Snake-tailed Fringe-toed Lizard - Tanoumah

Whilst birdwatching near Tanoumah I found a Snake-tailed Fringe-toed Lizard. Owing to its superficial similarity to its larger congener Acanthodactylus boskianus, the Snake-tailed Fringe-toed Lizard Acanthodactylus opheodurus was described officially in 1980. As its name suggests, this species has a particularly long tail and, in common with other Acanthodactylus species, the toes are fringed with scales adapted for running over loose sand. Like other lacertids, the body is long and cylindrical, and the legs are well developed, with the animal having a basic body colour of grey, with seven dark stripes running down the back and sides and a tail tinged red in immatures. They live in a range of arid habitats, including plains with relatively hard sand cover and low hills covered by dense bushes. It is a diurnal lizard and lives in burrows excavated out of hard sand where it remains concealed for all but a few hours of the day. Their burrows not only act as a shelter from predators but also provide refuge from extreme temperatures. The snake-tailed fringe-toed lizard is currently known from the Arabian Peninsula and several other countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. I thank Mansur Al Fahad for confirmation on identification of this record.

Blanford’s Lark in Tale’a Valley - Abha

Blandford’s Lark is a scarce medium-sized lark that occurs in a very limited number if sites in southwest Saudi Arabia. It had not been seen for many years until recently when some birds were found at Azeeza near Abha. Whilst birding the southwest recently Phil Roberts and I found a number of birds, probably more than ten, coming down to drink at a small area of water in a stony wadi, in the Tale’a Valley, a new area some distance from Abha. Whilst walking around this same area a few days later we saw a few birds feeding on the dry and stony landscape including both juveniles and adults.  Birds are obvious when seen as the adults have a rufous crown and sometimes erect their crown feathers to form a prominent short crest. Race eremica found in southwest Saudi Arabia and Yemen has a darker rufous crown with blackish lateral streak anteriorly a b.lackish loral streak and a yellower bill. The other races are found in northern Eritrea and northern Somalia. Birds occur mainly on open grassland and bare ground, including stony areas. Generally found in wadis with occasional bushes and scattered trees in Arabia where it occurs mainly between 1800–2500 metres.

Blue Pansy in Dammam – Record by Vinu Mathew

Vinu Mathew found and photographed a Blue Pansy Junonia orithya in Dammam recently and kindly gave me permission to use his hpotos on my website two of which are shown below. The Blue Pansy Butterfly is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia. The Blue Pansy Butterfly is commonly called as the Blue Pansy in India, whereas in Africa it is called as the Eyed Pansy and in Australia the Blue Argus. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upperside of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eye-spots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eye-spots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eye-spots similarly placed as on the upperside.

Eurasian Oystercatcher – Jubail

Whilst birding in Jubail I saw a Eurasian Oystercatcher on a large wetland area, where they are rare. The Eurasian Oystercatcher is an uncommon, although occasionally is a locally common passage migrant & winter visitor to the coast of Saudi Arabia that is rare in summer. The species has been seen in every month of the year with returning autumn migrants occurring from mid-July and numbers commonest from September to November with the largest count recorded being 214 at Anuk on 16 November 1991. Smaller numbers are regularly seen along the coast from September until April with a few, mainly immature birds, seen together from May to August. The sub-species that occurs is Haematopus ostralegus longipes which breeds from the eastern Mediterranean (Adriatic coastline) to west & north central Russia (mouth of R Ob') south to Black, Caspian and Aral Seas and Lake Balkhash, and east to west Siberia; winters on coast from east Africa through Arabia to India. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia it is present on all coasts mostly as a winter visitor. Generally uncommon but common on the southern Red Sea coast. Some present all year. Not inland.

Common Grass Yellow – Bani Saad

Whilst birdwatching in the Bani Saad area recently I came across a small group of Common Grass Yellow butterflies Eurema hecabe. They are also known as ‘Large Grass Yellows’ or ‘Grass Yellows’ and are small to medium butterflies that are found in Africa, Arabia, Asia, South Pacific islands and Australia. They are bright lemon yellow in colour, and have black markings at the tips and bordersof the butterfly’s wings and a narrow black band on the hind wing, and the underside of the wings are paler yellow with brown speckles and a wingspan of 35 to 45 millimetres.  Common Grass Yellow butterflies like to fly quickly, close to the ground, are found in open grassy or bushy terrain, hence their name. They have different colouration in their wings depending on the season, known as ‘seasonal polyphenism’, resulting in generally darker wing colours in summer. They are often seen in large groups. The female is larger and a paler yellow, with broader black but diffused markings on the upper sides of both wings. There are typically two cell spots on the forewing – a characteristic that is mainly used to identify the lookalike species in the genus.

More good birds from Tanoumah – Bird records by Ahmed AlKassim

Ahmed AlKassim who is an excellent bird photographer from Riyadh sent me a few of his photos recently and has kindly allowed me to use them on my website. I was with him when we saw an African Paradise Flycatcher nest with both parents in attendance but after a short while I left the nest site. Ahmed managed to get photos of Eurasian (Arabian) Magpie in the same area a species with a very restricted range that some people regard as a full species. Ahmed also took a nice photo of the little recorded African Pipit so did well photographing unusual species on his trip to the southwest.

African Paradise Flycatcher - male

Arabian Magpie

African Pipit

Red Potter Wasp at Wadi Thee Gazelle - Taif

Easily recognisable by its large size measuring about 30-40 milimetres. They have a reddish brown body, large black compound eyes and Short antennae that is about the same length as the thorax and are the most common potter wasp in Saudi Arabia. The abdomen is mostly black with slender long waists. When these wasps are relaxed will keep their wings folded which have black tips. The mandibles are crossed when not in use. The female builds a multi-chamber nest where she will provide each egg with a paralyzed caterpillar, so when they hatch they have plenty of food. Females often seen feeding on the blossoms of the acacia trees or catching caterpillars. They build ceramic nest out of sand or mud mixed with their saliva which are often seen on walls or rocks. Active during the day and early evening.

Namaqua Dove and others – Jubail

Namaqua Dove was quite an unusual species in Jubail until a few years ago and is now seen on almost every visit. Birding was very quite, possibly due to the very high temperatures at 49 degrees Celsius. The only birds we saw in good numbers were terns and Little Bitterns with more Little Bitterns seen than ever before for me. Terns included White-cheeked, Caspian, Gull-Billed, Sandwich and Little. Hundreds of Kentish Plovers and Black-winged Stilts were also scattered around in various locations.

Namaqua Dove - juvenile

Little Bittern

Little Bittern

Black-winged Stilt

Little Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

White-cheeked Tern

Yemen Rock Agama – Bani Saad

Whilst birdwatching in the Taif area of western Saudi Arabia I came across a few Yemen Rock Agama Acanthocercus yemensis. The Yemen Rock Agama occurs in northern Yemen and adjacent Saudi Arabia, but the limits of its distribution in Saudi Arabia are currently not well known. It occurs from around 2,000 to 3,000 metres above sea level mainly in rocky habitats. They occur both on the ground and climbing rocky surfaces, and including stone-walls and human habitations. These individuals were at 1950 metres above sea level and well north of where I have seen them previously. One of them has prickly pear spines stuck in it as it was living in rocks with the plants growing nearby.

Two subspecies of Eurasian Reed Warbler in Saudi Arabia confirmed from DNA

A recent paper on the ‘Mitochondrial phylogeny of the Eurasian-African reed warbler complex’ has confirmed by DNA samples that two subspecies of Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus occur in Saudi Arabia and birds from the southwest once thought to be African Reed Warbler A. baeticatus are in fact Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae. The other subspecies is Acrocephalus scirpaceus fuscus that occurs in central Saudi Arabia (Riyadh - DNA) and Eastern Saudi Arabia (Jubail - ringing details). The paper mentioned above says fuscus is a well-supported clade containing all samples from Kazakhstan and several from Saudi Arabia and Israel, where four samples from Lake Kenneret, collected some time later than 21 May in 1995, may have been local breeders. The western-most sampling locality in the presumed breeding range are Astrachan and Azerbaijan, suggesting that the ranges of fuscus and scirpaceus abut somewhere between the Black and the Caspian Seas. The second clade was avicenniae containing the holotype of avicenniae from Eritrea and samples from breeding populations in Saudi Arabia (Al Shuqaiq), but also a sample from Kenya originally attributed to fuscus. As the latter was obtained away from the breeding grounds, misidentification is a possibility. Most probably this sample represents a migrant from the Red Sea mangrove population. The range of avicenniae is generally believed to be confined to mangroves bordering the Red Sea, but has recently been extended to reach Egypt (Hering et al., 2011a).  The papers records from Lake Kenneret inland Israel, and the observations by Morgan (1998) and Hering et al. (2009, 2011b), imply that this taxon may have a larger distribution and wider choice of habitats than previously known. I have trapped and ringed both these subspecies in Saudi Arabia with photos below of both types and have blood samples from Either Mangroves and Al Qahma Mangroves in the southwest. These blood samples will be tested soon to find out where they lay in relation to the other birds sampled, but will almost certainly be Mangrove Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae which is what was assumed when trapped and measured.

Caspian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus fuscus

Mangrove Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus avicenniae