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Eight Yellow-throated Sparrows Recorded for the First Time in King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve

Yellow-throated sparrow perched on a twig in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India
Research · Ecology

Eight yellow-throated sparrows (Gymnoris xanthocollis) were documented in King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve in Saudi Arabia, the first record of the species from the reserve. The observation formed part of a year-long bird survey whose results were published on 11 June 2026.

The group, which included both males and females, was recorded on 30 July 2025 at Qulban Abu Rukbah. The birds were observed drinking at a water body together with several other passerines, and the study’s observation table classifies the habitat at the record as artificial.

One of nine new reserve records

Researchers surveyed the reserve from October 2024 through September 2025 using standardized fixed-radius point counts. At each survey station, observers remained in one place for a set period and recorded birds within a defined surrounding area, creating a repeatable way to sample different parts of the reserve over time. The survey produced first reserve records for nine vagrant bird species from five orders and eight families. Here, “vagrant” means a bird recorded outside its usual breeding, wintering or migration range.

The yellow-throated sparrow was one of the passerines among these new records. The species is partly migratory, and the authors describe its status in Saudi Arabia as a rare passage migrant or occasional breeder in suitable semi-arid habitats. Previous Saudi records cited in the paper came from Buqayq, Dhahran, Jubail and Ras Tanaqib in the Eastern Province.

Different habitats provide refuge in an arid landscape

The authors conclude that artificial, seminatural and natural habitats within the reserve provide important refuges and resources for vagrant as well as resident birds. They describe King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve as a key stopover and dispersal site for migratory birds crossing the Arabian Peninsula, and identify water availability as one of the microhabitat factors likely to shape bird distribution in this arid ecosystem. For the yellow-throated sparrow record itself, the site was classified as artificial habitat and the eight birds were observed drinking at a water body.

Vagrant records can reveal movements beyond the areas where species are normally expected and gradually refine knowledge of regional distribution. For the yellow-throated sparrow, the 2025 observation adds a documented locality within King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve and places the species among the reserve’s newly recorded avifauna.

Sources and image credit

  1. Chedad, A., Alshammari, N. M., Al-Qahtani, A. M., Riad, S. A., Al-Asmari, H. A., Shahin, A., Althobaiti, A., Alzahrani, A. S., Alkhamis, H. H., Alowaifeer, A. M., & Alrefaei, A. F. (2026). First records of nine vagrant bird species (Aves) from the King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve, Saudi Arabia. Check List, 22(3), 535–548. https://doi.org/10.15560/22.3.535Primary peer-reviewed open-access article published 11 June 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Eight yellow-throated sparrows, males and females, were observed at Qulban Abu Rukbah on 30 July 2025 while drinking at a water body; the species was one of nine first records for King Abdulaziz Royal Reserve during surveys from October 2024 to September 2025.

Image: Tisha Mukherjee / Wikimedia Commons — yellow-throated sparrow in Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary, Odisha, India, 4 March 2025; cropped to 16:9. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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