Huge flock of Black-winged Pratincole – Jizan Sewage Works

On 25 November we went to the Jizan Sewage Works area mid-afternoon, to look for waders and Flamingos. There were no Lesser Flamingos, which have not been seen since early spring, but we did see a flock of about 150 Black-winged Pratincoles. The birds were in a single large group and were easily disturbed. When they took flight, I got some photos of the group but it was against the sun and the photos are terrible. I could not see any rufous on the underwing in flight, even when they came into land and this led me to believe they could be Black-winged Pratincoles. I have only seen a single Black-winged Pratincole before and the species is a rare passage migrant in the Kingdom so this record is unprecedented. Phil and I looked at our photos on the computer and they again looked like Black-winged Pratincoles. We went back the following day to see if we could get better views/photos but there were many fewer birds with about fifteen seen. We went around the other side of the wet area they were near but before we could get close to the birds the coastguard said it was a prohibited area and we had to leave. Again, in flight we could not see anything remotely looking like rufous on the underwing. On return home I sent to a very experienced birdwatcher who also thought they were Black-winged Pratincoles. The date is very late for either Pratincole to be on migration, but Black-winged Pratincoles do migrate later than Collared Pratincole, so there is a chance they are late migrating birds. It would be great if someone could go back and loom for them again to see if they are wintering or on passage.

Two Black-winged Pratincoles still present – Dhahran Hills

The two Black-winged Pratincoles found three days ago are still present on the same muddy edge to a wet area on the spray fields. Today, although the weather was cloudy and overcast, I managed to get a few slightly better photos of them. They allow quite close approach, even on foot, and it is a pity the weather is not better. They do not fly very often, and we do not want to disturb them, so flight shots are not so good. Black-winged Pratincole is classed as a scarce passage migrant to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia but there are very few records with about ten in Bundy’s ‘Birds of the Eastern Province (1989)’ and I only know of one other record of a bird seen in spring at Sabkhat Al Fasl. Birds of the Western Palearctic states ‘Migrates from breeding grounds (south-west Asia, south-east Europe) to African tropics on broad front across Iran, Iraq, Turkey (only marginally extending to Balkans), and northern Arabia, but very few passage observations anywhere in the Middle East, and it is assumed these often arid areas are crossed at high-altitude in unbroken flight’. Birds presumably are seen after inclement weather or if the birds become tired on their journey.

Two Black-winged Pratincoles another new ‘patch’ species – Dhahran Hills

I was only able to go to the ‘patch’ for thirty minutes last night, but it proved well worth the effort. I was late down as I had to pick up the children from yoga class and as I was late I headed straight to the spray field, as this is where the majority of birds have been recently. This proved to be a good decision as the flooded area had dried out considerably and was attracting a lot of birds. Phil was already down there and as I walked out to join him a Pratincole flew in front of me showing its dark under-wing and lack of white trailing edge to the secondaries proving it was a Black-winged Pratincole. It flew around briefly and landed amazingly next to another Black-winged Pratincole. This was another new species for the ‘patch’ for both Phil and I, and made it three new ‘patch’ species for me in four days taking my total to 195 species. Collared Pratincole is seen very occasionally in Dhahran but I have not seen one this year making it even more surprising to see Black-winged Pratincole. The birds were reluctant to fly and appeared very tired so we did not disturb them too much and left them sitting on the muddy edge of the flooded area. I then had to leave, as I needed to go and pick up the organic vegetables from the farmer.