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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Great visit to Wallasea Island
Sometimes a days birding can deliver very little and then sometimes days like today come along where it all seems to go right. A Barn Owl as we pulled into the track to the reserve followed by two Short-eared Owls hunting at first light then a male Merlin flashes across us and sits out on […]
The Animalscape
There is a kind of wildlife image that has always spoken to me deeply. If you have been following my photography for more than a month you would have noticed that I often share these kinds of images. I like to call it “The Animalscape”. The animal in the landscape. The landscape with the animal(s) […]
Where are they now?
Everyone seems to be pretty well informed about the migrations of monarch butterflies in North America. Long distance southbound fliers end up in southern states in the east and in refuges in California and Mexico in the west. In spring, northbound females lay eggs that hatch into butterflies that fly north and lay eggs, reaching […]
Why does Wildlife Matter in the Fight Against Climate Change
Wildlife is concerned with the protection of species, the preservation of their habitats and the rewilding of natural spaces. It encompasses but does not limit to the animal world. All living things fall under the wildlife theme. Yes. Even sea cucumbers. What is the inherent importance of wildlife at the scale of our planet? Well, it’s […]