Birds of Saudi Arabia: Arabian Serin

Showing posts with label Arabian Serin. Show all posts

30 June 2024

Birding the Bahah area – Bahah

Whilst birding recently in the Bahah in mid-June we saw a lot of good birds including a number of Arabian Endemics. The commonest was Arabian Serin with tens of birds seen mainly at distance but occasionally in trees close to the road we were walking along. Yemen Thrush was likewise common alongside Yemen Linnet. Good numbers of Arabian Wheatear were also present and two Pied Cuckoo. Long-billed Pipits and Cinnamon-breasted Buntings were plentiful among the roadside rocks and five Red-rumped Swallow were flying around and perched on the overhead wires. The are we were was full of vegetation with very healty looking trees including juniper.

Arabian Serin

Arabian Wheatear

Long-billed Pipit

Yemen Linnet

27 June 2021

Birding Wadi Grosbeak

This wadi located near Taif is a site where I have seen Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak on two occasions in previous years but unfortunately not in recent visits. Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak is the scarcest endemic in Saudi Arabia and the most difficult to see. We again failed to locate it on this visit but did see a few good birds including Arabian Green Bee-eater, Arabian Wheatear, Red-breasted Wheatear, Arabian Serin, Arabian Woodpecker, Yemen Linnet, Yemen Thrush and Streaked Scrub Warbler. I hope the species is still present in the area as this is the only area where birds have been seen in the Kingdom in recent years.

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Arabian Serin

Streaked Scrub Warbler

Arabian Wheatear

Arabian Wheatear - male

29 July 2020

Birds at drinking pool – Abha area

Whilst birding an area of Abha without access to the general public, I came across a few good birds. There were a couple of water pools constructed to attract wildlife and here birds came down to drink during the day including Crested Lark, Desert Lark, Laughing Dove and Arabian Serin. The area is a sparsely vegetated basalt rocky area but had a few good birds such as Verreaux’s Eagle and wintering Steppe Eagles. Some resident species were seen including Arabian Babbler, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Arabian Sunbird, Blackstart, Brown-necked Raven and White-spectacled Bulbul with an early migrant in the form of a Turkestan Shrike.

Arabian Serin

Crested Lark

Desert Lark

Laughing Dove

27 November 2019

Resident birds – Raydah Escarpment

Phil Roberts and I made a couple of trips down and up the Raydah Escarpment in October. We did not see many birds and some of the common birds seen every summer such as Dusky Turtle Dove and Laughing Dove were almost absent suggesting they may move to lower altitudes in the winter. Resident birds were still seen in small numbers including Arabian Wheatears, Abyssinian White-eyes, Green Bee-eaters and Blackstarts. A couple of Black-crowned Tchagra were at the bottom near the village but unfortunately, move off before any photos could be taken. A single Long-legged Buzzard was also flying around mid-elevation on the way down and unusually was of the pale type not the dark morph normally seen in the area. On the way up we stopped at the farm for the last few minutes of daylight and were rewarded a beautiful sunset as well as a few Fan-tailed Raven flying around.

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Arabian Serin

Arabian Wheatear - female

Arabian Wheatear - male

Fan-tailed Raven

Raydah Farm

Raydah Farm Sunset

14 April 2019

Resident species – Talea Valley

Whilst birding the Talea valley near Abha in the southwest mountains I took the below photos of a few resident species. Arabian Serin is a common species in the Acacia scrub in the valley bottom with Cinnamon-breasted Bunting being common in summer but absent in mid-winter, where it presumably moves to lower elevations where the temperature will; be milder. Genuine Rock Dove is not so easy to see with feral pigeon being a cause of lack of good birds. The bird shown here looks good for a genuine bird and was in good habitat. Long-legged Buzzard in the southwest appear to be aminly dark morph birds whereas those seen in the Eastern Province where I live are the pale morph ones. Other birds seen were House Sparrow, which are a different subspecies to those I see in the east of the Kingdom and Streaked Scrub Warbler.

Arabian Serin

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

House Sparrow

Long-legged Buzzard

Rock Dove

Streaked Scrub Warbler

17 July 2018

Arabian Serin – Abha area

Whilst birding recently in the Abha area I came across a few endemic Arabian Serin Serinus rothschildi.This is a rather scarce resident of the south-west highlands occurring in scrubland and acacia sites, where they have been seen regularly on Raydah escarpment at Raydah Farm and at the farm at the bottom of the escarpment by the village. Birds have also been seen at Tanoumah as well as in the Raghadan Forest area of Al Baha and further north to Taif, where good numbers can be seen at certain times. They also occur in the lower elevation Tihama around Jebal Gaha where a few have been seen. In 1980’s it was recorded more frequently than now, suggesting a possible decline in numbers.

04 March 2018

Summer time birding - Tanoumah

Last summer I visited Tanoumah, and have just sorted out my photos from the trip. Below are a few species I managed to see and photograph including Abyssinian White-eye, Brown-necked Raven, Common Kestrel, Crested Lark, Little Rock Thrush, Tristrams Starling and Violet-backed Starling. I also saw a few Arabian endemics including Arabian Serin, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Serin and Yemen Warbler.