03 November 2016

White-throated Kingfisher in Jubail - Bird record by Arnold Uy

Whilst birding at Jubail 28 October Phil Roberts informed me he had seen a White-throated Kingfisher along one side of the reed beds. Later on the same day Mohammed Al-Ruqaya met me whilst I was ringing and showed me photos on his camera of a bird he and Arnold Uy had seen on the other side of the reserve. Arnold later sent me a couple of his excellent photos of the bird that are reproduced below with his kind permission. White-throated Kingfisher is a scarce bird in the Eastern Province with most records coming from Sabkhat Al Fasl but they have been seen as far south as Dhahran in previous years. Up until the end of the 1980’s there had only been two records from the Eastern Province, both from the Dhahran area but there have been more sighting since mainly from the Jubail to Al Khobar region although a northern record from Jebal Nayriyyah and a southerly record from Udhailiyyah have also occurred in the last two years. This is the first record I know of this winter from the Eastern Province.
White-throated Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher