Read ringed Baltic Gulls – Jizan Corniche

Whilst birding the Jizan Corniche in December 2023 we came across three read ringed gulls, all of which were ringed in Finland. Another gull was present with a metal ring but its read ring had presumably fallen off and its ring could not be read. There were probably 40 Baltic Gulls present, so if four were ringed in Finland this makes up 10% of the birds present. Previous ringing recoveries have also mainly come from Finland (14 birds – 82%) as well as Sweden (two birds – 12%) and Russia (one bird - 6%). The Baltic Gull in Saudi Arabia is an uncommon passage migrant and uncommon wintering species, scarce in summer, along the entire Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia with higher numbers in the southern Red Sea part of the Kingdom. Many hundreds of birds winter in the Saudi Arabian sector of the Red Sea. In northern Yemen a maximum count of 200 birds in January indicates that significant numbers winter there also. As a result, maps of the wintering range of Baltic Gull should include the Red Sea coastline from the KAUST area of the central Red Sea south to northern Yemen. Probably over 100 also summer in Saudi Arabia, most being immature birds. Records from central Saudi Arabia are very rare, with only two records, as they are from the Saudi Arabian Gulf coast, where there have been only three confirmed records. 

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: HT245167

Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CAWW

Ringing date: 3-Jul-2003

Ringing Place: Punkaharja, Savonlinna, Finland

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Risto Juvaste

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.93N, 42.55E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 7451 days

Distance: 5087 km

Direction: 161 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: HT277229

Darvic Ring: Yellow with black lettering CSX8

Ringing date: 6-Jul-2009

Ringing Place: Kortka, Finland

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Tatu Hokkanen

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.95N, 42.54E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 5256 days

Distance: 4971 km

Direction: 158 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull

Ring Number: CT178124

Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CK7T

Ringing date: 5-Jul-2014

Ringing Place: SAVONLINNA, ETELÄ-SAVO, MIKKELI (SF84), FINLAND

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Risto Juvaste

Finding date: 26-Nov-2023

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16.95N, 42.54E) 

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 3431 days

Distance: 5080 km

Direction: 158 deg (SSE)

Finder: Jem Babbington & Phil Roberts

CAWW

CAWW

CK7T

CK7T

CSX8

CSX8

Baltic Gull - Jubail

 Whilst birding Jubail 22 September 2023 I came across an interesting gull on the side of the flooded sabkha. I grabbed a couple of photos and after a quick look thought it looked good for a third or fourth calendar year Baltic Gull Larus fuscus, fuscus a rare gull in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. As I was moving to get the sun in a better position to photograph the bird a security vehicle pulled up scaring it into flight. I had my camera on the wrong setting for flight mode but luckily managed to get a few photos as it flew past very close. This is only the third confirmed sighting I have had of this subspecies of Lesser-Black Backed Gull in the Eastern Province. They are commoner in the Red Sea area where approximately 1% of the large white-headed gulls are fuscus and they are seen infrequently. Identification of both fuscus and heuglini can be initiated by their mantle colour with fuscus the smallest and darkest species, with almost black upperparts in 3cy to adult plumage and a long-winged appearance. Any blackish bird with an unstreaked head, little or no covert moult and a full set of primaries (or with only P1-2 dropped) in September or later is a strong fuscus candidate. On an individual bird, once moult has commenced it tends to occur in parallel in different feather tracts. Thus, the extent of head streaking, the extent of covert moult and the stage of primary moult are directly correlated, i.e. no wing moult also probably means a white(r) head. A few identification points below for subadult/adult birds.

• Small size, the smallest of the LWHG in Saudi Arabia
• Bill is long and straight and rather thin with small unnoticeable gonys
• Legs are very short and moderately thin
• The primary projection beond the tail is typically 1.3 times the tarsus length.
• Elongated rear end that looks slender.
• Eye is pale in adults with red orbital ring
• Head is gentle looking but not rounded with a noticeable slope to the forehead
• Dark coal black upperparts, the darkest of the LWHG in Saudi Arabia
• The black on the primaries do not usually contrast with the rest of the upperwing
• Totally dark secondaries, all underwing remiges are dark
• Normally shows a white mirror on P10
• Moults later with active moult in February and March.

Gulls – Jizan fish market

Whilst birding the Jizan fish Market in Summer with Phil Roberts we saw plenty of gulls waiting around for fish scraps from the nearby fish market. Occasionally a fish trader would come out and put all the fish offal in the road and the gulls would have a feast. There were plenty of White-eyed Gulls and Sooty Gulls sitting around and a couple of Baltic Gulls were also present.  We spent quite a long time trying to get good photos and they normally come out less well than anticipated. Some of my best shots are below. 

Baltic Gull

Baltic Gull

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

Sooty Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull

White-eyed Gull

Ringed Baltic Gull – Jizan Corniche

Whilst Phil Roberts was birding the Jizan are he found and photographed a ringed Baltic Gull December 14, 2018. The Baltic Gull that also appeared to have something attached to its right leg with a wire tie. The ring was a darvic ring, black with white KX11. Phil sent the details off and received the following reply. The gull was ringed on Sennaya Luda Island (Russia, Arkhangelsk District, Solovetskiy archipelago) 64°59´44 N 35°39´44 E on August 21, 2014. KX11 plastic black ring, NS000330 metal ring + GLS logger. The attachment Phil noted was for the GLS logger but unfortunately this bird seems to have lost the logger.

Phil kindly allowed me to use his photo and details of the recovery on my website with the photo reproduced below.

Baltic Gulls – Jizan Corniche

Whilst in Jizan this winter I saw a number of Lesser Black-backed Gull (Baltic Gull) Larus fuscus fuscus. This species winters in the southwest coast around Jizan with a number of ringing recoveries of birds ringed in Sweden and Finland from this area as well as a satellite tracked bird that spent the winter there.  Laura was ringed in Umea, Sweden at her breeding habitat, an archipelago with brackish water outside the Ume River Delta "Holmsunds skärgård". She was fitted with a satellite transmitter to record her movements and named Laura. The route Laura has used is shown on the map below and until now she has visited (or passed) the following countries outside Sweden: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia (Kaliningrad), Poland, Estonia, (Belarus), (Ukraine), (Moldovia), Turkey, (Cyprus), Israel and Saudi Arabia. She passed the Turkish mountains at 1590 metres above sea level and her highest speed has been 94 kilometres per hour. She passed through Europe in two days with only one stop over at the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Laura took just a short rest after reaching the Red Sea coast and continued her flight along the western coast of Saudi Arabia passing Jeddah before heading on to Jizan. Laura arrived in Jizan Province (Al Sehi) on 21 September and has remained in the same location since indicating this may be her wintering ground? This bird, the ringing recoveries and out field observations show that plenty of Baltic Gulls winter in the extreme southwest of the Kingdom. Unfortunately despite active searching we could nt find any birds with Darvi rings this trip.

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull ringing recovery – Jizan Corniche

Whilst birding the Jizan Corniche on 6 & 8 July 2017 Phil Roberts and I found a second calendar year Lesser Black-backed Gull (Baltic Gull) Larus fuscus fuscus. The bird was wearing a white darvic ring on its left leg with black alpha-numeric details showing CC5P. We sent off the details to Finland and got back the below information saying the bird was ringed 370 days before in Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland (61°41′N 25°28′E) and had travelled 5159 kilometres in a SSE direction to reach Jizan. The bird has probably spent the winter in Jizan, as other Baltic Gulls do, such as Laura, a satellite tracked bird that wintered south of Jizan in Saudi Arabia in 2013 – 2014. As the bird was is a second calendar year individual it has obviously decided to stay the summer in southwest Saudi Arabia with up to 20 other second calendar year Baltic Gulls. The bird was seen on two dates in Jizan and both times within only a few hundred metres of where we first found it so it looks like it is site faithful. We looked carefully at all other Baltic Gulls in the area to see if any others had rings but could not find any others.

Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull Larus fuscus fuscus

Ring Number: HT282352

Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CC5P

Ringing date: 01-Jul-2016

Ringing Place: Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland

(Co-ords: 61°41′N 25°28′E)

Age: Nestling

Ringer: Pekka Mäkinen (953)

Finding date: 06-Jul-2017

Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region, Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16°56′N 42°32′E)

Finding Condition: Bird found alive

Duration: 370 days

Distance: 5155 km

Direction: 157° (SSE)

Finder: Phil Roberts & Jem Babbington

Several different Gull species – Jizan

Whilst bird watching in Jiazan in April 2014 I came across various different species of Gull. This site is in the southwest of Saudi Arabia and is on the Red Sea coast and is a favoured location for White-eyed Gulls and Sooty Gulls. The best place to see White-eyed Gull is the fish market area and the nearby small fishing harbor where they gather in good numbers to scavenge fish waste. When we arrived about 30 White-eyed Gulls and 10 Sooty Gulls were sitting on the rooftops and we spent about an hour trying to photograph the birds in flight. Most White-eyed Gulls were adults but at least two second calendar year birds were also present. The species has a restricted world range confined almost entirely to the Red Sea and is a spectacular bird. Sooty Gulls have a slightly wider range and are more common but are still difficult to see away from the Red Sea. Other gulls included small numbers of Slender-billed Gulls as well as a few Heuglin's Gulls, one Armenian Gull and several Baltic Gulls. Most of these were scattered along the coast, in the fishing harbor or up the main inlet from the sea.

White-eyed Gull - adult summer

White-eyed Gull - second calendar year

Sooty Gull

Slender-billed Gull

Baltic Gull

Heuglin's Gull

of

Laura the Satellite Tagged Baltic Gull still remains near Jizan – Records by Per Hansson

Laura the satellite tagged Baltic Gull still remains in the same area of the southwest of Saudi Arabia. She has spent the entire winter in a small area south of Jizan between the city and the Yemen boarder. Hopefully, she will start her retirn journey back to her breeding grounds soon and will return to Sweden where she bred last year. I was in Jizan last weekend but was limited on time or would have gone to look for her as her data has been very interesting. I did see adult Baltic Gulls in Jizan but in the city on the cornice and a photo of one is attached here, showing that Laura is not the only adult remaining in the Jizan area. It will be very interesting to se when she moves back and how quickly she does so. I thank Per for sending me details of the latest locations which are shown below.

Satellite Tagged Baltic Gull from Sweden in SW Saudi Arabia (Jizan) – Data supplied by Per Hansson

An adult female Lesser Black-backed Gull (Baltic Gull) Larus fuscus fuscus was ringed earlier this year in Umea, Sweden at her breeding habitat, an archipelago with brackish water outside the Ume River Delta "Holmsunds skärgård". She was fitted with a satellite transmitter to record her movements and named Laura. The route Laura has used is shown on the map below and until now she has visited (or passed) the following countries outside Sweden: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia (Kaliningrad), Poland, Estonia, (Belarus), (Ukraine), (Moldovia), Turkey, (Cyprus), Israel and Saudi Arabia. She passed the Turkish mountains at 1590 metres above sea level and her highest speed has been 94 kilometres per hour. She passed through Europe in two days with only one stop over at the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Laura took just a short rest after reaching the Red Sea coast and continued her flight along the western coast of Saudi Arabia passing Jeddah before heading on to Jizan. Laura arrived in Jizan Province (Al Sehi) on 21 September and has remained in the same location since indicating this may be her wintering ground? Many Baltic Gulls winter in this area and it will be interesting to see her movements.

Laura's Route

Baltic Gull - Photo curtesy of Rob Tovey

 Help is needed by the ringing team to contact some local people from Jizan, and hopefully a photographer who can take a picture of her or the flock she joins. The point of the project to connect people who are inspired by birds. If you can help with this matter please contact me (see details under Contact Me Tab at top of this page). I would like to thank Per Hansson for informing me of this bird and its location.

Jizan Corniche

This site (16 55.10N, 43 32.70E) is one of the main birding locations in the region and has good wader habitat from Jizan south to the Yemen border approximately 45 kilometres away. Densities of birds are on average much higher in Jizan than at neighbouring sites, due to the sewage outfalls that enter the sea from Jizan city. As a result the area holds the highest concentration of shorebirds along the Saudi Red Sea coast. The main site is a four kilometre long by 500 metre wide stretch of muddy and mud-sand intertidal flats, stretching from Jizan Port to the northern edge of the city. The flats, enriched by sewage outfall from Jizan city, where in the past fringed by mangroves, but all these areas have now been destroyed by land reclamation projects. The site is easily viewed from the cornice road and in the early morning the sun is behind the observer allowing good viewing conditions. As a result of this we went to the location at first light on 1 July, the first morning of our trip, and although we did not arrive at the hotel until after midnight we were up before first light to check the site out. We went again on the afternoon of 6 July on the way to the airport when the tide was out and more waders could be seen.

Pink-backed Pelican

Caspian Tern

Crab Plover

Greater Flamingos

The site held small numbers of waders, due to the mid-summer time of year, with a good location being a large stream just north of the Jazan Inn Hotel where waders are pushed up when the tide was high. Here we saw six Eurasian Spoonbill, three Terek Sandpipers, 200+ Crab Plovers, three Bar-tailed Godwits, 100 Common Redshanks, three Spotted Redshanks, four Marsh Sandpipers, four Common Greenshanks, 20 Lesser Sand Plovers, 50+ Greater Sand Plovers of both sub-species, five Kentish Plovers, three Eurasian Curlews, two Whimbrels, three Eurasian Oystercatchers, three Grey Plovers and four Ruddy Turnstones. Other birds that were seen here included, Caspian Tern and my first new species in Saudi Arabia of the trip Pink-backed Pelican of which we saw over 200 birds. Two Black-crowned Sparrow Larks and a small party of six African Silverbills were also seen here along with Common Myna and House Sparrow. 

Eurasian Spoonbills

Eurasian Spoonbill

Greater Sand Plover

The seaward side of the Corniche had Western Osprey perched on a lamppost, with tens of Pink-backed Pelicans on the same posts, five Lesser Crested Terns, six Swift Terns, three Indian Reef Heron, 20+ Greater Flamingoes and several Sooty Gulls. Travelling further down towards the port we found a small fishing boat harbor near to the fish market that was full of gulls. Sooty Gull was common here with over one hundred birds seen, 10+ White-eyed Gulls, nine Baltic Gulls, three Caspian Gulls, 75+ Slender-billed Gulls and a Brown Booby flew overhead and landed on a nearby fishing boat. A few Lesser Crested Terns, Swift Terns and Greater Flamingoes were also present. Further south past the port we saw our only three White-cheeked Terns of the trip.

Western Osprey

Brown Booby

Sooty Gull

Slender-billed Gull

Baltic Gull

Lesser Crested Tern

Swift Tern

When the tide goes out some areas of exposed mudflats are attractive to the waders and extremely good views of the Crab Plovers can be had. Here we also saw Eurasian Spoonbill, 200+ Crab Plovers, Common Redshanks, Common Greenshanks, Lesser Sand Plovers, Greater Sand Plovers, Eurasian Curlews, Whimbrels, Eurasian Oystercatchers and Grey Plovers. Thirty House Crows and a Brown-necked Raven were seen along the Corniche scavenging for food.

Crab Plover