Moulting adult Pacific Golden Plover – Sabkhat Al Fasl

Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl on 21 August I found a moulting adult Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva. It was on the edge of a wet area and appeared quite timid. This is my first record of this species for the site, although Phil has seen one previously in full summer plumage. The species is an uncommon migrant and winter visitor to the Eastern Province that is seen in very small numbers. The species was regularly observed at the former Dammam Marsh lagoons with at least four wintering there in 1980-81. Up until the mid-1980’s adults in summer plumage were seen in May & June with a maximum count of up to 30 birds in April, September and October. Most of the records away from Dammam were in the coastal zone from March to April and from September to October with inland records at Abqaiq in September. The species appears to have become scarcer with the only recent records being one seen at Zur Bay on 18 November 1991, one individual seen outside Dammam 6th April 1999, one at Sabkhat Al Fasl 31 October 2008, one at Ash Shargiyah Development Company farm 12th October 2012, one Dhahran Hills 2 November 2013 and one Dhahran Hills 23 August 2014. Records have also occurred on the Red Sea coast as well as inland at Malaki Dam Lake near Jizan and regular sightings have occurred recently in the Riyadh area.

Waders passing through - Dhahran Hills

The last few days have seen a marked passage of waders in the area and the camp has been good for them as well. The three areas of permanent water that are on my local ‘patch’, the wet ditch, settling pools and percolation pond have all had good birds on them in the last few days. The ditch had a couple of Little Stints, Wood Sandpiper & Little Ringed Plover, all of which allowed good photographs to be taken. The settling pond had a good gathering of waders with the majority on Saturday 23 August including the second record of Sanderling for me on the ‘patch’ as well as Marsh Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover, Common Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, two Ruff, two Little Ringed Plovers, 20 Black-winged Stilts, seven Kentish Plovers and 14 Little Stints. Waders seen on the percolation pond included my second record for the ‘patch’ of Pacific Golden Plover and only the third record for me in the Eastern Province which was an early record for the species in the area as well. There were also plenty of Wood Sandpipers, Little Stints, Black-winged Stilts and Kentish Plovers on the muddy edges of the pond, but there was no sign of the White-tailed Lapwing.

Wood Sandpiper

Little Ringed Plover

Little Stint

Little Stint

Little Stint

Black-winged Stilt

Ruff

Pacific Golden Plover

Other migrants seen included a juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike, one Yellow Wagtail, one Sand Martin and several Barn Swallows. The first autumn record for me of Spotted Flycatcher was also seen along the fence line of the pond. Two Garganey were on the percolation pond with hundreds of Little Grebes.

Pacific Golden Plover my 200th local ‘patch’ species – Dhahran Hills

An early morning trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl was cancelled due to the thick fog in Dhahran. It is dangerous enough driving on the roads of Saudi Arabia without the added problem of thick fog with ten-metre visibility. As a result I waited for it to become almost light and went to the ‘patch’. I visited a number of places including a wet field near the football field that has been attracting a few waders recently and where I also saw the female Northern Pintail once. I found an interesting small wader hiding in the grass front on, that turned out to be a Temminck’s Stint, and whilst watching it I heard a Pacific Golden Plover. On looking up the bird was high overhead and made a rapid decent to land on the field not too far in front of me. I had the camera with me and grabbed a few photographs before the bird again flew off calling showing off its dusky under-wing nicely. It only remained on the ground for about ten seconds but the plumage and call are diagnostic. This was a new local ‘patch’ species for me taking my total to 200 species. This is a good return for three years birding I would say, although I do go to the site almost every day, and amongst the 200 species are a number not previously recorded in the area before.

In Saudi Arabia as well as the Eastern Province it is a scarce passage migrant and rare winter visitor. It was previously regularly observed at the former Damman Marsh lagoons with at least four wintering there in 1980-81. Adults in summer plumage have been seen in May & June with a maximum count of up to 30 birds in April, September and October. Most of the records away from Dammam have been in the coastal zone from March to April and from September to October. Inland records have been noted at Abqaiq in September. The species appears to have become scarcer with the only recent records being one individual seen outside Dammam 6^th April 1999, one at Sabkhat Al Fasl and one at Ash Shargiyah Development Company farm (Fadhili) 12^th October 2012.