Mats Ris sent me an email and photos of a
Grey-headed Swamphen and Water Rail he had seen at a small pond on the Dhahran
golf course. Grey-headed Swamphen has only been recorded a couple of times in
Dhahran so this is a very good record. The Grey-headed Swamphen is a common
resident breeder at Sabkhat Al Fasl, Jubail and has recently (August 2011)
expanded its breeding range to Khafrah Marsh a wetland site 30 kilometres
south-west of Sabkhat where six adults and a young bird were found. The species
favoured habitat is large Phragmites
australis reed-beds with associated water which is available at all the
sites the species has been seen at in Saudi Arabia. The range expansion appears
to be quite quick as the first record for Saudi Arabia was on 8th August 2003
at Sabkhat Al Fasl core area 2 with breeding confirmed in 2007 and numbers
increasing each year since this date. Other signs of the species expanding its
range include a record from Dhahran percolation pond, 130 kilometres to the
south of Sabkhat Al Fasl in October 2009 with two birds there in December 2014
and a sighting of one and possibly two birds at a farm well inland from jubail.
The most recent records are three adult birds at the same site 4 September 2015
showing a very high likelihood of breeding here as well. It appears that the
rapid population increase observed at Sabkhat al Fasl over the past five years
has created pressures on territories and prompted some birds to move to
alternative suitable habitats within the Eastern Province and thereby expand
its range. This expansion now appears to have taken in Dammam as birds are
regularly seen in the wetlands around the industrial city. I thank Mats for allowing me to use his photos on my website which are shown below.
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| Grey-headed Swamphen |
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| Grey-headed Swamphen |
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| Water Rail |