About Me

My name is Jem Babbington and I am a keen birder and ameteur photographer currently located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia which is just across the causeway from Bahrain. I arrived in Saudi Arabia in late August 2010 but was not able to start birding until early 2011. I was born in England and started birding at about ten and am still actively doing so more than 40 years later. I was a keen ‘twitcher’ and local patch birder when I lived in the UK but have been outside the country now for over twenty years and am now a serious local patch birder. I have travelled to many different countries bird-watching and I try to go out at least once a day, family commitments permitting, and will post all the interesting images and blog as and when time allows.

Welcome
I hope you enjoy browsing my latest images from the field, the majority of which are from Dhahran (eastern Saudi Arabia). Most of the photographs are of birds but also I will include any other interesting wildlife and natural history shots I take.

Mission
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a very much underwatched country although many dedicated bird-watchers have birded here over the years. Data recorded is scarce and hard to come by, which is a pity as it has a lot to offer the bird-watcher. This website is an attempt to help rectify the situation in a small way and anyone who is interested in the birds of Saudi Arabia who would like to add their records, pictures and details to this site are welcome to contact me. One reason for this blog is to help increase the awareness and importance of Saudi Arabia for birds and the habitat that they occur in and allow others who cannot travel so easily to the country to see some of the species and subspecies that occur


Camera Bag
My camera bag, which is a Kiboko Gura Gear, includes a Cannon EOS 5D mk III, Canon EF 100mm F/2.8 Macro lens IS USM, Canon 24 - 70mm F2.8L II USM, Canon 600mm F/4 IS II USM lens & Canon EF-14X III Extender.  When photographing from the car a Stealth Wildlife Premiere A Shaped Safari Beanbag is used. I carry 128 gigs of memory on a SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB 600x UDMA Compac Flash and a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I 45MB/Sec SDXC Card & I shoot in RAW. Adobe Lightroom 4.3 is used to process the images. If space and weight allows on foreign trips, I take my 15” Apple MacBook Pro Retina Display laptop and download all images each evening via a SanDisk USB 3.0 ImageMate Reader and back them up to two different 1TB external Hard Drives with USB 3.0 connections. My favourite binoculars are the Leica Ultravid 10x42 HD and my favourite telescope is the Swarovski ATM 80 HD.

Canon EOS-5D mk III
Canon EOS 1DX mark II
100mm F/2.8 Macro lens IS USM
24-70mm F2.8L IS II USM
70 - 200mm F2.8L IS II USM
600mm F/4 IS II USM
EF-14x III Extender (1.4x)

SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB 600x UDMA CF
64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I 45MB/Sec SDXC Card

Stealth Wildlife Premiere A Shaped Safari Beanbag

Adobe Lightroom 4.3

Canon Digital Photo Professional
Apple MacBook Pro Retina Display 15” Laptop Computer
SanDisk USB 3.0 ImageMate Reader
Buffalo 1TB external Hard Drive
Toshiba 1TB external Hard Drive

Leica Ultravid 10x42 HD Binoculars

Swarovski ATM 80 HD Telescope

Right Clickers

There are many images on this website and all are copyright which means they are not to be copied and used elsewhere without permission of the photographer. If you would like to use any photographs or other details mentioned on the website for educational or commercial use please ask for permission. For commercial use I will be able to send the original high resolution, un-cropped, versions of the images, which will be much sharper and clearer than on the website as well as others not included here - please see contact details by clicking Contact Me here

 

 

Dhahran Local Patch Details

Dhahran Local Patch List:   218
My last new 'patch' species:-
Pharaoh Eagle Owl Bubo ascalaphus, 17 September 2019
Northern Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, 18 November 2017
Eurasian Scops Owl Otus scops, 26 August 2015
Semi-collared Flycather Ficedula semitorquatar, 4 April 2015
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach, 18 February 2015
Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis, 14 February 2015
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis, 14 February 2015
White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis, 14 February 2015
African Swamphen Porphyrio madagascariensis, 13 December 2014
Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio, 12 December 2014
Red-wattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus, 1 June 2014
Fieldfare Turdus pilaris, 27 April 2014
Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus, 15 April 2014
Eastern Cinereous Bunting Emberiza (cineracea) semenowi, 7 April 2014
Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus, 27 February 2014
White-tailed Lapwing Vanellus leucurus, 22 February 2014
Sanderling Calidris alba, 24 November 2013
Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis, 20 November 2013
Pacific Golden Plover Pluvalis fulva, 2 November 2013
Eastern Mouring Wheatear Oenanthe lugens, 30 October 2013
Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis, 9 October 2013
Western White Stork Ciconia ciconia ciconia, 17 September 2013
Garden Warbler sylvia borin, 10 May 2013
Black-winged Pratincole Glareola normanni, 23 April 2013
Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus, 21 April 2013
Corncrake Crex crex, 20 April 2013
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, 25 February 2013
Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius, 11 February 2013