After careful consideration we have concluded that the Martin we saw in Kuwait, indeed must be Pale Martin (Riparia Diluta) and we tick it. Plenty of good pictures of the individual, included here are two of the best ones captured by Omar Alsaheen.
Good arguments provided by Wouter Faveyts
“Looks interesting indeed! I checked the Alula article from 2007 (Schweizer & Ayé) again, and it seems that the bird could really be a Pale (Sand) Martin (Riparia diluta). Greyish cast, lack of clear distinction between dark ear coverts and paler throat, pale head with dark eye and lores are all ticking the right boxes. Also diffuse breast band, although this feature seems more variable in comparison to Sand Martin.”
As well as by Alan Joseph Dalton
“I think this is a Pale Martin. Note the darker new inner primaries on your bird, which fit in well with 2nd gen moult for the species. There are quite a few records in Oman, where it’s probably easily overlooked, so a Kuwait record would not really be unexpected. Head pattern and upper chest look good.”
The Alula article from 2007 (Schweizer & Ayé) seems to correlate with the Kuwait bird we saw.
KORC have not yet decided on this matter.
Dear friends,
I will prepare today a news of the record for the First Country Reports section at the Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive, including a link to this page. I would appreciate if you can allow us to include one of the above images in the news. This is always helping the readers. With the feedback you are providing now regarding the identification and the images it would be of interest to be added to our system as the first for uwait (pending of acceptance by the KORC).
Yes, I spoke to Omar Alsaheen, who took these shots and you’re allowed to use the pics as you see fit. Omars email is Omar348@gmail.com