Various Terns – Jubail area

Whilst birding the Jubail area in late-June I came across a few different terns flying around. Most birds were White-cheeked Terns which breed on the nearby offshore islands, but there were at least five Caspian Terns. This is another local breeder, but they breed earlier than White-cheeked Tern. Numbers of Caspian Terns build up in the summer and up to 300 have been seen together in previous years. A flock of about twenty Gull-billed Terns flew over at one point and a few Little Terns were feeding along the edge of the Sabkha. I spent quite a lot of time trying to get reasonable shots of the flying birds, but it is not easy to get them in focus and try to get catchlight in their eyes to make them look alive. Below are a few of my best efforts.

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Little Tern

Little Tern

Little Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

Terns - Jubail

The number of terns in Jubail have altered over the last few weeks with all the White-cheeked Terns disappearing and the number of White-winged Terns increasing to 117, the largest ever number of this species I have seen at a single site in the Kingdom. Other terns that increased in numbers were Gull-billed and Caspian Terns with Little Terns decreasing. Small numbers of Common Tern can still be seen. Interestingly the big groups of the various species of terns all choose slightly different areas to rest.

White-winged Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Terns - Jubail

Whilst birding the Jubail area recently it was obvious a build up in numbers of Caspian Terns was happening. Many of the other tern numbers are dropping such as White-cheeked Tern and Little Tern but Caspian and Gull-billed Terns have increased significantly. They are common breeding residents in the Kingdom but are always nice to see. They are huge compared to the other terns and often give good opportunities for photographing them. The below photos were taken as birds flew alongside a road fishing for small Tilapia of which they were quite successful in catching. Some birds came so close that is was not possible to fit them into the camera frame using the 600mm lens.

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Terns & Gull-billed Terns

Gull-billed Tern

Typical Summer Birds - Jubail

Summer birding in the Eastern Province is relatively quiet but good birds can be seen with perseverance. Terns are common summer visitors to mainly breed on the offshore islands in the Gulf with Caspian Tern, White-cheeked tern and Little Tern being commonly seen. Common breeding waders include Black-winged Stilt and Kentish Plover with Clamorous Reed Warbler also a common resident breeder. Egyptian Nightjar is a possible but unconfirmed breeder and a regular summer visitor to Jubail in recent years. 

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Clamorous Reed Warbler

White-cheeked Tern

Caspian Tern

Little Tern

Egyptian Nightjar

Egyptian Nightjar

Wheatears and late winter visitors - Jubail

Birding the Jubail area continued turning up migrants and winter visitors with plenty of Great Cormorants staying in the area later this year than previously. They used to be seen rarely in the area but have now started winter in large numbers. Wheatears have been common with Pied Wheatears the commonest although a few Eastern Black-eared Wheatears of both forms seen. Waders are passing through with good numbers of both Little Ringed and Common Ringed Plovers, as well as the occasional Temminck’s Stint and Greater Sand Plover. Small numbers of both Common Swift and Pallid Swift have been passing through along with Barn Swallow and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. Many full breeding plumage Squacco Herons are around and several small flocks of various subspecies of Yellow Wagtails have been located with one supercilliaris amongst them.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Caspian Tern

Eurasian Hoopoe

Great Cormorant

Great Cormorant

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Pallid Swift

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Squacco Heron

Temminck's Stint 

Yellow Wagtail - supercilliaris

  

Caspian Terns fishing - Jubail

Caspian Tern is a common sighting in Jubail where they can be seen in almost any wetland area from the coast inland to flooded sabkhat areas like Sabkhat Al Fasl and Khafra Marsh. Although common, numbers seen rarely exceed ten although late in the summer, around September, numbers can exceed 150 birds mainly out on flooded sabkha. The last trip to Jubail was good for Caspian Terns with up to one hundred sitting around and more birds flying up and down a flooded area by the side of the road. These birds put on quite a nice display flying past the car on a number of occasions and doubling back past the car again. There was a small shoal of tiny fish near the shore and the terns were occasional dropping into the water to catch them. This allowed a few attempts at inflight photography as well as some attempts to get birds in the water. Some of the results are shown below.