Walk One is entitled ‘In Search of the Yellow Bittern’. It is on Friday, March 1 and will involve walking around the Island Mangroves. We should meet at 6:45 a.m. meeting in the cap park at the Island Mosque and the walk will take up to 2 hours. It is limited to 10 participants. The walk will concentrate on finding the shy Yellow Bittern. KAUST is the only known site for this species in the Kingdom and it was only discovered here a few months ago. It is a common bird in much of Southern and South-East Asia but is much rarer here. If we are successful in finding this species early in the walk we will continue on around the circular path finishing back at the Island Mosque.
Walk Two is a walk around the Safaa Golf Course and is on Sunday March 3. The walk starts at 5:00 p.m. and we will meet in the Safaa Golf Club Reception. It is limited to 15 participants. The golf course with its mixture of lakes, wooded area and grass fairways is a natural magnet for many of our migratory species. We will visit a variety of habitats and end up looking over the main lake where a variety of water birds including egrets and herons are certain to be present.
Walk Three is a chance to ‘Explore the Nature Conservation Area’ around the King Abdullah Monument. This walk is Saturday, March 9, meeting in the KAM car park. 6:45 a.m. This walk is limited to 12 participants. We will spend some time looking around the park area but also explore some the mangrove and beach areas where a good variety of birds may be found.
HSE has a number of pairs of binoculars available for the walks but if you have your own please bring them along as there is never enough to go round. The walks are open to all members of the KAUST community but are not suitable for young children (under 10) because patience is often needed and quiet behaviour essential.
Register here: https://hse.kaust.edu.sa/Services/Pages/biodiversity3.aspx