The first Painted Lady butterfly of the year appear in late March possibly as a result of the very heavy rains. Although the Painted Lady can survive in Saudi Arabia in most years the majority of butterflies are probably migrants. The Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world occurring on all […]
Meet the man who is biking across the Andes to save birds
You’ve probably heard of a ‘Big Year’. That’s when birdwatchers go out and try to see as many birds as they can in one year. What you probably haven’t heard of is a Big Green Big Year, or BIGBY. That’s when a birder tries to see as many birds as they can by Green Birding […]
The Marsh Harrier Plumage
Le plumage du Busard des roseaux – Circus aeruginosus – La femelle se distingue par une tête très claire variant du blanc au crème soutenu et le reste du corps brun foncé avec une bande claire sur le haut de l’aile. Ce rapace se nourrit de tout animal vivant plus petit que lui. The female […]
Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard – Jebal Hamrah
A few days ago I was walking around the flat stoney desert area near Jebal Hamrah when I came across an Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard sunning itself by its hole. It was still quite cool as it was a blue colour.Theybecome yellow when they have heated up. These lizards are relatively common and widespread across Saudi […]
Female Hooded Wheatear – Jebal Hamrah
Whilst birding the Jebal Hamrah with Greg Askew recently we came across a wheatear at the bottom of the escarpment in a largish wadi. It looked a little different, so we got out of the car and went and had a look. After a short while we saw the bird again and it turned out […]
African Lion pride in Maasai Mara
For us Maasai Mara happens to be one of the best national parks in the world and we try and visit the Mara every year for a few days. On this first game drive during one of our trips there, we went looking for the famous Cheetah brothers who were sighted close to the Kenya–Tanzania […]
US facing “extinction crisis”
Conservationists have warned that a multitude of animal species are at risk of being eradicated in what they called a major “extinction crisis”, which is rippling across the United States, and will begin to claim and increasing number of iconic animals unless appropriate schemes begin to receive more support and funding. A report written in […]
Bimaculated Larks – Jebal Hamrah
Whilst birding the Jebal Hamrah pivot irrigation fields recently with Phil Roberts, I came across a Bimaculated Lark Melanocorypha bimaculata. The bird was on the edge of the field in with a very large group of around three hundred Greater Short-toed Larks, but flew almost immediately. We moved to where it had landed and refound […]