Whilst birding Abu Ali Island in February we found a few Lesser Crested Terns sitting on some metal poles sticking out from the sea close to the shore. This species is seen irregularly along the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia in winter and return to breed on offshore islands in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in the summer. We have ringed more than 3000 birds so far in Bahrain with ring recoveries all coming from the east of Bahrain with birds recorded in India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
