Asir (Arabian) Magpie - Tanoumah

Whilst in the southwest on the Kingdom this summer I had a good number of sightings of Asir (Arabian) Magpie at two different locations. I saw a pair of birds at Tanoumah very early morning one day and followed them for a few kilometres hoping to get good photos. This species is not so easy to get close to but luckily ton this occasion I did manage to obtain a few very good photos. The species is now widely regarded a full species and is Saudi Arabias only true endemic as it is not found anywhere outside the Kingdom. Arabian Magpies are sedentary and localised and occur in upland valleys and wadis, of the Asir highlands between 1850–3000 m asl. P. asirensisisis a taxon with a very restricted range, confined to a small region within Saudi Arabia where numbers are decreasing probably because of heavy disturbance by tourism and perhaps changes in climate.

Asir (Arabian) Magpie – Tanoumah and An Namas

Whilst in the southwest on the Kingdom in May I saw at least five Asir (Arabian) Magpie at two different locations. Old nests were discovered near Tanoumah and near An Namas with adults and at least one juvenile seen near the nests. These birds remain very difficult to photograph and are constantly on the move looking for food. The taxonomic position of Asir (Arabian) Magpie Pica asirensisis uncertain with some authorities regarding it as a full species such as HBW and others not. Two new papers: Deep Phylogeographic Breaks in Magpie Pica picaAcross the Holarctic: Concordance with Bioacoustics and Phenotypes by Alexey P. Kryukov et aland Complete taxon sampling of the avian genus Pica (magpies) reveals ancient relictual populations and synchronous Late-Pleistocene demographic expansion across the Northern Hemisphere by Gang Song et alboth indicated the birds are a separate species to Eurasian Magpie Pica Pica. Arabian Magpies are sedentary and localised and occur in upland valleys and wadis, of the Asir highlands between 1850–3000 m asl. P. asirensisisis a taxon with a very restricted range, confined to a small region within Saudi Arabia where numbers are decreasing probably because of heavy disturbance by tourism and perhaps changes in climate.

Sallal Al Dahna

Sallal Al Dahna (18 54.393N, 42 12.287E) is about seven kilometres before Tanumah if coming from the Abha direction on Route 15. The best way to find the site is to drive towards Tanumah and once you see the town in front of you take the first U-Turn and then drive up the road for a couple of hundred metres and take the first turn just before the first building on the right. This is a tarmac drive and ends after about five hundred metres in a turning area and below this is the waterfall pool. There is another entrance to the waterfall just before the small bridge but this is hardly marked and looks like no road exits, as it is a dirt track. It may also be too rough for normal cars to pass but you can park although allows easier access to the wadi. The best idea is to park here and walk up the wadi and bird your way up to the waterfall. The site is surprisingly compact but has excellent cover mainly of juniper and acacia and as a result a high density of birds. Tanumah lies about 100km north of Abha and is connected by a fast and good road and has numerous bare rocky hills along an escarpment. 

African Paradise Flycatcher

African Paradise Flycatcher

We visited this site in the morning of 5 July and arrived just after first light. The primary reason for visiting was to try to locate the Asir race of European Magpie which is endemic to this area of Saudi Arabia and may only have 150 pairs left in the wild. Recent records indicate the species range may be contracting but birds were seen here in May 2002 and again in April & May 2013 when a nest was located at the same site. There was no sign of the magpies when we first arrived but after about thirty minutes we heard odd calling and went to investigate. Here we located two birds sitting in a tall tree that were later joined by a third bird. The birds never really allowed close approach and kept moving around across the valley occasionally giving their distinctive calls. Staying on the tarmac road and looking across the valley would probably ensure success in locating the birds if they were present but getting down in the wadi and looking allows for closer views, although views of the entire valley are restricted by the tall trees. We went down into the wadi after initially looking from the top and ended up getting good views. The cover in the wadi does mean you may need to spend some time here searching as this was one of the best covered areas we bird watched on our trip.

Asir Magpie

Asir Magpie

Palestine Sunbird

There were a good number of birds present in this excellent site including three Eurasian Hoopoes, a pair of African Paradise Flycatchers, 5+ Brown-necked Raven, 5+ Fan-tailed Raven, 5+ White-spectacled Bulbuls, two Brown Woodland Warblers, one Abyssinian White-eye, three Arabian Wheatears, one Little Rock Thrush, two Gambaga Flycatchers, one Palestinian Sunbird and a few House Sparrows.