Arabian & Palestine Sunbird – Tanoumah

Whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment recently I saw a few Arabian Sunbird Cinnyris hellmayri & Palestine Sunbird Cinnyris osea. The birds were feeding on flower heads and were very active. Arabian Sunbird has previously been treated as conspecific with Shining Sunbird Cinnyris habessinicus, but differs in males by having much-reduced and slightly duller red breast-band and more extensive and deeper blue reflectant uppertail-coverts. In females they differ by having much darker grey or grey-brown plumage. They are a larger size and have a different song. There are locally common in their favoured areas. The Palestine Sunbird occurs mainly in Arabia, which comprises more than 70% of its global range with the subspecies C. o. osea occurring which is near endemic to Arabia. It is a very common breeding resident in Saudi Arabia and easy to locate due to its bright sparkling plumage. It is the smallest bird in Saudi Arabia and is found mainly throughout the Hijaz and ‘Asir highlands, normally above 1,500 m, but occasionally from sea level on the northern Red Sea coast.

Arabian Sunbird

Arabian Sunbird

Arabian Sunbird

Palestine Sunbird

Palestine Sunbird

Palestine Sunbird

Palestine Sunbird

Palestine Sunbird

Dhahran Al Janob

Whilst in the southwest in mid-November we travelled across to Najran birding the wadies and hills in areas where very few birders have ventured in recent years or even before that. The idea was to try to see what the range of some of the commoner birds were. We located a few birds that have not been recorded in the area previously such as Abyssinian White-eye and Arabian Babbler and others that have not been recorded since 1984 such as Arabian Warbler, Arabian Scops Owl & Arabian Wheatear. Other species seen and photographed included Palestine Sunbird, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Graceful Prinia & Arabian Sunbird.

Palestine Sunbird

Graceful Prinia

Arabian Wheatear

Arabian Wheatear

Arabian Warbler

Arabian Sunbird

Arabian Green Bee-eater

Abyssinian White-eye

Birding Jabal Ibrahim

I visited Jabal Ibrahim recently, the first time I had been to the location. This massive Jabal is located between Taif and Al Baha in the western mountains and is an excellent site for birds. The habitat looks very good and held some good birds, such as Black-crowned Tchagra, Arabian Serin and Arabian Partridge. Other good birds seen included Long-billed Pipit, Abyssynian White-eye, Palestinian Sunbird and Gambaga Flycathcer. We also saw a few migrants such as Upcher’s Warbler and plenty of lizards that were mainly Anderson’s Rock Agama.

Arabian Sunbird

Upcher's Warbler

Gambaga Flycatcher

 

Arabian Sunbird – Raydah Escarpment

Whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment recently I saw a few Arabian Sunbird Cinnyris hellmayri. The birds were at the bottom of the escarpment near the village and dry wadi. It has previously been treated as conspecific with Shining Sunbird Cinnyris habessinicus, but differs in males by having much-reduced and slightly duller red breast-band and more extensive and deeper blue reflectant uppertail-coverts. In females they differ by having much darker grey or grey-brown plumage. They are a larger size and have a different song. There are two subspecies both of which are found is Saudi Arabia. C. h. kinnearithat occurs in western Saudi Arabia from the southern Hijaz mountains south to the Asir mountains. The second subspecies C. h. hellmayrioccurs in the extreme southwest of Saudi Arabia in the Najran area, Yemen and SW Oman.

Shining (Arabian) Sunbird – Raydah Escarpment

Whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment in June I saw a few Arabian Sunbird Cinnyris hellmayri. The birds were at the bottom of the escarpment near the village and dry wadi. It is normally treated as conspecific with Shining Sunbird Cinnyris habessinicus, but differs in males by having much-reduced and slightly duller red breast-band and more extensive and deeper blue reflectant uppertail-coverts. In females they differ by having much darker grey or grey-brown plumage. They are a larger size and have a different song. The Handbook of Birds of the World treat them as separate species with two subspecies both of which are found is Saudi Arabia. C. h. kinnearithat occurs in western Saudi Arabia from the southern Hijaz mountains south to the Asir mountains. The second subspecies C. h. hellmayrioccurs in the extreme southwest of Saudi Arabia in the Najran area, Yemen and SW Oman.