24 November 2012

Three Greater Flamingos – Dhahran Hills


An e-mail from Phil Roberts, was luckily for me seen quite quickly, as it informed me he had found three Greater Flamingos on the settling pond. A quick change of plan allowed me to get into the field and I drove to the percolation pond as that is where I thought the e-mail said the birds were. The birds were not there and I was a little disappointed but decided to drive to the settling pond to see if they were there. On the way I met Phil who said they were still there, and this is in fact where he had said they were in the mail, but I was in too much of a rush to get out and obviously did not read it properly. Luckily they were still present and it appeared the birds were set to stay the night as it was quite late and they appeared to be settled. These are only the second records I know if Greater Flamingos in the camp are are a very welcome addition to my ‘patch’ list. The first record was a group of seven birds seen on the percolation pond some years ago. There were also a good number of waders on the settling pond including 35 Black-winged Stilts, 60+ Little Stints, 13 Common Redshank, one Marsh Sandpiper, four Wood Sandpiper, five Dunlin, three Common Ringed Plover and a Temminck’s Stint. The Percolation pond had six Gadwall (one male and five females), one Northern Shoveller and a Squacco Heron.
Greater Flamingo - juvenile
Greater Flamingo - juvenile