Armenian Gull - Al Uqayr

Whilst birding the coastal area of Al Uqayr on 9 January 2022 we came across an Armenian Gull on the shoreline. The bird was very flighty and took off almost as soon as it had been located but luckily landed again. After several short flights we managed to get a couple of photos on the ground and then some flight shots. The bird showed a rather dark grey mantle (slightly darker than Steppe Gull), yellow legs (not bright yellow but obviously yellow), a large amount of black in the outer primaries and a single relatively small mirror on the outer primary (P10). Armenian Gull is often depicted with a dark eye but in fact several studies have shown between 10-15% of adult birds have pale eyes. The bird we saw had a pale eye as shown in the below photos. The very tip of the bill, in front of the black marking, was whitish, with a red gonys well developed on the lower mandible and only marginally continued on the upper mandible, and bright yellow proximal part of the bill creating a four-coloured impression. Armenian Gull is a relatively rare bird worldwide with 98% of the breeding total being concentrated on only four lakes in Turkey, Armenia and Iran. It has an estimated world population around 20,000 – 25,000 breeding pairs. The Turkish breeding population of Armenian Gull is about 2400 pairs on Tuz Golu, Van Golu & a further 11,000-13,000 pairs at two lakes in Armenia and 4,000 - 5,000 pairs at one lake in Iran. They winter mainly in the eastern Mediterranean with some spreading to northern Red Sea, and it is a common gull in Israel in winter with birds regularly seen in Kuwait each winter. Its status in Saudi Arabia is a scarce winter visitor with most records from the northern shores of the Red Sea and is very scarce in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where they make up possibly only 0.1% of all large white-headed gulls. Birds become scarcer the further south one goes in the Eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, so more could occur closer to the Kuwait border at Khafji.

Armenian Gull – Al Khobar Corniche

The Al Khobar Corniche site had a hundred plus Large White-headed Gulls (LWHG) of which only one was an Armenian Gull Larus armenicus. My current theory is less than 1% of the large white-headed gulls in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia are Armenian Gulls. This number is still under evaluation as its status is unclear in the area and more detailed study of this flock of LWHG may enable me to come to a more conclusive idea as to its status. Currently it is regarded as a scarce winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and can be seen from early October onwards. Armenian Gull has a breeding range in the inland lakes of Armenia, Georgia, eastern Turkey and northwest Iran and winters mainly in the eastern Mediterranean with some spreading to northern Red Sea. It is a common gull in Israel and birds are regularly seen in Kuwait each winter. There are no confirmed records from the United Arab Emirates showing the species becomes scarcer the further south one goes in the Eastern Part of the Arabian Peninsula.

Armenian Gull, Heuglin's Gull & Steppe Gull – Dammam – Al Khobar Wader Roost South

Over the last few days I have been seeing a number of Large White-headed Gull (LWHG) at various locations in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Many of these birds spend the winter in the Eastern Province, but many more pass through on passage with the peak return passage being between February and April. Shown here are a few photographs taken at various locations on February 17^th 2012. The first bird is an adult Steppe Gull photographed at Sabkhat Al Fasl (Jubail) where gulls like to stand on this lone island in the middle of a small lake. All three photographs are of the same bird. This is the commonest of the large gulls seen in Saudi Arabia with approximately 75 – 85% of all LWHG being this species.

 Steppe Gull (adult)

 Steppe Gull (adult)

 Steppe Gull (adult)

The remaining photographs were taken at the Dammam – Al Khobar Wader Roost South, where a large group of LWHG were present. Unfortunately I was unable to photograph the birds on the ground as they were all flushed by a passing truck before I could get near to them. Fortunately though a few LWHG were sitting on the one remaining island as the tide was coming in and I could get reasonable views through the telescope. It became clear that although there were six Steppe Gulls there were also a couple of different types. One was a very dark adult Heuglin's Gull (Larus fuscus heuglini), showing its long primary projection, fierce look, long bill and typical upper & under-wing pattern. This is an uncommon winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with approximately 8% of all birds seen being this species.

Heuglin's Gull (adult)

Heuglin's Gull (adult)

Heuglins Gull (adult)

The last type was an Armenian Gull which is a very scarce to rare visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. This is the first time I have seen the species here and although it is a scarce winter visitor to Kuwait it is not often seen further south with the following records noted from the Middle East

Kuwait – Scarce winter visitor

Bahrain – Scarce passage migrant and winter visitor from August to May

Qatar – No confirmed records

Oman – No confirmed records

Israel – Commonest gull seen year round but with larger numbers in winter

UAE – No confirmed records

Heuglin's Gull (adult) left, Steppe Gull (adult) middle & Armenian Gull (adult) right

Armenian Gull (adult)

There has been much confusion in the past on the identification of Armenian Gull in the region with the simplistic idea that any gull with a four tone bill and complete black bill band was an Armenian Gull being used. This was due to the lack of knowledge about the species and it is now clear that Steppe Gull can show these features in winter. As a result the status of Armenian Gull in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is not clear. Some very good birders who have been present in the region for some time have failed to identify the species so it is probably a rare winter visitor at best.

If you want to see details on the identification of these birds go to the tab at the top of the page entitled Large Gull ID Help or click the link here Large Gull ID Help 

Yellow-legged Gulls & Armenian Gull Near Yanbu - Bird Records by AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan

AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan, who is a very experienced birdwatcher from Kuwait, who also has an excellent website Birds of Kuwait where he often displays some of his top quality bird photographs paid two visits recently to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One was to the Tabuk area and the other to Madina and the surroundings. AbdulRahman found Sardinian Warblers common around Tabuk and thinks they are probably wintering birds and took the below photographs on 31^st December 2011 & 1^st January 2012.

 Sardinian Warbler

 Sardinian Warbler

On the coast, 2.7 kilometres north-west of Ash Sharma near Tabuk, Latitude/Longitude 28.044510/35.223024 (see map below) he saw a flock of immature gulls on the 1^st January 2012 and soon realized they were different from the gulls he normally sees in Kuwait. The birds showed all the characteristics of Yellow-legged Gull a species AbdulRahman is familiar having seen them recently in Turkey. Yellow-legged Gull has not been properly recorded in Saudi Arabia until now, as far as I am aware, although the location and timing is ideal for the species as they winter in good numbers in both Israel and Egypt, both of which are not too far from this site.

Yellow-legged Gull (2nd calendar year)

On his trip to the Madina area he also looked closely at the gulls and found both Adult Armenian Gull and adult Yellow-legged Gull on the coast 14.1 kilometres north-west of Yanbu Loatitude/Longitude 24.150549/37.941604 (see map below). He photographed both these birds on 23^rd January 2012.

Armenian Gull (adult)

Yellow-legged Gull (adult)

I would like to thank AbdulRahman very much for allowing me to publish this data and for allowing me to use his excellent photogrpahs.