Saudi Arabia’s largest ever flock of Black Storks – Tendada Dam

Whilst birding the southwest in mid-March Phil Roberts and I came across a flock of Black Storks Ciconia nigra. Initially I saw the birds on a wet area whilst Phil was driving the car and suggested there could be five birds. We parked the car up the road and walked back and saw about ten birds on the pool. The sun was in the wrong direction for photography so we decided to walk around to try to get on the other side of the pool. Whilst doing this it became obvious there were many more birds present than out initial estimate, including adults and immature birds. In total we counted forty birds although there may have been a few more as we could not see the entire pool at any one time and birds would not allow close approach and flew and landed on the nearby hill when then noticed our presence. This is the largest flock ever recorded in the Kingdom, as far as I am aware. Black Stork is a rare migrant and scarce winter visitor to western regions of Saudi Arabia including the Red Sea coast, especially the extreme southwest. The species, however has a very different status in the Eastern Province where it is a vagrant with its status in central Arabia and the Riyadh area a scarce visitor. Birds appear to use the Red Sea coast to migrate down and are often seen in the Jeddah area and the Jizan region where they are almost always associated with water bodies. Birds are mainly seen singly but in the west and southwest flocks of over ten birds are occasionally seen.

Black Stork in Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv Wilson sent me some photos of a Black Stork Ciconia nigra he found in Tabuk on 16 October 2015 and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website. This was the first time he had seen the species in Tabuk and is a good record for the area. Black Stork is an uncommon migrant and winter visitor to western regions of Saudi Arabia including the Red Sea coast, especially the extreme southwest. The species, however has a very different status in the Eastern Province where it is a vagrant with its status in central Arabia and the Riyadh area a scarce visitor. There were no records from Riyadh prior to 1988 but in that year there were sightings of 2 on 27 and 28 October, I on 25 December and perhaps the same bird again on 31 December. Since then records have become more common with all sightings coming from the Riyadh watercourse. Birds appear to use the Red Sea cast to migrate down and are often seen in the Jeddah area and the Jizan region where they are almost always associated with water bodies. Birds are mainly seen singly bit in the west and southwest flocks of over ten birds are occasionally seen.

Immature Black Stork - Dhahran Hills

Yesterday whilst birding the ‘patch’ I found an immature Black Stork flying over the percolation pond, which is the second Black Stork I have found at the same site in just over a year. The day had been a windy one with plenty of dust in the air just like the last time I saw an immature Black Stork in the same place on 4th May 2011. This time I did not see the bird on the ground, just in flight, and the bird flew off over the back of the camp and did not land before it was out of sight. I did manage to get a couple of very poor shots but you can make out it is a Black Stork at least.

Black Stork is a rare bird in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with The Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia by Bundy, Connor & Harrison (published in August 1989) only having five records of six birds. There are at least two more records for the Eastern Province both of which occurred in the same place as this record, one in spring 2009 and one I found last year on 4^th May. This is another example of how dust storms can bring down migrants in the most unlikely places.

Black Stork - 4th May 2011

I found an immature Black Stork on the edge of the percolation pond duirng a dust storm on May 4th 2011. The bird was distrubed by dog walkers and flew off towards the coast after about ten minutes but I did manage to get a couple of poor shots due to all the dust in the air.

Black Stork is a rare bird in Saudia Arabia with The Birds of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia by Bundy, Connor & Harrison (published in August 1989) only having five records of six birds. There is at least one more record for the Eastern Province which occurred in the same place as this record, a couple of years ago (spring 2009?). This is an example of how dust storms can bring down migrants in the most unlikely places.