Greater Flamingo nests - Jizan

Phil Roberts and I found four nests of Greater Flamingo just south of Jizan in summer 2018. There is only one breeding record for Saudi Arabia when we found a very young juvenile (unable to fly) in September 2018 at Sabkhat Al Fasl, Jubail, Eastern Province. This record was on the other coast to the nests shown below and the fact nests were built is evidence of at least attempted breeding. Many flamingos were present at the nest location including well grown juveniles but we could not confirm they had come from the nests themselves.

First breeding record of Greater Flamingo for Saudi Arabia – Jubail

In summer this year Phil Roberts and I found the first confirmed breeding record of Greater Flamingo for Saudi Arabia. We saw up to 30 adults and two very young juveniles (unable to fly) near Jubail. Birds have been around all summer with unto 4000 in April and several hundreds during the entire summer. We did not see any nest mounds although there are a number of structures that may be nests out on the sabkha. The juveniles are too small to fly so must have been born at SAF. The record was sent to Mike Jennings who confirmed it as the first breeding record for the Kingdom but mentioned nest building had been seen in a nearby area previously but no confirmed breeding.