the Eastern Province
of Saudi Arabia with good numbers of birds passing in the spring as well as the
autumn. Numbers are commoner in the autumn when they outnumber European
Bee-eater whereas the opposite is true in the spring. This year birds have been
seen eating insects on the ground with a favourite insect the Migratory Locust.
The juvenile below eating the locust moved the insect around and hit it on its
perch until its wings were removed before eating it.
