Whilst birding the Jubail area 10 September we came across a good number is hirundines. Most birds were Barn Swallow with very good numbers of Sand Martins included. Barn Swallow is not an easy bird to photograph in my experience in Saudi Arabia, so I spent some time trying to get reasonable shots of a perched bird. Migration has just started in earnest with good numbers of shrikes, mainly Red-backed, Daurian and Turkestan as well as a few Spotted Flycatchers. Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters are passing over in small flocks daily some allowing close inspection and photographs to be taken. Warbler numbers seem to be low in the Eastern Province at present although a good number of Reed Warblers were calling from the reed beds. Herons were present with hundreds of Grey Heron, Squacco Heron and Little Egret and much smaller numbers of Western Reef Heron and a couple of Purple Heron.
