05 November 2011

Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost - Location Details

The Dammam - Al Khobar Wader Roost, as its name suggests is inbetween Dammam and Al Khobar and  is a great place for seeing good numbers of waders, terns and gulls. They are visable at close range even when the tide is not fully in and are easily viewed from the car by driving up the right hand side of the creek, through the gate check point. This check point is occassionally manned but they always wave you through and if asked what you are doing just say birding and they let you stay without issue.

The site is easily reached by driving north on the Al Qashlah Al Dhahran Highway until you reach the end and the creek will be on the right hand side. Just before the creek starts turn right onto the track past the security gat and drive close to the creek edge. You can drive all the way to the end of this new reclaimed piece of land and at the end in the early evening huge numbers of Soctra Cormorants can be seen passing.






Specialties seen at the site include:-
Curlew Sandpiper
Little Stint
Lesser Sand Plover
Grey Plover
Broad-billed Sandpiper
Eurasian Oystercatcher
Black-tailed Godwit
Eurasian Curlew
Common Greenshank
Slender-billed Gull
Indian (Western) Reef Heron
Common Redshank
Terek Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Whimbrel
Gull-billed Tern
Little Tern
White-cheeked Tern