Trumpeter Finch – Ushaiqer

Whilst birding the Ushaiqer area with Phil Roberts we decided to go and check a few pivot irrigation fields. Whilst trying to find access into a field I saw a group of four small birds fly towards us that looked a bit different. They landed on a large earth berm and on closer inspection turned out to be Trumpeter Finches Bucanetes githagineus. This species is a locally common, widespread resident found in manly arid rocky areas where it is thinly distributed. Birds are seen throughout the year but may become common after good rains. In the Riyadh area, where we were birding, they are a common breeding resident around the Tuwaiq Escarpment but breed less commonly elsewhere. Flocks disperse after breeding and may then be encountered randomly throughout the region. I seldom see this species in the Eastern Province so was very happy with the encounter, particularly as I managed to get the best photos I have so far in Saudi Arabia of two of the birds.

Trumpeter Finch – Jebal Hamrah

Whilst birding the Jebal Hamrah pivot irrigation fields recently with Phil Roberts we came across a pair of Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes githagineus. This species is a locally common widespread resident found in manly arid rocky areas where it is thinly distributed. Birds are seen throughout the year but may become common after good rains with high count of 80+ on 20 August 1990 near Riyadh. In this area they are a common resident at Thumamah and rather less so at Wadi Hanifah. Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) states they are a common breeding resident around the Tuwaiq Escarpment but breeds less commonly elsewhere. Flocks disperse after breeding and may then be encountered randomly throughout the region. Birds are not often seen in the Eastern Province but occur where there are escarpments such as Shedgum and Judah. They have been seen in the Empty Quarter but not on the Tihama or Asir except near Najran where they occur on the drier margins of the Hejaz.

Some very good larks – Thumamah

Phil and I set off from Dhahran at 02:30 hrs to go to Thumamah a location just north of Riyadh. The journey took over four hours and we were in search of larks. We went as there was very little in the Eastern Province and the ‘patch’ had had nothing for a few days and we had not had much luck looking for Larks in the north of the Eastern Province on previous trips. I had seen on Brian James website that he and Lou Regenmorter had seen Thick-billed Lark, Bar-tailed Lark and Temminck’s Lark at Thumamah a month previously and as it sounded like there were a few good birds and many species we do not see in the Eastern Province at this location we decided to go and do a days birding there. I would like to thank Lou for sending us the grid reference of where he had seen the Thick-billed Larks and we soon found the wadi where they had been seen. It was already 07:00 hrs and we set off walking the wadi looking for the larks. Immediately we located a number of Desert Larks, that were a sandy brown colour rather than the whitish birds we get in the Eastern Province and over the next couple of hours we located at least 20 Desert Larks. A small party of Bar-tailed Larks then put in an appearance, a new Saudi Arabian bird for me that was quickly followed by another new species in Trumpeter Finch. There were well over 100 Trumpeter Finches seen during the day with most keeping to the shade of the trees when the temperature rose above 35 degrees Celsius. Several Eastern Olivaceous Warblers were in the trees along with five Blackstarts, three White-crowned Wheatears and a Little Green Bee-eater. After a lot of walking and the temperature rising we still had not seen either Thick-billed Lark or Temminck’s Lark. After a drink and a rest we moved across the road to another small wadi where I will tell you about my third new species in Saudi Arabia for the day in the next blog.

Desert Lark

Desert Lark

Desert Lark

Trumpeter Finch

Trumpeter Finch

Trumpeter Finch

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Blackstart

Sand Partridge, Sinai Rosefinch & Trumpeter Finch near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv was out birding in the desert recently north of the 8784 road to the west of Tabuk and managed to find a couple of the desert specialities whilst there. Sinai Rosefinch has a restricted range in Saudi Arabia and can only be found in the northwest of the Kingdom, where it is a breeding resident of the Northern Hejaz south to Wadi Sawawin. The Sand Partridge has a larger range but is mainly found down the western side where it is a common breeding resident of the Northern Hejaz, Central Arabia and the desert fringes of Asir and Hejaz. Locally common on the Tuwaiq Escarpment where groups of up to 70 have been seen together at waterholes it does not occur more far east of Riyadh and has not been seen in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Trumpeter Finch is another desert speciality but this species is found in the Eastern province but is scarce. As these species are either not found or are scarce in the Eastern Province I have not seen any and would like to visit Tabuk one day when time permits. Viv kindly allowed me to use his photos on my website which are reproduced below.

Sand Partridge - female

Sand Partridge - female

Sinai Rosefinch

Trumpeter Finch

Trumpeter Finch

Some bird records from Asir, Shedgum & Haradh from the 1980’s – Bird records by Cliff Peterson

Here are a few more of Cliff Peterson's photos from Saudi Arabia from the mid 1980's. These birds were photographed in Asir province, Shedgum and Haradh.

Lammergeier - This species (if still extant) is found in the Asir province and could be seen from Jeblel Soudah or vantage points along the Tuwaiq escarpment in SW Arabia.  Our experience was that presumably the same bird would appear late each afternoon and glide by our campsite at the edge of the escarpment. Photo taken 16 June 1985.

Spotted Sandgrouse - We only ever found this species at Haradh in the Eastern Province. These would come in from the desert after dawn and again before dusk to drink in the agricultural fields at Haradh.  Similar to most Sandgrouse, their distinctive call is heard before they come into view.  We had up to 300 birds in several flocks and recorded them in September, November, December, January, the only months we went to Haradh to camp in the desert.

Lilith Little Owl - We found this owl but a few times.  It is very reasonable to assume we under-counted this bird; as it is small and needs the right-sized cavity. This bird was located in Jebel Shedgum in February 1984.  We saw another at the Nariyah Substation 9 December 1983.

Trumpeter Finch - This species is widely distributed but thinly populated in arid regions from Azerbaijan across the Arabian Peninsula and Northern Africa to Morocco. There are small populations in southern Spain and the Canary Islands. In Arabia, it is almost exclusively in rocky areas away from developed areas nomadically following seed crops resulting from localized rains. Often it can be heard before being seen due to its distinctive call that sounds like a child's buzzing toy trumpet. This bird was photographed in Wadi Nisah in 1984.