Nubian Nightjar – Abu Arish

Whilst birding the Abu Arish area in late November, Phil Roberts and I spent some time after dark looking for Nubian Nightjars on an almost full moon night. We heard three calling Nubian Nightjar just as it got dark and saw a couple of birds briefly in flight and one on the ground before we located a single Nubian Nightjar in flight that alighted and allowed us to get close in the car. It remained in position for about ten minutes or more before we eventually left it in peace. This species is resident and breeds in the lowlands from the Yemen boarder to the Hijaz in Saudi Arabia where it has been seen northwards to KAUST north of Jeddah. There is a single record from the far north in the Kingdom at Sharma although the bird may have been a migrant rather than a resident in the area. Where it is found, which is a very limited number of locations, it can be locally common and favours rocky or stony areas with flat sandy areas with some vegetation often near water.

Nubian Nightjar – Abu Arish

Whilst birding the Abu Arish area last summer Phil Roberts and I spent some time after dark looking for owls and nightjars. We heard a single calling Nubian Nightjar but could not locate it so went driving around the nearby tracks. Here we managed to see good numbers of Plain Nightjar with more than twenty birds seen catching insects and alighting on the dusty tracks as well as a single Nubian Nightjar. This species is resident and breeds in the lowlands from the Yemen boarder to the Hijaz in Saudi Arabia where it has been seen northwards to KAUST north of Jeddah. There is a single record from the far north in the Kingdom at Sharma although the bird may have been a migrant rather than a resident in the area. Where it is found, which is a very limited number of locations, it can be locally common and favours rocky or stony areas with some vegetation although they have also been seen in sandy areas with vegetation. 

Nubian Nightjar at Sharma – Bird record by Euan Ferguson

Euan Ferguson was in Saudi Arabia with a couple of other birdwatchers in spring 2017, conducting an environmental survey and found a Nubian Nightjar at Sharma in the far northwest coast of the Red Sea. This species is resident and breeds in the lowlands from the Yemen boarder to the Hijaz in Sadui Arabia where it has been seen northwards to KAUST north of Jeddah. There are, however, no records from as far north in the Kingdom as Sharma and it is interesting to now if this was a migrant of a resident in the area. Hopefully more records will occur in the area and shed more light on the situation. Where it is found it is locally common and favours rocky or stony areas with some vegetation although they have also been seen in sandy areas with vegetation. The best location for seeing the species is in the southwest near Jizan. I thank Euan for sending me the details of this bird and allowing me to use his excellent photo on my website.

Nubian Nightjar at Jizan - Bird records by Mansur Al Fahad

The third species Mansur Al Fahad photographed and sent to me was Nubian Nightjar that he saw near Jizan in early August 2015. This species is seen quite regularly in this area but trying to get photographs of the birds is extremely difficult and Mansur has done very well to get such good photos. I would like to thank Mansur for very kindly allowing me to use his photos on my website the copyright of which remains with Mansur. This species is resident and breeds in the lowlands from the Yemen boarder to the Hijaz in Sadui Arabia where it has been seen northwards to KAUST north of Jeddah. Where it is found it is locally common with more that ten birds seen in very small areas after dark and favours rocky or stony areas with some vegetation although they have also been seen in sandy areas with vegetation. This is probably the easiest of the three Nightjars photographed by Mansur to see but knowing the right areas and time and effort are still required.