Phil went to Khafra Marsh in July after failing to
find access to Sabkhat Al Fasl. Whilst looking around the location to try to
find good access to this poorly watched wetland he located three Grey-headed
Swamphens. This site is a relatively new breeding site for the species, only
the second one in Saudi Arabia after Sabkhat Al Fasl, but we had seen little
evidence of any birds this year so this was a welcome record showing birds are
still present and hopefully still breeding. The species is increasing in
numbers at its stronghold and is spreading out slowly to other areas including
sightings at Khafra Marsh, Ash
Shargiyah Development Company Farm and Dhahran percolation pond. Recent DNA
evidence from some feathers I sent for analysis shows these birds are
Grey-headed Swamphens a recently split new species from Purple Swamphen and
African Swamphen. I have recently sent some more feathers from a bird in Saudi
Arabia and a bird in Kuwait for DNA analysis so hopefully we will be able to
draw more conclusions from the results of these feathers.
