First the bad news, currently the weather is very unsettled with plenty of rain and very cold for June. This recent bad weather brought disaster to the local nesting great crested grebes. They had constructed their nest and were incubating three eggs as previously reported. A subsequent visit found no sign of nest or eggs. […]
Diederick Cuckoo in Alheefah Park – Tanoumah
On arrival at Alheefah Park I head a Diederik Cuckoo calling and after some searching, we saw the bird in the top of a tall tree. Unfortunately, it flew almost immediately but landed again in a better-positioned tree for photography. This is normally a very difficult species to get good photos off, so the ones […]
Pico de plata (Spectacled Tyrant) Hymenops perspicillatus
Después de bastante tiempo sin publicar contenido en el blog comparto hoy estas fotografÃas de un Pico de plata macho registrado en el Parque Nacional Iberá (Portal Cambyretá) durante la jornada del dÃa 13 de Abril pasado en la que con Willy, Nico y Dante pudimos concretar una jornada allà luego de bastante tiempo en […]
Pied Flycatcher
A trip to Yarner Wood on Dartmoor at this time of year is always a treat, although on this occasion the weather was a little against us with low temperatures and light rain, though it did brighten up a bit in the afternoon. Pied Flycatchers are one of the main attractions here with nest boxes […]
Eastern Nightingale – Jubail
An interesting record of an Eastern (Common) Nightingale Luscinia (megarhynchos) golzii was recorded nar Jubail in early May 2019. Eastern Nightingale is sometimes regarded as a separate species from Common Nightingale and breeds in Eastern Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan & Afghanistan and they winter mainly in southern Africa. Identification differences from Common Nightingale include: […]
Snake-tailed Fringe-toed Lizard – Quraish
Whilst birding recently in the Tanoumah area I came across a Snake-tailed Fringe-toed Lizard Acanthodactylus opheodurus down a tree filled wadi. The lizards were very active even during the hottest part of the day and where always found near small low-lying plants with hard sandy soil. It is superficially similar to its larger congener Acanthodactylus […]
Arabian Magpie – Billasimer
The Arabian Magpie is the only truly endemic species in Saudi Arabia, meaning it is found in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and nowhere else in the world. It has a very restricted range (An Namas to Billasimer) and very low number of birds and should probably be classified as Critically Endangered on Red Data […]
Springtime – Quraish
May in the Asir is great for birding as most if not all the African breeding species have returned and additional passage migrants can be seen as well as the resident highland birds. We saw a few passage birds including an Olive-tree Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Turkestan Shrike, Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Whinchat. […]