24 March 2012

A few waders - Dhahran Hills

On the way across the scrubby desert area I came across a pair of Little Ringed Plovers. One bird was trying to lead me away from where the other bird was positioned which is a good indicator they may have a nest in the area. I did not stay around too long as I did not want to disturb the birds, but I will check in a few days’ time to see if they are still present in the same area.
 Little Ringed Plover

Waders have been scarce on the camp this spring so two Black-winged Stilts were nice to see on the edge of the percolation pond and later on the flooded wet area in the spray fields. Hopefully a few more waders will be passing through at the end of March and early April as this was the best period for them last year. The other wader seen on the flooded area of the spray fields was a Green Sandpiper with a second bird on the muddy edge of the percolation pond.
 Black-winged Stilt

I have been seeing quite a few waders on flooded pools on the way to Jubail / Manifa over the last couple of weeks, mainly Ruff, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank and Black-winged Stilt but they have either not found the percolation pond area or found it and decided it was not to their liking for some reason.