Birding Alsharaf Park - Tanoumah

Alsharaf Park is a beautiful park in Tanoumah with the highest oeak in the area in it. It has excellent habitat nearby and plenty of the resident common species can be seen. Dusky Turtle Dove is common as is Yemen Thrush that can be heard calling commonly in the area. Brown Woodland Warbler is a common bird but one that is difficult to get excellent views of as it is normally deep in cover. White-spectacled Bulbul, however, perch out on the open frequently, often along the roadside. Violet-backed Starling is a summer breeding visitor and not too easy to photograph which is the same for African Shikra. Fan-tailed Raven are often seen flying over the large rocks calling.

Brown Woodland Warbler

Dusky Turtle Dove

Fan-tailed Raven

Fan-tailed Raven

Gambaga Flycatcher

Shikra

Violet-backed Starling

White=spectacled Bulbul

Yemen Thrush

Yemen Thrush

Birding Wadi Tarj

Wadi Tarj is a location close to Tanoumah with a dam and reservoir. The water areas are quire disappointing on our visits but the valley with acacia and wet pools holds lots of birds of various species. We spent a morning and an afternoon birding this location and saw a few Gambaga Flycatcher, African Silverbill, White-spectacled Bulbul, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Arabian Warbler and Palestine Sunbird. Crested Lark, Eurasian Hoopoe and Long-billed Pipit were actively feeding on the ground with Arabian Green Bee-eater catching plenty of food in the air along with a few Little Swifts and Pale Crag Martin. Grey-headed Kingfisher were common, one of which caught a small snake, and Arabian Babbler and Ruppell’s Weaver were also about in small numbers. On the way out we located an adult and juvenile Arabian Wheatear.

Arabian Wheatear

Arabian Wheatear

Palestine Sunbird

Gambaga Flycatcher

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

White-spectacled Bulbul

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

 

Birding An Namas

Whilst birding the western mountains we visited An Namas an area where we had seen nests of both Arabian Woodpecker and Arabian Magpie previously. The area where we had seen these has been badly damaged by road building and neither nest was seen this visit. We did however see a single male Arabian Woodpeckeras wells a few other good birds including Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Arabian Wheatear and Gambaga Flycatcher. This entire area is very good for finding breeding Little Owl, which can often be seen on the roadside walls. The area is not marked as a breeding area for Little Owl in Mike Jennings Arabian Breeding Bird Atlas, but a good number of birds are present throughout the entire area to Billasmer at least.

Birding Billasmer

Whilst birding the western mountains we visited Billasmer looking for Arabian endemics. We managed to located two Arabian Magpie, Arabian Wheatear and small flocks of Yemen Linnet but not much else. Other common birds seen included Laughing Dove, Dusky Turtle Dove, Gambaga Flycatcher and Little Owl. Little Owl is a species not easy to see in the Kingdom but the arwa of An Namas and Billasmer seems a reliable and regular place to see them since we first discovered birds here several years ago.

Dusky Turtle Dove

Gambaga Flycatcher

Laughing Dove

Little Owl

Yemen Linnet

Birding in the mountains - Abha

Abha is in the mountains of the southwest of Saudi Arabia where the weather is much cooler and wetter than other parts of the Kingdom. As a result, many different species of birds, animals and plants live in the area that are not seen in the area where I live in the east of the country. My last trip to the area allowed me to see and photograph a few species I do not see very often including Arabian Babbler, Little Rock Thrush and Little Swift and as I was there in the breeding season Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Gambaga Flycatcher and Grey-headed Kingfisher. Another bird I photographed was Laughing Dove, a common bird throughout the Kingdom and seen daily in Dhahran where I live.

Arabian Babbler

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Gambaga Flycatcher

Grey-headed Kingfisher 

Laughing Dove

Little Rock Thrush - juvenile 

Little Rock Thrush - adult

Little Swift

Breeding Gambaga Flycatcher – Wadi Grosbeak

The Gambaga Flycatcher breeds from Africa (Ghana to Somalia) and into south-west Arabia. It is a breeding summer visitor to the highlands of the Asir. It frequents lightly wooded areas and open wooded hillsides particularly where acacia occurs and mostly above 1500 metres often near water. Nests are usually placed in the fork of a tree, as was the case with this pair. This bird was breeding, and still sitting on eggs on 29 August, a late date as most birds return to Africa in September.

Birding An Namas

An Namas is an area north of Tanoumah in the Asir Mountain chain. It is the northerly most point where Asir (Arabian) Magpie can currently be found and is a good birding location. Whilst birding a small valley there I found a lot of good birds including Ruppells Weaver, Violet-backed Starling, Crested Lark, Gambaga Flycatcher, Red-breasted Wheatear, African Pipit, Long-billed Pipit, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and Arabian Wheatear. The African Pipit is also the furthest north this species has been recorded in the Kingdom in the last forty years proving the area is rich for birdlife. Most birders and photographers who come to the Asir stop at Tanoumah and go no further north but there are plenty of great areas north of this location with much to be discovered.

African Pipit

Arabian Wheatear 

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

Crested Lark

Gambaga Flycatcher

Gambaga Flycatcher

Long-billed Pipit

Red-breasted Wheatear 

Ruppell's Weaver

Violet-backed Starling