Whilst birding Khafra Marsh 29 October 2021 we came across an adult Black-winged Kite, sitting on some overhead lines. This bird has been about for at least a few weeks and possibly stayed throughout the summer. The first record for the Eastern Province was only found on 17 April 2012, but since then has become more common with birds seen in almost every month and every year since the first record. A juvenile, able to fly, was found at Khafra Marsh a couple of years ago, in the presence of two adults suggesting breeding may have occurred, but this has not definitely be confirmed. Rather than being a vagrant to the Eastern Province its status has changed to a scarce visitor. All birds sub-specifically identified in the east of the Kingdom were the eastern subspecies Elanus caeruleus vociferous a subspecies that occurs from Pakistan east to southern & eastern China, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula.
