Phil Roberts and I went to Jubail in early May and had a great morning’s birding with lots of migrants. Immediately on arrival we saw ten summer plumage Red-necked Phalaropes, but they were quite distant so no phots were possible. Over the course of the morning, we located 62 species, a very high number for the location where 40 species is normal. The best birds seen were a Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, an unusual sighting for this location, several Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Eurasian Roller, Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Tree Pipit, and shrikes of various species including Lesser Grey Shrike. Waders were quite numerous with lots of Wood Sandpipers and two Terek Sandpipers seen and Pied Avocet starting to breed along with Little Tern and Black-winged Stilt. It was a good first day birding back in Saudi Arabia after a short break back to the UK.
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| Blue-cheeked Bee-eater |
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| Blue-cheeked Bee-eater |
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| European Roller |
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| European Roller |
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| Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush |
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| Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
