Could the Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 
nest in western Arabia? 
Brian S Meadows 
The Kingfisher Alcedo atthis is a regular winter visitor and passage 
migrant along the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula, at least as far 
south as Jeddah (pers. obs.). At Yanbu al-Sinaiyah (23° 54-59'N, 38° 11- 
18'E) it has been seen in all months of the year including, rather 
surprisingly, several times in June and July (Baldwin & Meadows 1988). 
Summer records are puzzling and they raise the possibility that the odd 
pair may occasionally be nesting in western Arabia. 
In this connection observations in 1993 at permanent freshwater springs 
35km inland from Rabigh (22° 08'N, 38° 04'E) are pertinent. The springs 
in Wadi Rabigh form a lake along the wadi floor that is fringed with Typha 
swamp vegetation. Fish are abundant. On each of three visits to the 
springs on 5 and 26 March 1993 and 16 April 1993, one or two Kingfishers 
were seen in a restricted area of the springs which was close to a possible 
nesting bank. The next visit took place on 14 May. During the intervening 
period the bank had been completely submerged by floods after 
abnormally heavy rains through much of the central Hijaz during late 
April and early May. No Kingfishers were seen either then or on a further 
visit on 23 July. 
In southern Britain, where there is a local migration of the mobile 
component of the Kingfisher population from inland rivers to the coast 
in winter, such birds are back at their breeding areas by mid-March (pers. 
obs.). Counts of Kingfishers that I made almost weekly over two years 
along seven km of shoreline at Yanbu al-Sinaiyah, which is on the delta 
of Wadi Farrah, showed that passage continues well into April and May 
(see Appendix). 
In southern Russia, a probable source area for some Red Sea birds, 
Kingfishers do not arrive back in their territories until late April or May. 
Late April and May birds in Saudi Arabia could, therefore, still be in, or 
close to, their winter quarters. On the other hand, although there are no 
breeding records for the Arabian Peninsula, the species has bred - in 1982 
- as close as the Sinai (Cramp 1985). 
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