Six Garganey – Dhahran Percolation Pond

Whilst birding the Dhahran Percolation Pond at the end of March looking to see what ducks were present, I came across three pairs of Garganey Anas querquedula. The only other duck seen were seven Shoveler with the majority of ducks already departed. Garganey is a common migrant to all areas of the Kingdom with often hundreds seen together. In the Eastern Province, it is a common passage migrant, rare summer and scarce winter visitor. Generally, they occur during spring migration from mid-February to late May with peak numbers in early March. Numbers are much more common during autumn migration which occurs from late August to mid-October with a peak in September when flocks of twenty plus birds are quite frequent. Records are rare between late May and late August and only small numbers are seen in the winter months of November to early February. Birds normally occur on freshwater lakes, pools and lagoons away from the coast although in autumn birds are sometimes seen on the shoreline and occasionally, they have even been seen on the sea.