04 November 2012

Tale’a Valley - Abha


Tale’a Valley is situated off the main road from Abha to Mount Soudah. It is well signposted to the right quite near the bottom of the main climb. The road goes through some good farmland with cultivated fields and plenty of birds were present in the valley although I only had about thirty minutes to bird the site on two occasions. Excellent views of the Arabian endemic Arabian Wheatear were had in the tree tops along the main road and the scrub and trees in the valley bottom held small numbers of two more Arabian endemics Yemen Linnet and Yemen Thrush. Other good birds seen included seven Arabian Babblers and ten Ruppell’s Weavers. The Arabian Babblers where of the Yemen variant type with mostly yellow bills.  There was no sign of the hoped for Arabian Woodpecker or Asir Magpie that had been recorded in the valley previously and as a result I saw seven of the ten Arabian Endemics in my trip to Abha two of which I had previously seen in Baha, Yemen Thrush and Arabian Wheatear. I have three more species to see Arabian Woodpecker, Yemen Serin and Arabian Waxbill as well as the endemic subspecies of Magpie which gives me a good reason to return to the site, without the family when they are on holiday for the summer. 
Arabian Wheatear
Arabian Wheatear
Arabian Wheatear
Arabian Babbler