October 2023

The south beach at KAUST is full of resting waders and terns; crab plovers, sand and Kentish plovers, curlews whimbrel, spotted redshank, lesser crested terns, a Caspian tern and reef and striated herons. The crab plovers are both charismatic and enigmatic; they breed colonially on sandy islands in the Red Sea where pairs excavate a deep nest hole, presumably with their large beaks and the single white egg is largely incubated within the warm, stable air within the nest chamber. At dusk, on a warm autumn evening, it is a good place to watch the shorebirds as the sun descends over the horizon.