Whilst in Tanoumah the last few visits I have seen Yemen WarblerSylvia buryieach time. The species is a common resident of the south-west highlands in bushy areas especially the area around Tanoumah and Al Baha as far north as Wadi Thee Gazelle near Taif. The species is local in its occurrence. In 1987 it was […]
More Pygmy Owls
This blog is at risk of becoming Simon’s Pygmy Owl blog, but this is the time of year when they are relatively easy to find and they are a great bird! My birding day started with the Maridalen bird but he was sat quite high up and soon flew to other side of a large […]
Pantanal birds
Finally found time to edit part of the many images I took during my trip to Brazil. In this batch I will post the better photos I took in the Pantanal. I did try to document as many species as possible, but many of these photos aren’t worthy of blogging. All photos are on my […]
Close encounter with a Tiger in Ranthambore
This is about yet another exciting encounter with a Tiger at the beautiful Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. The Tiger walked along the dry stream bed and emerged, as predicted, into the clearing in the exact location as predicted by our driver. And we were waiting there all set to capture his majestic stroll on […]
Bimaculated Larks – Jebal Hamrah
Whilst birding the Jebal Hamrah pivot irrigation fields recently with Phil Roberts, Phil located a Bimaculated LarkMelanocorypha bimaculateon the stony area aroud the pivot field. The bird was on the edge of the field in with a group of Lesser and Greater Short-toed Larks, but flew almost immediately. We moved to where it had landed […]
Barn Owls – Brief Encounters
Towards the end of November the weather was settled with easterly winds and dry conditions.I discovered that a local barn owl was coming out and hunting early afternoon on a regular basis.I visited half a dozen times and was rewarded with some great opportunities for the camera.The earliest the owl came out was around 1.30pm.I […]
Female Hooded Wheatear – Jebal Hamrah
Whilst birding the Jebal Hamrah with Phil Roberts recently we came across a wheatear at the bottom of the escarpment in a largish wadi. It lwas perched ontop of a large boulder in a slightly vegetated area at the foot of the escarpment. On closer inspection in became obvious it was a female Hooded Wheatear. […]
Birding with giants
This morning I had the pleasure and honour to bird with two ornithological giants – authors of e.g. the recently published Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds, Lars Svensson and Hadoram Shirihai. I know Hadoram well since my childhood, but it was the first time I birded with Lars. We met up at Ma’agan Michael with […]