Pallid Scops Owl near Zulfi – Record by Mohammad Al Mohatresh

Mohammed Al Mohatresh an excellent birder from the Zulfi region of the Kingdom saw and photographed a Pallid Scops Owl in wadi south of Zulfi in late December 2016. This is not the first time Mohammed and Masur Al Fahad have seen this species of owl in the winter around Zulfi where it is probably an uncommon winter visitor. The Pallid Scops Owl is a rare or scarce winter visitor to most areas of Saudi Arabia with the majority of records coming from the northern areas of the country with this bird fitting in nicely with the other records of the species in the Kingdom. I would like to Thank Mansur for sending me the record and photo of the species and Mohammed for allowing me to use his excellent photo on my website.

White-crowned Wheatear - Haradh

Phil Roberts and I found a juvenile White-crowned Wheatears Oenanthe leucopyga  at Haradh on 13 January 2017. The bird was seen along a roadside with scattered rocks as well as fences to keep people away from the pivot irrigation fields. This species had not been recorded in this area previously according to Mike Jennings, but is one of the most common wheatears in the Kingdom having been seen in more areas than any other. White-crowned Wheatear is an uncommon resident in areas where it is found, normally associated with granite and sandstone jebals and other rocky areas although it status in the southern part of the Kingdom is unclear. Birds of the Riyadh Region (1984) said they were locally common breeding resident with some movement within the region post-breeding and during the winter months. Jennings Birds of Saudi Arabia (1981) said they were a locally common breeding resident in dry rocky areas. Occurs Hejaz north from Taif, Northern Hejaz, Asir south of Soudah and Najran, Tuwaiq escarpment and locally in the Gulf. Also Jauf, Hail and Dawadimi. In my area of the Eastern Province they are only commonly seen in the Shedgum Escarpment so the bird at Haradh was a good but unexpected find.

Sociable Lapwing wintering in Eastern Saudi Arabia - Haradh

On 13 January Phil Roberts and I travelled to Haradh an area of extensive pivot irrigation fields three hours drive from Dhahran. We were primarily looking to see if we could prove Sociable Lapwing wintered in the area as we had seen birds here in February 2016 but were uncertain if these were wintering birds or very early migrants. We left at 03:30 hrs to allow us to be at the site at first light. We tried a set of fields off the main road some distance and eventually found some access to some very good looking fields in various stages of growth from ploughed to fallow to newly growing. We eventually came across a newly ploughed field that had over 100 Northern Lapwing in it, a habitat and species that were used by associated with by lasy years Sociable Lapwings . After a couple of minutes I saw two Sociable Lapwings in flight in the flock that flew around and landed in the ploughed field. We drove around to the area where the access track was to the pivot irrigation bars and moved down this into the middle of the field. Here we scanned through the Northern Lapwings we could see and eventually found three Sociable Lapwings. The three Sociable Lapwings eventually flew off and we went looking for further birds. Another filed that was in the process of being ploughed also held several hundred Northern Lapwings and four Sociable Lapwings making a total of seven birds. The birds never came close enough for good photos and were very timid when we were on foot so the below poor photos are all that I obtained. These birds are only the third time the species has been recorded in the Eastern Province after an adult at Haradh farm on 25 February 1982 and our 16 at Haradh on 5 February 2016. These birds seen on 13 January are much too early to be passage migrants and show that Haradh is a new wintering location for the species. This is not the first place for the species to winter in Saudi Arabia as other winter in the northwest of the Kingdom at Tabuk and others still in the southwest near Jizan.

Eurasian Scops Owl – Dhahran Main Camp

Chris Boland a birdwatcher who lives in Dhahran saw a Scops Owl at very close range in his garden on the evening of 6 November and sent me a message the next day saying he would look for it again that evening and let me know if it was still present. I got a text at 18:45 saying the bird was still present in the trees and shrubs of his garden and was using the satellite dish to sit on. I went around with my camera and flash gun to see if I could relocate it and saw it almost immediately sitting on the grass but it flew and landed in a tree very near to me. My first views gave me the impression it was a Pallid Scops Owl but they are not so easy to tell apart from grey phase Eurasian Scops Owls. After a couple of brief views Chris came out with a torch and saw the bird again sitting on the grass. This time it flew only a short distance and landed in a palm tree where I was able to take a few photographs of it. It move around a little before eventually flying over to another garden. We have two Scops Owls in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabian, Eurasian Scops Owl and Pallid Scops Owl. Both are seldom seen with Eurasian Scops Owl being an uncommon passage migrant and Pallid Scops Owl being a scarce passage migrant and winter visitor. I have only seen one Eurasian Scops Owl in Saudi Arabia on 26 August 2015 when I found one in my garden in Dhahran Hills. I was unable to photograph that bird so the shots I got of this one made up for things. This bird although not straight forward to identify was a Eurasian Scops Owl of the subspecies O. s. turanicus that occurs in Iraq, western and northern Iran and southwest Turkmenistan east to northwest Pakistan. Winters south of the Sahara from south Mauritania eastwards to Eritrea, south to southern Cameroon, Kenya and Somalia. This subspecies is mainly a long-distance migrant, leaving the breeding grounds from August onwards; most reach Afrotropical savanna regions in winter; return migration occurs from late March. I would like to thank Chris for letting me know about the bird and texting me to let me know it was still present the next day and various birders including Oscar Campbell, Mark Smiles, Yoav Perlman and Hadoram Shirahai for help with the identification.

Arabian Green Bee-eater

The Arabian Green Bee-eater is usually treated as conspecific with M. viridissimus and M. orientalis, but differs from both in its very short stub-ended central tail feathers; bright blue forehead, supercilium and throat, and bluer lower belly; broader, smudgier black breast-bar; marginally larger size and clearly longer tail (minus the tail extensions) than the other taxa. The new species has two proposed subspecies M. c. cyanophrys occurring from southern Israel to western Jordan and west and south Arabian coasts of Saudi Arabia and M. c. muscatensis occurring from central Arabian plateau and east Arabia (E Yemen to Oman and United Arab Emirates). The race najdanus (from Central Arabian plateau) now included within muscatensis. This proposed new species is not difficult to see and can be seen away from the main endemic rich area of the southwest mountains, although it does not reach as far as the Eastern Province stopping around the Riyadh area in central Saudi Arabia. 

Arabian Magpie

The taxonomic position of Arabian Magpie Pica asirensis is certainly uncertain, although it is generally regarded as a subspecies of Eurasian Magpie. Gill & Donsker (2016) regard it as such, though there is a caveat “MtDNA phylogeny suggests that Eurasian Magpie comprises several potential species including Korean Magpie P. sericea, Mahgreb Magpie P. mauritanica and Asir Magpie P. asirensis”.  Recently, P. p. asirensis has been listed as a separate species P. asirensis forming a superspecies with P. pica, P. nuttalli and P. hudsonia. Isolation within a very restricted range and differences in vocalizations and structural features suggested that treatment as a separate monotypic species is warranted (Madge 2016, van den Berg 2014). Arabian Magpies are sedentary and localised and occur especially in the juniper forest zone, often in well vegetated upland valleys and wadis, of the Asir highlands 1850–3000 m asl. Many of these areas are remote and difficult to access so the exact numbers of birds is difficult to assess but the estimated breeding population from the Atlas of Breeding birds of Arabia, has been noted as a minimum of 135 pairs and maximum 500 pairs. Five surveys, February 1995–July 1996, resulted in a total of 147 sightings of 90 birds in the area between Taif and Abha, although all sightings were limited to the area of Abha and 120 kilometres north of same, as well as Jebel Gaha (Ebels 2003). P. asirensisis is a taxon with a very restricted range, confined to a small region within Saudi Arabia. Numbers are decreasing probably because of heavy disturbance by tourism and perhaps changes in climate with warmer and drier weather experienced in the Asir mountains in the last few decades. The good rains in the region in spring 2016 coincided with an increase in sightings of birds. The areas where Arabian Magpies have been seen in recent years appear to be restricted to three widely spaced areas, one near Abha with numbers in significant decline, one on the isolated Jebal Gaha where numbers are very low and lastly the main stronghold in the Billasmar, Tanoumah and An Numas areas. Estimating population size in this large and often inaccessible area is difficult, but the small number of recent records of Arabian Magpie and apparent reduction in its already very limited range suggests that the estimated population size of 135–500 pairs is probably too high. Numbers may be significantly less than this estimate with perhaps only 135 pairs or less. The good news is that the species is still breeding in its core area at least, and is found in areas near human habitation, sometimes utilizing waste food.

Yemen Linnet

Yemen Linnet Carduelis yemenensis is a common resident of the south-west highlands, frequenting weedy terraced fields, that have been harvested, where it was often seen in flocks of up to 200 birds. It has also been recorded on the Raydah escarpment along the Raydah Pipeline Road, Al Jarrah and Al Azah. In 1987 it was also common and widespread so there appears to have been no change in its status during this period. Habitat preference is for subtropical to tropical dry shrubland. Flocks have been seen in the Baha area in the Golden Tulip valley where they frequent cultivated areas and allotments and further north towards Taif. Birds are almost always seen in small groups and rarely singly even in the breeding season.

Yemen Serin

Yemen Serin Serinus menachensis is a scarce species of the south-west highlands with records from Jebal Soudah near Abha and nearby Raydah Esacarpment where birds are occasionally seen at Raydah farm. Good numbers have been seen at Tanoumah where flocks of over 50 have been recorded recently. Birds have also been seen further north at Wadi Thee Gazelle. They have occasionally been seen at lower elevations around Jebal Gaha in the Tihama. This is another endemic that is a little difficult to find but should be found on a trip to the southwest if time is spent looking at rocky slopes in the mountains.

Arabian Serin

Arabian Serin Serinus rothschildi is a rather scarce resident of the south-west highlands occurring in scrubland and acacia sites, where they have been seen regularly on Raydah escarpment at Raydah Farm and at the farm at the bottom of the escarpment by the village. Birds have also been seen at Tanoumah as well as in the Raghadan Forest area of Al Baha and further north to Taif, where good numbers can be seen at certain times. Also occurs in the lower elevation Tihama around Jebal Gaha where a few have been seen. In 1987 it was recorded more frequently than in 2010, suggesting a possible decline in numbers.

Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak

Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak Rhynchostruthus percivali was previously considered conspecific with Somali Golden-winged Grsobeak R louisae and Socotran Golden-winged Grosbeak R socotranus but morphological and plumage differences are thought sufficient to warrant specific status. Occurs in southwest Saudi Arabia, west & east Yemen and southwest Oman. Scarce breeding resident occurring where Euphorbias are common. This is the most difficult of all the endemics to see in Saudi Arabia where recent records have been near Taif and between Taif and Al Baha. These records have included adults and juveniles so although the breeding population is extremely low in Saudi Arabia birds are still breeding.