Phil and I went to Wadi Waj, a site near the center of Taif. This site is a wastewater runoff stream that permanently flows and has good growth of reeds and sedges nearby. It is a place where Waxbill has been seen and where we saw two last summer. We went on the hope of seeing the species again as they are not easy to locate and managed to see the Waxbills soon after we arrive.
They were in some sedges near the water but flew off and than we saw a flock of about fifteen birds fly in and join them. There were plenty of other birds about including Graceful Prinia‘s and plenty of Green Bee-eaters. On our return we located a Bruce’s Green Pigeon and as it was getting dark we saw a Plain Nightjar fly over and saw it again a few times over a filed across the stream from us.
This site appears to a good one for Plain Nightjar as well as we saw one here last summer. The nightjar rounded off a good selection of birds at this site in thecentreof Taif.
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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