African Pipit - Tanoumah

Whilst birding Tanoumah in the southwestern mountains I found an African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus eximiuscarry food for it young. African Pipit is a little known bird in Saudi Arabia where the subspecies is endemic to the southwest part of Saudi Arabia and nearby Yemen. There are three specimens from Saudi Arabia at the Natural History Museum, Tring, collected by Philby in 1936 and a handful of field records only.Birds have been recorded regularly since 2014, in very small numbers, but all in a small area between Abha and An Namas. They could be present elsewhere, but no records have come from outside this area. Prior to 2018 there had not been any records since the 1990.

White-edged Rockbrown – Wadi Grosbeak

White-edged Rockbrown Hipparchia parisatisis a large butterfly with its prominent white borders. The species is found from the Western Himalayas to Eastern Turkey and in Oman. The normal habitat is rough hillsides with shrubs and grass. Here the butterflies spend much of their time sitting on rocks or on the bare ground; when disturbed they fly off at great speed but settle again quite soon. During the hottest hours of the day they seek out the shade of caves or overhanging rocks and several specimens may then congregate. 

Eurasian Hoopoe on migration – Jubail area

Passage of Eurasian Hoopoe has been evident the last few weeks with birds turning up in many areas of the Eastern Province. The species is a widespread common migrant and scarce resident breeder. Passage birds pass from February to mid-Aril and September to October. Birds of the Riyadh Region (Stagg 1994) states it is a common passage migrant and localised breeding resident, passing from early February to late March with stragglers continuing into April. The return passage commences in early August and continues to late October with a peak in September. Since 1987 an increasing number of birds have become resident the year round in farmland areas and the same is true for the Eastern Province. Good numbers are even seen in the Empty Quarter where I saw ten on 4 October 2012 near Shaybah. Breeding birds are most often seen in the southwest in the Asir and Hejaz but birds also breed in Dhahran in the Eastern Province. The photos below were taken in the desert near Jubail and the bottom one at Khafra Marsh.

Pivot Irrigation Fields – Haradh

I have travelled over to the Red Sea coast a couple of times recently with work and was amazed at how green the desert was over there. This winter saw plenty of heavy rain and it was obviously to the liking of the plants that were growing everywhere. On the flight over we flew over Haradh which is the headquarters of the NADEC Dairy Company’s operations and to support these they have created large areas of pivot irrigation fields, growing cattle fodder, which are a magnet for wintering birds. I managed to take a few photos of the pivot fields near where we have seen Sociable Lapwings wintering in the last four years. These fields are massive as can be seen by the buildings near to them.

Last wintering species still around – Khafra Marsh

Whilst birding the Khafra Marsh area in mid-March I saw a few wintering species still present. A few Western Siberian Stonechats were seen in the reeds and bushes along the side of a track with some resident Graceful Prinia for company. The waters edge held both Purple Heron and Squacco Heron as well as a nice Citrine Wagtail. Quite a few wintering Red-spotted Bluethroats were around but very difficult to photograph as were the Water Pipits seen in good numbers. Migrants were also around with up to ten singing Savis Warblers a notable record and plenty of Common Chiffchaffs. A nice Turkestan Shrike was present but kept its distance. Many of these winter species will be disappearing in the next month to be replaced by migrants and summer breeders.

Western Siberian Stonechat

Western Siberian Stonechat

Western Siberian Stonechat

Western Siberian Stonechat

Citrine Wagtail

Graceful Prinia

Graceful Prinia

Purple Heron 

Red-spotted Bluethroat

Squacco Heron

Rig Site – Red Sea

I have been on a rig in the Red Sea area of the Kingdom recently and took a couple of photos of the area as the plane was coming in to land at Al Wajh. There are mountains close to the coast making a quite spectacular view as the sky is clear and sunny most of the time. 

Al-Azlam Fort (Alozlam Castle) – Wadi Al Aznam

Al-Azlam Fort, also known as Alozlam Castle is located at Wadi Al Aznam, 100 kilometres north of Al Wadj and 45 kilometres south of Duba in north-western Saudi Arabia. It is a historic fort located on the right side of the road heading towards Duba and only about 200 metres from the main road itself. It is in an area with palms suggesting an oasis was here or at least water is close to the surface in the area of the fort. It is a fort on the Egyptian Hajj Road, a proposed World Heritage Site, andis one of the stations of the Egyptian pilgrimage route during the Mamluk era and the Ottoman era. It was built in the era of the Mamluk Sultan Muhammad ibn Qalawun (684 e (1285 - 741 AH / 1341). It was rebuilt during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Qansoh al-Ghouri in 916 AH. The castle consists of a large courtyard, interior units, rectangular and semi-circular chambers and a chamber. The castle is built of limestone and the courtyard is open to all interior units Which consists of a castle of rooms, the area of ​​the castle 1500 metre Square. The Egyptian Hajj Road is one of the important pilgrimage routes in Islamic history, linking Egypt to Makkah and Medina, through which benefited the masses of Muslim pilgrims coming from Egypt, Sudan, Central Africa, Morocco, Andalusia and Sicily. They would meet in Egypt, then travel through Sinai to Aqaba and march across two trails: the first, is internal trail moving to Medina passing Shaghab, Beda, valley of the villages, and the second is coastal trail passes through a number of stations including Al-Azlam Fort. The most important forts are: Ainouna, Al- Muwailih, Dhuba, Al-Owained, Al-Wajh, Al-Hora, Nabat, Yanbu and Al-Jar. From Al-Jar the trail heads to Makkah through Al-Juhfa then Khulais then Usfan or heads through Badr until it reaches Makkah or Medina. Like all the other Islamic pilgrimage roads it received great interest and attention of Muslim rulers in different Islamic eras and periods. They established many structures on the path of this road like pools, canals and wells and built barricades, bridges, castles, forts and mosques, and on the road near the camps are numerous Islamic inscriptions and commemorative writings, engraved by pilgrims as they passed along the road. This path is important not only for Egyptian pilgrims, but for pilgrims from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, and Central Africa; it was also the path for pilgrims from Andalusia (Spain). The course of this road changed through time, according to political circumstances and technological development. 

Black-headed Wagtails - Khafra Marsh

Whilst birding the Khafra Marsh area recently, it became obvious a good number of migrants had arrived. There were very large numbers of both Black-headed Wagtails and White Wagtails feeding around on a disused farm area with the only other wagtail subspecies seen was a single beema but I did not photograph it. There was a Black-headed Wagtail with a small white mark behind the eye that looked a little odd bit odd that is shown at the end of the photos. Several very bright male Black-headed Wagtail were also seen perched in some nearby trees and this indicates the start of passage for the species where many different subspecies should turn up in the next few weeks. Some of the birds were quite confiding as presumably they had just arrived, and as it was early morning the light was good so I got a few good photos, some of which are shown below.

Blue Rock Thrush - Jubail

Whilst birding the desert near Jubail I came across a small vegetated valley with a little wet pool. It was very attractive to migrants with plenty of Common Chiffchaffs, several Eurasian Hoopoes, White Wagtail and a single female Blue Rock Thrush. Blue Rock Thrush is an uncommon passage migrant through Saudi Arabia that is seen more that is more often in the spring than autumn. They are early migrants with most birds seen in February and March in the spring in the Eastern Province.

Pharaoh Eagle Owl - Jubail area

I saw and photographed a Pharaoh Eagle Owl recently in the desert in the Eastern Province. Records suggest it is an uncommon bird in the Saudi Arabian deserts, although it is probably more common than records suggest as they are secretive and well camouflaged. The Pharaoh Eagle Owl is distributed throughout much of North Africa and the Middle East, with two recognised subspecies. The subspecies Bubo ascalaphus ascalaphusoccupies the northern part of the species range, being found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, northern Egypt and Israel east to western Iraq. By contrast, the smaller, paler and sandier coloured Bubo ascalaphus desertorumcan be found in the Sahara Desert south to Mauritania & Niger and from Western Sahara, east, to Sudan, as well as in Eritrea, Ethiopia and much of the Arabian Peninsula, as far south as northern Oman and as far east as southern Iraq. They are found in arid habitats, including open desert plains, rocky outcrops and broken escarpments and jabals, mountain cliffs and wadis. Most records from Saudi Arabia have been attributed to the pale B. a. desertorumas this bird appears to be, but there appear to be many birds resembling the sub-species B. a. ascalaphusalso in the Kingdom.