Whilst birdwatching in the Raydah Escarpment recently Phil Roberts and I saw two African Olive Pigeons. This was a species we had been looking for but had failed to see on many previous trips to the southwest of the Kingdom. It was only discovered as a new species for Saudi Arabia in the mid 1980’s by Mike Jennings.
JENNINGS, M. C. 1986. The Olive Pigeon Columba arquatrix on Jebel Suda, Asir Province: a new bird species for Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. J. Saudi Arab. Nat. Hist. Soc. 6:35-36.
The birds we saw were seen just above the Raydah Farm where a number of other good birds were also seen including Yemen Thrush, Yemen Serin and Palestine Sunbird. We birded the entire valley seeing good birds in many places and plenty of Blackstart are the village near the bottom where African Grey-headed Kingfisher and Bruce’s Green Pigeon were also seen.
Jem Babbington
Jem Babbington is a keen birder and amateur photographer located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia where he goes birding every day. Jem was born in England and is a serious local patch and local area birder who has been birding for almost forty years and has birded in more than fifty countries. Jem is learning to ring birds in Bahrain as a perfect way to learn more about the birds of the area. Saudi Arabia is a very much under-watched and under-recorded country.
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