20 August 2011

Bahrain - Northern Lapwing at Refinery Pond

Whilst birding with Brendan in Bahrain yesterday we found a juvenile Northern Lapwing at the Refinery Pond. This is a very unusual record as this is a winter visiting species in small numbers and has never been recorded in the summer with all previous records being between November and February. The fact this was juvenile made the record even more interesting as the nearest breeding range for Northern Lapwing to Bahrain is Turkey. I can find no other records from the Middle East of earlier record than this one with the earliest returning wintering birds being in September with the majority returning in November.