05 July 2015

Breeding Shikra – Tanoumah

Shikra is a scarce breeding resident of the southwest of Saudi Arabia with a few scattered records of migrants elsewhere including Riyadh where a female was collected on 18 October 1938 that is now held by the British Museum (Natural History) at Tring, UK. The birds we saw were an adult male and female and a three juveniles still in the nest. An adult was seen perched in the tree top and another seen chasing a Long-legged Buzzard and later the same birds were seen near the nest as well as circling over. We got good flight views of the birds but they were no on view for long periods of time so getting good photographs was difficult. 
Shikra nest

Shikra nest

Shikra nest

Shikra

Shikra

Shikra

Shikra