Some good birds – Talea Valley

Whilst birding the Talea Valley in late June, an area of the Asir mountains, north of Abha, I photographed a pair of Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos doraeat. The Arabian Woodpecker is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, where birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. It is classified as near threatened and the population is considered to be relatively small and is decline owing to cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder, in parts of its range. They are often located by their loud call. Also in the valley was an African Pipit, which probably breed in this area as we see them every visit to the valley as we do Rufous-capped Lark, of which we only saw two on this visit.

Arabian Woodpecker

Arabian Woodpecker

Arabian Woodpecker

African Pipit

African Pipit

Rufous-capped Lark

Arabian Woodpecker - Tanoumah

Whilst birding the Tanoumah area of the Asir mountains, north of Abha recently I photographed an Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos doraeat. The Arabian Woodpecker is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, where birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. It is classified as near threatened on the IUCN Red List 2018 as it has a population estimate of >10,000 mature individuals, however, the population is still considered to be relatively small and is decline owing to cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder, in parts of its range. They are often located by their loud call, but are difficult to see in tall trees as they stay well hidden in vegetation and close to tree branches and trucks.

Arabian Woodpecker - An Namas

Whilst birding the An Namas area of the Asir mountains, 150 kms north of Abha recently I photographed a pair of Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos doraeat their nest hole. The hole was positioned in the trunk or major branch of a large tree about five metres above ground level and comprised of a small freshly drilled hole. The nest was active with both birds of the pair continually bringing food to young hidden in the hole. An interesting interaction occurred with a Violet-backed Starling when I was there with the Starling, that are known to displace woodpeckers from their nest holes and take them over to nest themselves. The starling moved closer and closer to the hole and when within close range was driven from the tree by the male woodpecker. The starling then came back a second time but was drive off this time by the female woodpecker. The Arabian Woodpecker is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, where birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. It is classified as near threatened on the IUCN Red List 2018 as it has a population estimate of >10,000 mature individuals, however, the population is still considered to be relatively small and is decline owing to cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder, in parts of its range. 

Arabian Woodpecker – Record by Arnold Uy

Whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment last week, Arnold found and photographed an Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos dorae. This is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, Jebal Souda plateau on the dry east side as well as at Raydah Farm on the Raydah escarpment and Wadi Jaw at 1350 m are good areas to find the species as Talea Valley near Abha, the areas around Tanoumah and around Al Baha. Birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. The species also occurs in the Tihama at Jebal Gaha and Raith. The Arabian Woodpecker is a rather small, olive-brown woodpecker with white bars across its wings and red patch on the rear of the head of a male. Both sexes show a pale red patch down the centre of the belly. It has a distinct call which accelerates and, then descends “kek-kek-kek-kek-kek-kek”. It is the only woodpecker breeding in Arabia, has a typical woodpecker undulating flight, and only drums weekly and infrequently. They occur locally in the Red Sea foothills and western uplands of south-west Arabia, from the Yeman boarder to 26°N in Saudi Arabia. It is generally uncommon to rare where it occurs with approximately 0.1-1.0 mature individuals per km2. The total population is therefore inferred to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and it is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List 2006 as it has a small population of less than 10,000 mature birds, which is likely to be declining as a result of excessive cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder. Birds occur in a wide variety of fragmented woodland-types, from sea level up to 3,000 metres on mountain slopes, including: groves of fig Ficus, date-palm Phoenix or pandan Pandanus at lower altitudes; subtropical, evergreen riparian forest; traditional shade-coffee plantations and well-developed succulent shrubland at middle-altitudes; woods, groves and parklands of Acacia, Juniperus, Olea and Dracaena at higher altitudes (often on slopes terraced for agriculture); and old-established orchards in the highlands. Breeding records (February-May) are restricted to the highlands (1,450-2,400 m) with the nest-site being a small hole excavated in the trunk or major branch of a large tree. Arnold’s photo is shown below and I thank him for allowing me to use it on my website.

Arabian Woodpecker

Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos dorae is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, Jebal Souda plateau on the dry east side as well as at Raydah Farm on the Raydah escarpment and Wadi Jaw at 1350 m are good areas to find the species as Talea Valley near Abha, the areas around Tanoumah and around Al Baha. Birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. The species also occurs in the Tihama at Jebal Gaha and Raith. The Arabian Woodpecker is a rather small, olive-brown woodpecker with white bars across its wings and red patch on the rear of the head of a male. Both sexes show a pale red patch down the centre of the belly. It has a distinct call which accelerates and, then descends “kek-kek-kek-kek-kek-kek”. It is the only woodpecker breeding in Arabia, has a typical woodpecker undulating flight, and only drums weekly and infrequently. They occur locally in the Red Sea foothills and western uplands of south-west Arabia, from the Yeman boarder to 26°N in Saudi Arabia. It is generally uncommon to rare where it occurs with approximately 0.1-1.0 mature individuals per km2. The total population is therefore inferred to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and it is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List 2006 as it has a small population of less than 10,000 mature birds, which is likely to be declining as a result of excessive cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder. Birds occur in a wide variety of fragmented woodland-types, from sea level up to 3,000 metres on mountain slopes, including: groves of fig Ficus, date-palm Phoenix or pandan Pandanus at lower altitudes; subtropical, evergreen riparian forest; traditional shade-coffee plantations and well-developed succulent shrubland at middle-altitudes; woods, groves and parklands of Acacia, Juniperus, Olea and Dracaena at higher altitudes (often on slopes terraced for agriculture); and old-established orchards in the highlands. Breeding records (February-May) are restricted to the highlands (1,450-2,400 m) with the nest-site being a small hole excavated in the trunk or major branch of a large tree.

Birding the Abha Area

Whilst birding the Abha area recently we went to Azeeza to look for Blandford’s Short-toed Larks as birds had been seen here by us in previous years. The area has had some building and construction work done in the last couple of years and despite quite extensive searching we failed to find any birds. Very little occurs in this relatively barren and stony area, with Long-billed Pipit and Common Kestrel the only birds of note seen. Luckily we found a new site for Blandford’s Lark (see earlier post) so were not so disappointed with our failure. After this we went to look for Olive Pigeon in a step sided valley where birds had been seen some years previously by local birders but again our luck was out. We did see some good birds here including Arabian Woodpecker and Arabian Serin. Other good birds included Dusky Turtle Dove and adult and Juvenile Red-rumped Swallow that clearly breed nearby.

Common Kestrel

Arabian Woodpeckers

Arabian Serin

Red-rumped Swallow - juvenile

Red-rumped Swallow - adult

Ringing endemics – Tanoumah

I went to the southwest to try to catch Abyssinian White-eye to get blood samples to compare to the Mangrove White-eye we trapped and ringed last summer. The original plan was to ring at the top of the Raydah Escarpment, or at the farm on the Raydah Escarpment near Abha, but unfortunately we could not obtain permission from the Rangers to ring where we intended. As a result we headed 120 kilometres north and tried our luck in the Tanoumah area a location that holds all the Arabian endemics except Golden-winged Grosbeak and Arabian Accentor (which does not occur in Saudi Arabia at all). We managed to catch a number of endemic species including two Yemen Thrush, one Arabian Serin and a male Arabian Woodpecker. We also caught two (Arabian) Green Bee-eaters a taxon that some people regard as a full species like HBW. Handling these species was a real pleasure as not many people have ringed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen so I obtained some valuable biometric data from the birds. The Arabian Serin photographs below are by Chris Boland and I thank him for allowing me to use them on my website.

Yemen Thrush

Yemen Thrush

Yemen Thrush

Arabian Serin

Arabian Serin

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Ten species of Arabian Endemic at Al Mehfar Park – Tanoumah

During the weekend of 19-20 July, Phil Roberts and I went to the southwest of Saudi Arabia for a birding trip. This was a very busy and long weekend with little sleep as we were birding on foot all day and then looking for owls and nightjars all night. We birded the Al Mehfar Park area for most of the day on 20 June and saw plenty of good birds including ten of the thirteen Arabian Endemics that occur in Saudi Arabia including: Philby’s Partridge, Arabian Partridge, Arabian Scops Owl, Arabian Woodpecker, Yemen Warbler, Yemen Thrush, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Serin, Arabian Serin & Yemen Linnet. The ones we failed to see were: Arabian Waxbill, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak and Arabian Spotted Eagle Owl. As it started getting light we went to the more bare area of the site with large boulders in the hope of seeing Philby’s Partridge where we located several small groups totaling 16 birds. Other birds seen included; Five Arabian Scops Owls, four Eurasian Hoopoes, five Arabian Woodpeckers, three Fan Tailed Ravens, six Violet-backed Starlings, 15 Tristram's Starlings, five Yemen Thrushs, 10 White-spectacled Bulbul, Crested Lark, two Barn Swallows, two Pale Crag Martins, six Red-rumped Swallow, four Brown Woodland Warblers, six Streaked Scrub Warblers, African Paradise Flycatcher, Arabian Warbler, three Abyssinian White-eyes, four Arabian Wheatears, four Little Rock Thrushes, seven Gambaga Flycatchers, five Palestine Sunbirds, House Sparrow, Long-billed Pipit, three Arabian Serins 35 Yemen Serins, 30 Yemen Linnets and two Cinammon-breasted Buntings.

Arabian Wheatear - male

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Arabian Woodpecker - male

Little Rock Thrush

Palestine Sunbird

Philby's Partridge

Streaked Scrub Warbler

Violet-backed Starling 

Violet-backed Starling

Yemen Linnet

Yemen Serin 

Yemen Serin

Tale’a Valley

At just over 3000 m Jebal Souda is the highest peak in Saudi Arabia and includes the Raydah protected area on its western escarpment, and is surrounded by a plateau, mostly over 2500 m. The juniper Juniperus procera forests in the highlands are probably the most extensive anywhere in Arabia and there are also some thickly wooded acacia valleys. The road to Mount Soudah is in very good condition up to the top, although a little steep, and is well signposted from the city of Abha. There are several car parks and picnic areas to stop at and have a look around as you approach the summit, many of which are good for birds. We did not bird this area this trip as it was holiday season and the traffic going to the top of Mount Souda was ridiculous with gridlock each afternoon. We did bird the Tale’a Valley, situated off the main road from Abha to Mount Soudah. The road goes through some good farmland with cultivated fields and ravines or wadis with acacia trees growing in them. This has previously been a good site for the endemic Arabian Woodpecker and Arabian Wheatear and the Asir race of the European Magpie has also been seen here. 

Ruppell's Weaver

We birded this site in the early afternoon of 5 July and did so by driving down the road until we saw some nice areas of acacia trees. The primary species we were looking for at this site was Arabian Woodpecker whose preferred habitat is acacia woodland with the occasional dead tree interspersed. We found a nice looking wadi full of big trees and the occasional dead one and set about trying to locate the woodpecker. We failed here but found 20+ Gambaga Flycatchers, five White-spectacled Bulbuls, five Ruppell’s Warblers, ten House Sparrows, one Scrub Warbler, five Little Rock Thrush, one Cinnamon Breasted Bunting, five Arabian Warblers, five Arabian Babblers, ten Ruppell’s Weavers, two Dusky Turtle Doves and several Laughing Doves. Three Red-breasted Wheatears were hopping about the rocks and one Arabian Wheatear was also present.

Little Rock Thrush

Gambaga Flycatcher

 After failing at the first site we started driving back to an area where Lou had seen birds previously. On the way we found another good-looking area of trees and stopped again to look. Here we found a female Arabian Woodpecker that flew out of a dead tree and into some green trees where it started finding food. Females lack the red patch on the head of males. This was one of my three missing endemics and I was very pleased to find one, even if it did not give great views.

Arabian Woodpecker