15 February 2020

White-crowned Wheatear – Ushaiqer

 The Ushaiqer area, 180 km northwest of Riyadh is a good area for seeing White-crowned Wheatear. Most of the birds we saw were black crowned with no white cap indicating they were juveniles with only two out of about fifteen birds showing white on the head. They are a locally common breeding resident in dry rocky areas of Saudi Arabia and occur from the Hejaz north from Taif, Northern Hejaz, Asir south of Soudah and Najran, Tuwaiq escarpment and locally in the Gulf in areas like Shedgum escarpment and Jebal Hamrah. Also Jauf, Hail and Dawadimi.
White-crowned Wheatear

White-crowned Wheatear

White-crowned Wheatear