Whilst birding Jubail in November I saw young Eastern Imperial Eagle. The bird was initially seen sitting on the ground but flew due to a car approaching. It only flew a few hundred metres and settled again in a much more open area of sabkha. The light was poor but I got reasonably close to the bird in the car and managed to take a few photos whch are shown below. The species is rarely seen in the area although the Greater Spotted Eagle is seen almost every visit during the winter. The Eastern Imperial Eagle is an uncommon winter visitor to Saudi Arabia with most records coming from the north of the country where they are generally seen inland rather than near the coast. The species breeds from Eastern Europe across Asia to China and winters in the Middle East, east Africa south to Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and from Thailand to Korea. Currently Eastern Imperial Eagle is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as it has a small global population and is likely to be undergoing continuing declines, primarily as a result of habitat loss and degradation, persecution and prey depletion.
