09 October 2023

Juvenile Collared Pratincole - Dhahran Cricket Field

I recently saw three Collared Pratincoles on the cricket field, which was not a common occurrence. They departed after a few days but a week later another juvenile arrived. The bird was quite tame and allowed reasonably close approach, only walking off slowly when approached, suggesting it may have been a tiered migrant. Occasionally it would hop or fly a short distance to catch an insect (mainly beetle). This bird only stayed a single day before departing but spent a lot of time feeding to get it energy reserves up. The Collared Pratincole is an extremely rare breeding migrant and uncommon passage migrant in Saudi Arabia. Some years more birds occur than others, but in the Eastern Province where I do most of my birding I only see then once or twice a year.