06 August 2015

Desert Lark - Taif Euphorbia Forest

After our successful trip to the Bani Saad area looking for Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak we went to the Taif Euphorbia Forest, an area where we saw Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak in the previous January. We arrived in mid-afternoon and there was very little activity at the site at all. The place is amazing for the size and number of Euphorbias many of which are over eight metres tall. This is the best place to see the large plants in their natural habitat and as Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak like to associate with this plant is a good place to look for them. The Euphorbias grow on steep rocky hillsides and birding the area properly means climbing up and down the rocky hillsides. We saw very few birds on our visit with Desert Lark, Abyssinian White-eye and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting being the best, but it was still worth a visit to see the amazing plants.
Euphorbia
Euphorbia
Euphorbia
Euphorbia
Desert Lark
Desert Lark
Abyssinian White-eye
Abyssinian White-eye