Arabian Spotted Eagle Owls – Abha

Whilst in Abha in late February, Phil Roberts and I managed to see and photograph an Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. We saw three birds but one was perched on some overhead lines and allowed very close views. Even when a car drove underneath it, it remained in place and once we had taken a few photos we also left it in the same location. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April and near Tanoumah at various times of year. It is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts quite tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea level up to c. 2100 metres. It has recently been split from African Spotted Eagle Owl and now has an isolated range in South-west Saudi Arabia, South-west Yemen and north-east to southern Oman.

 

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owls – Abha

Whilst in Abha in mid-March, Phil Roberts and I managed to see and photograph a couple of Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. One was perched on some overhead lines and allowed very close views. We got out of the car and moved closer getting to about ten metres of the bird with the owl appearing comfortable with our presence, and stayed on the wires the entire time until we left it in peach in the same location. A different bird was located about twenty kilometres away in the early evening on an exposed rock where after some time it was joined by a second bird. Both birds then proceeded to mate with each other before flying off. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April and near Tanoumah at various times of year. It is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts quite tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea level up to c. 2100 metres. It has recently been split from African Spotted Eagle Owl and now has an isolated range in South-west Saudi Arabia, South-west Yemen and north-east to southern Oman.

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owls - Abha

Whilst in Abha in mid-October, Phil Roberts and I spent almost the entire night out looking for owls and managed to see and photograph a couple of Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. One was perched on some overhead lines and the second on a high man made wall. Recent papers have suggested the species should be split form African Spotted Eagle Owl due to call and plumage differences and as the subspecies in Arabia is an endemic. The species is not rare in the southwest highlands but it is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. 

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl - Abha

Whilst in Abha, Phil Roberts and I managed to see and photograph a couple of Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. One was perched some overhead lines and allowed very close views. We got out of the car and moved closer getting to about ten metres of the bird with the owl appearing comfortable with our presence, and stayed on the wires the entire time until we left it in peach in the same location. The subspecies in Arabia is an endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April and near Tanoumah at various times of year. The taxonomic status of form milesi,significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, is uncertain. It is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts and with race milesi smaller and more tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea level up to c. 2100 metres. A recent paper by Collar & Boesman 2019 - ‘The taxonomy of certain Asio and Bubo owl species in Africa and Arabia’ say calls are different from African nominate and the range isolated suggesting it is a distinct species.

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl - Tanoumah

Whilst in Tanoumah in May Phil Roberts and I managed to see and photograph an Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. I initially saw the bird on some overhead wires where it stayed for a few minutes before flying off. I have seen the bird here last year on the same wires. When it flew, it did so only a short distance and landed on a nearby building where it started calling very softly. We got out of the car and moved closer getting to about twenty metres of the bird where I got some very poor IPhone recordings of the call. After about ten minutes the bird flew again and disappeared. We walked down the road the way it had flown and I saw it again perched on some more overhead telephone wires. Here we managed to walk behind large sets of building walls and get in front of the bird allowing reasonable photos to be taken at close range. The owl was not disturbed by our presence, and stayed on the wires the entire time until we left it in peach in the same location. The subspecies in Arabia is an endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April and near Tanoumah at various times of year. The taxonomic status of form milesi, significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, is uncertain. It is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts and with race milesi smaller and more tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea level up to c. 2100 metres.

Arbabian Spotted Eagle Owl young - Tanoumah

Whilst in Tanoumah in June I managed to see and photograph an Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. I went back to the same area in July and at another location about two kilometres away I saw another bird perched on a wall of a partly built building. On getting out of the car the bird could be herd calling and when seen properly turned out to be two young Spotted Eagle Owls. I managed to take a few photos of the bird and after some time they left the tree they were in a flew onto a nearby rock face. We left after a short while as we did not want to disturb the birds. The birds seen are the endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia milesi,which are significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. It is more tawny in colour and smaller than nominate and tanae both from Africa, and its vocalizations differ (though fuller details required) and is possibly specifically distinct. 

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl – Tanoumah

Whilst in Tanoumah in June I managed to see and photograph an Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl. I initially saw the bird fly up from the ground onto some overhead wires where it stayed for a few minutes before flying off. Whilst I was there a car drove underneath the bird and did not frighten it, suggesting it may use the overhead wires as hunting positions. The subspecies in Arabia is an endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April near Tanumah at various times of year. The taxonomic status of form milesi, significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, is uncertain. It is more tawny in colour and smaller than nominate and tanae both from Africa, and its vocalizations differ (though fuller details are required) and is possibly specifically distinct. The species African Spotted Eagle-owl is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts and with race milesi smaller and more tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea-level up to c. 2100 m.

Arabian Spotted Eagle-Owl - Tanoumah

Whilst in Tanoumah in early April Phil Roberts and I saw an Arabian Spotted Eagle-Owl. Initially Phil found it sitting on some overhead wires but it soon flew off. It was seen a few times catching what looked like large moths around some very powerful lights on a house and was then lost from view. After some searching I refound the bird sitting on a nearby wall next to a large mosque and here we managed to get some very good views and a few photographs using flash. The subspecies in Arabia is an endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April and near Tanumah at various times of year. The taxonomic status of form milesi, significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, is uncertain. It is more tawny in colour and smaller than nominate and tanae both from Africa, and its vocalizations differ (though fuller details are required) and is possibly specifically distinct. They use a variety of habitats from sea level up to 2100 metres.

Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl in Tanoumah – Record by Ahmed AlKassim

Whilst in Tanoumah in June I met Ahmed AlKassim an excellent local bird photographer. He was staying there for a number of days and managed to see and photograph an Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl after I left. Ahmed has very kindly sent me one of his amazing photos of the Arabian Spotted Eagle-owl taken on some overhead wires in the Tanoumah area and has allowed me to use it on my website which is shown below. Please note the copyright of this photos belong to Ahmen AlKassim and should not be reused without his permission. The subspecies in Arabia is an endemic sub-species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April near Tanumah at various times of year. The taxonomic status of form milesi, significantly isolated in southwest Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman, is uncertain. It is more tawny in colour and smaller than nominate and tanae both from Africa, and its vocalizations differ (though fuller details required) and is possibly specifically distinct. The species African Spotted Eagle-owl is a rather small eagle-owl with long, erect ear-tufts and with race milesi smaller and more tawny coloured. They use a variety of habitats, from rocky outcrops in desert to woodland with sparse ground cover: particularly favours areas with mosaic of low hills, grassland and scrub; prefers semi-open woodland, and rocky hills with scattered trees and bushes; also found in thorn savanna; avoids dense forest. From sea-level up to c. 2100 m.

Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl near Al Baha – Bird records by Khalifah Al Dhaheri

Khalifah Al Dhaheri sent me details of his trip last weekend to the Abha area where he managed to see an Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl. This is an endemic species to southwestern Arabia and although not rare is difficult to locate. Khalifah was given help by a local birdwatcher to see the bird and he then managed to get a few excellent photos of the bird that he has kindly allowed me to use on my website. Birds are resident near the Red Sea coast north to Jeddah and can be seen in the Tihamah and Asir areas including Najran and Hejaz north to Taif. Other birds have been seen in a wooded wadi eight kilometres east of Wadi Juwwah in April near Tanumah at various times of year. I have still to see this species but am going looking again in a couple of weeks time so will, hopefully, have better luck this time.