Whilst birding the coast just south of Jizan in July we went to the location where we found 100 Lesser Flamingo in 2018. Birds have been present here continually since this date. This trip we saw well over 600 birds, but the high humidity and temperatures made counting very unpleasant so no accurate number was obtained. The species was a vagrant to Saudi Arabia prior to these records but they are now a scarce visitor. There are a number of nests present in the area that were made by the Lesser Flamingos over the last three years , as can be seen in two of the below photos, the first breeding attempt for the Kingdom but no young or eggs have ever been seen so breeding has not be confirmed yet. The large numbers of birds may be due to the large-scale disturbances in Yemen pushing them into Saudi Arabia? The Lesser Flamingo are always associated with a lesser number of Greater Flamingo making a spectacular sight.
