JEDDAH: A tiny seabird that typically spends much of its life in the open ocean has made a rare appearance inland in Saudi Arabia, providing researchers with one of the most unusual bird records ever documented in the Kingdom.
The King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority announced the first confirmed sighting of a red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) inside the reserve, a record considered among the rarest bird observations documented in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.
The bird was spotted in February 2026 at the Sudair Artificial Wetland, a permanent water habitat created through the discharge of treated water from Sudair Industrial City, by a joint research team from the authority and King Saud University.
Researchers observed an adult red phalarope in non-breeding winter plumage feeding in a wetland area south of the reserve.
For researchers, the discovery is significant not only because of the species involved, but also because of what it may reveal about migration routes across the Arabian Peninsula.
