Whilst birding Khafrah Marsh at the end of August we saw three European Roller. One was seen sitting on overhead lines where is stayed for some time and the others in more open land with shrubs, but the light was poors o no photos were taken. Some European Rollers are quite timid and fly well before you can get close, with others being the opposite and remain in place even when the car gets quite close (possibly tired migrants). Luckily for photography, this one fell into the second group allowing me to take a few photos shown below. Saudi Arabia has three species of roller on the country list. These are Indian Roller Coracias benghalensis a vagrant, Abyssinian Roller Coracias abyssinicus a breeding resident of the southwest region of the Kingdom and European Roller Coracias garrulus an uncommon to common passage migrant from March to May and again from mid-July to late September when juveniles are also seen along with the occasional adult. Birds are regularly seen in all areas of the Eastern Province almost every year in both spring and autumn but less commonly in autumn.
