Birds of Saudi Arabia: Common Ringed Plover

Showing posts with label Common Ringed Plover. Show all posts

31 August 2023

Waders – Jubail

My last visit to Jubail last weekend was designed to allow me to photograph any waders that were present. Normally I go to the area where the Egyptian Nightjars are at this time of year but this time, I decided to get to the best wader spot whilst the light was still good to allow me the chance to get some better photos. Although the number of waders feeding along the edge of the sabkha was not too high a saw ten Black-winged Stilt & Kentish Plover, hundreds of Little Stint, two Dunlin, and single Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Common Ringed Plover and Little Ringed Plover. Many of the birds were feeding quite close and although a little flighty they allowed reasonably close approach if you stayed in the car. The trouble with the middle of summer where temperatures are now well over 45 Celsius each day is the light only remains good for photography for the first hour and a half from sunrise. Then the heat haze and bright light make taking photos a challenge and they never come out as well as earlier in the morning. I stayed the entire time with the waders until the light became too strong.

Black-winged Stilt

Common Ringled Plover

Common Sandpiper

Dunlin

Kentish Plover

Kentish Plover

Little Ringled Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

08 November 2022

Wader numbers dropping - Jubail

Whilst birding Jubail recently it has been noticeable the wader numbers are dropping. The most common wader remains the Little Stint, followed by Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt. Smaller numbers of Common Ringed Plover are still around and only a handful of Common Greenshank. All the Sand Plovers seem to have moved off, but Kentish Plover is still plentiful.

Little Stint

Dunlin

Common Ringed Plover

Common Greenshank

Black-winged Stilt

21 September 2022

Plenty of species of wader - Jubail

A trip to Jubail in early September was very good for waders. The numbers on the flooded Sabkha were high but surprisingly there were plenty of waders of various species over the remainder of the location, which is not so usual. The first surprise was three Collared Pratincole on the flooded sabkha, a species I have not seen at this location for more than a year. Other waders seen in larger than normal numbers were Common Ringed Plover, Dunlin and hundreds of Little Stints and Kentish Plovers. Smaller numbers of Eurasian Curlew, Greater Sand Plover and Ruddy Turnstone were also seen. Other waders seen but not photographed were Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper and Lesser Sand Plover.