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<\/a>In the back of my mind was the possibility that we might finally see two of my nemesis birds – Egyptian vulture and hooded wheatear. Both have been reported as rare around the escarpment but not reported at all in other parts of central Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Egyptian vulture is relatively common in the west and hooded wheatear in the far north west of the country but both are very rare near Riyadh.<\/p>\n
We chose to come off the main road and head to the escarpment at Dhurma and we found an excellent side road to do so.<\/p>\n
100 metres before the slope we had to get out and walk down a shallow wadi because the road came to an end.<\/p>\n
It didn’t look that promising at first, only desert lark and white crowned wheatear to see.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We noticed three dead camels which in retrospective were a clue to what happened later. At the time I didn’t think it was anything special because the whole frontage of the escarpment on the plain was scattered with camel herds and presumably the occasional carcass.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n We stopped, watched and listened once we were close to the slopes. We could hear and see white spectacled bulbul (a.k.a yellow vented bulbul) and then we noticed a wave or two of birds of prey flying in various directions above the escarpment. The time was about 11 am and the air had warmed up making flying easier for these types of bird.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n We were given an aerial display by four or five steppe eagle. A fan tailed raven also made an appearance.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n However, I spotted a single unknown bird which returned a few minutes later as part of a group of three.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Almost unbelievably they were all griffon vulture. We came in search of Egyptian vulture and in return we saw the much less likely griffon vulture. Unfortunately, the pictures are poor as they flew high and fast but have nevertheless been verified by an expert.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n