Highest ever count of Egyptian Nightjars in Saudi Arabia – Sabkhat Al Fasl

On 14 August whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl I located a single Egyptian Nightjar under a small bush at some distance on a sabkha area. This was in the same are where Phil and I had seen 13 birds in August 2014. We got out of the car and had a walk around the area and located a total of 15 birds, accidentally flushing a couple we had not seen during counting. The birds when flushed only flew a short distance and landed again, normally then walking a short distance to rest in the shade under a nearby bush. This is the highest count ever for Saudi Arabia and adds to the possibility that birds breed nearby, although we have never had positive proof of breeding. We will keep looking in this area and given the breeding birds in nearby Bahrain and the egg laying dates of late April/early May, we will look very carefully next year to see if these birds are breeding at this site.