Abha to the Coast

 Raidah Preserve is a very interesting site to visit.... Just for the extremely hair-raising drive down the steepest drivable tarmac road in the world and the return journey up is something else. Our journey down had a nice background of burning brakes and we had to stop half way down to let them cool off, but that happened to be at a spot for Black-crowned Tchagra, really our main target bird here as it's a potential split (possibly, maybe, who knows...?)  Yet Raidah Preserve is full of birds and at 5.30am we were driving down the precipitous road, dodging Arabian Partridges along the way that simply wanted to walk out right in front of the car.

Anyway, we eventually found a tchagra but not everyone got on it, but there were some really great birds here such as African Grey Hornbill, Dusky Turtle Dove, White-throated and Arabian Green Bee-eaters, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Arabian Sunbird, more babblers, more Blackcaps, more Willow Warblers etc etc.

African Grey Hornbill - we saw 3 pairs at Raidah Preserve

We returned to the hotel in Abha, loaded up and drove 90 minutes to an area 50kms north of Jizan to where a colony of Arabian Golden Sarrows had been present last month,. Disappointingly, the colony was deserted, but a search of the area revealed European Nightjar, Black Scrub Robin, Nile Valley Sunbird, and at some pools Red-throated Pipit, several Namaqua Doves, and other common species.

It was roughly an hour's drive south to Jizan in order to purchase tomorrow's ferry ticket to the Farasan Islands, which we made with 15 minutes to spare before the office closed! And then we hit McDonalds for a very late lunch and some cool air, as the temperature had soared to 48 degrees celsius! We reluctantly left here and drove up to North Corniche Park. Here the road runs alongside the Red Sea and there's plenty of parking. The tide seemed to be almost in but there was one area of exposed mudflats still uncovered and we were in wader heaven with 10+ Broad-billed Sandpipers, 37 Crab-Plovers, and a fine selection  of other shorebirds such as many breeding plumaged Curlew Sandpipers, Tibetan Sandplovers, Little Stints and many commoner species. There was also a Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, several Little Terns, an Osprey, some Pink-backed Pelicans and more. 

Always love seeing Crab-Plovers...

Broad-billed Sandpiper

At one point a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers flew in and landed directly below us and we ended up with a pair of Crab-Plovers feeding really, really close in front of us with the setting sun creating some magical lighting to end another action-packed day in Saudi Arabia.

Heading to Abha, partridge, serin & pizza!

 Heading out at 6am we had a couple of hours to find Arabian Partridge before breakfast and departing for Abha. Our first stop drew a blank, so we returned to Wadi Dana and scanned from a different location resulting in decent scope views of Philby's Partridge - it's such a stunning bird but ' not the drone we were looking for...' (get the Star Wars analogy?). Anyway, we drove around to Wadi Al Gathal and immediately had the most co-operative and inquisitive Asir Magpie that stalked us the entire time we were here, calling repeatedly. 

A true Saudi Arabian endemic - Asir Magpie

The sound after an hour's continuous calling really was like nails down a chalkboard! Anyway, eventually we heard Arabian Partridge in the distance and hiked down lower into the wadi. It was at this point that a really loud local bird photographer approached us and scared the partridges into silence. Apparently he could show us Asir Magpie if we wished, pointedly ignoring the raucous calling of a magpie about 15 feet away from me! Once pleasantries were exchanged, along with phone numbers we continued searching for the elusive partridge. Sure enough, after a lengthy scan Keith spotted a partridge on the skyline and there it was, Arabian Partridge looking stunning in the mighty Swarovski scope. In fact there were 3 of them and we watched them for quite a while, being really appreciative of our success after a tense morning's battle. 

A confiding Tristram's Starling from this morning

After breakfast back at the hotel we drove just under an hour and a half to Abha, and called into a supermarket to buy items for our picnic lunch. We survived more or less unscathed from some of the craziest driving it's been my misfortune to experience by the local population and finally turned off the highway onto more sedate roads where people drove a little slower and didn't seem intent on killing us! We ate lunch in the shade of some trees and walked around looking for migrants, the best of which was a Thrush Nightingale skulking in the biggest bush around, but there were also quite a few Common Redstarts, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and at least 2 Marsh Warblers.

Leaving here it was just a few minutes to get to the rocky Habala plateau where it took maybe 30 seconds to nail Rufous-capped Lark, with one song-flighting right above our heads. We had it on the deck a little later as well and had good views.

Rufous-capped Lark

Our next target was Buff-breasted Wheatear and we pulled up at the gate of my spot but they were locked. Oh no! Disaster! But as I climbed up to look over the wall, I spotted one perched on a mound of earth and with a bit of judicious footholds on the wall everyone managed views of it. But there were no worries as another appeared behind us, and then a short while later another pair were found in a field and everyone enjoyed great scope views. 

Great scenery here looking from the edge of the escarpment

Our final target of the day was Yemen Serin, a very tricky bird I think in Saudi. Well, there's a tale about how we discovered a flock of over 30 birds feeding in the same field as the wheatears were in. But we didn't find the flock until much later, after Keith & Bart said they'd observed a few serin sp. feeding in bushes beside the road. We decided to check out the flock of serins a little later and after a confusing spell of initially seeing some with dark streaked crowns and malar stripes, we only saw paler birds without malars. 

Not bad for a phonescoped Yemen Serin

After a while it was apparent that we were seeing juveniles as well as adults, and add to the mix a couple of Arabian Serins feeding quietly nearby, it took us a while to work out what was going on. But my, oh my, such a big flock of Yemen Serins was totally unexpected. I've only seen small groups in Oman, so to see such a number was pretty exciting. And that was our day. Dinner back in Abha, was at a nice Italian restaurant next to the hotel. Pizza baby!

Al Baha to Tanomah

 We packed up and left the rather drab building that had pretensions of a hotel and drove for about an hour to a nice valley with a few houses dotted around. It was really like going back in time with small grassy fields and hedges and the valley was full of birdsong. We were hoping for Arabian Partridge but drew a blank on that, but we found some really great birds starting with an African Olive Pigeon perched on telegraph wires. 

My phone scoped effort at an Olive (Rameron) Pigeon

A White-browed Coucal was picked up by Keith and was scoped, as were 4 Red-throated Pipits on telegraph wires and a Marsh Warbler took a while to reveal its true identity (if you get my meaning??). There was also another Levant Sparrowhawk, a couple of Ortolan Buntings and all the usual suspects. On the way out there were two Bruce's Green-Pigeons on telegraph wires over the road.

Bruce's Green-Pigeon

Leaving here we then drove a couple of hours to Tanomah and continued on to Wadi Dahna, where our two targets of Yemen Warbler and the Saudi endemic Asir Magpie were seen easily. 

Asir Magpie

Yemen Warbler 

There was also a female Violet-backed Starling, many Blackcaps and Common Redstarts moving through on migration, European Bee-eaters flying over, and both Flava & Feldegg Yellow Wagtails.

Record shot of a male Violet-backed Starling

After checking in to the hotel we headed to Al Mahfar Park and waited until dark when an Arabian Eagle Owl duly showed very well, We heard several Montane Nightjars and a Desert Owl in the distance too. So we returned to the hotel for dinner after a thoroughly enjoyable day with a great group and chew over the day's sightings.

Getting the Grosbeak

 We left at 6am and drove for 20 minutes to the narrow valley we visited yesterday (2200m). The sun was just starting to creep over the surrounding hills as we arrived and the temperature was very pleasant indeed. The valley reverberated to the sound of birdsong, with all the usual culprits adding their input to the dawn chorus. Our first good bird was Philby's Partridge on the hillside above us. And it took several hours of hard scanning before tracking down a single Arabian Grosbeak after several hours of searching and scanning the valley. This is undoubtedly the best place in Saudi Arabia to find this bird, and even so it's not easy.

We also saw Eurasian Hoopoe, a superb Arabian Woodpecker, a pair of Arabian Warblers, Yemen Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Little Rock Thrush, several Arabian Wheatears, some more Arabian Waxbills, 2 Long-billed Pipits, Olive-rumped Serin, Yemen Linnet and Cinnamon-breasted Bunting. 

One of the valleys we checked out today...

We moved on to another valley and I was really surprised to see a Levant Sparrowhawk circling above us. We saw another one a little bit later in another valley, along with another Arabian Woodpecker, and thankfully our first Gambaga Flycatcher - from looking at eBird this is the earliest recorded Spring arrival in Saudi Arabia (and we saw 2 in the same valley!!). A little later we had another Gambaga Flycatcher, along with another Arabian Woodpecker.

We spent the early afternoon down at 700m at Thee Ain Ancient Village, driving through incredible scenery to reach it. 

The route down from 2200m in Al Baha to 700m at Thee Ain

Thee Ain Ancient Village

Here, we notched up Bruce's Green Pigeon, Arabian Babbler, Black Scrub Robin, Arabian Sunbird and 4 African Silverbill. 

Black Scrub-Robin

It was so hot here that we decided to return to the hotel (just 35 minutes away) and have an hour off to rest and shower before heading out at 6pm to try for Arabian Eagle Owl. 

No eagle-owls here tonight but a nice place to chill....

Arabian Babbler

This was a no-show, although some confiding Arabian Babblers were pretty cool, but in my opinion the crippling views of a Montane Nightjar perched on a dead tree, flying right over our heads and circling us was much better! And to cap it all off, we had a pretty good dinner in an Egyptian restaurant to round of a very successful day.

Run to the Hills...!

 Took the early morning flight to Al Baha, where a surprisingly quick car rental procedure saw us on the road for 50 minutes to Al Khaira Forest. In the city we spotted a group of 6 Ortolan Buntings on the rocks beside the traffic lights we were stopped at.  It was a bit windy and getting quite warm by the time we arrived at a nice vegetated wadi where we scanned the Juniper clad slopes for an hour. 

Everyone loves an Eurasian Hoopoe

Things were a little slow to begin, but we eventually picked up Eurasian Hoopoe, Yemen Thrush, Arabian Serin, Brown Woodland Warbler, Abyssinian White-eye, Little Rock Thrush, Arabian Wheatear, Palestine Sunbird, Ruppell's Weavers and a Cinnamon-breasted Bunting. A nice little selection and we'd see most of these species again during the day. At the next stop, a pair of Arabian Warblers showed very nicely indeed on the slope just below us, but better yet was the pair of Arabian Waxbills giving stunning views. 

Arabian Waxbill

Masked Shrike

At 2pm we drove back in to Al Baha to check-in to our apartments, seeing a cracking Masked Shrike en-route, and have a nice coffee before returning to Al Khaira Forest. This time we explored the dam where a pair of Red-knobbed Coots was a surprise. There were better views of Olive-rumped Serin and more gorgeous views of the waxbills, but amazingly an Arabian Scops Owl began calling at 4.30pm and we managed to track it down and even scope it! 

I phonescoped this Arabian Scops Owl

It's always nice to get an owl in daylight. We ended the day eating Arabic food, local-style on the floor of a restaurant near our hotel.

Desert Birding... Saudi Style!

 At 9am i'd been awake 5.5 hours!! And boy it felt like it, but the excitement of birding in the desert was exhilarating. Maybe 20+ Greater Hoopoe Larks were the highlight, some being very, very close, but several Bar-tailed Larks were also pretty cool. 

Always a stunner - Greater Hoopoe-Lark

Both Blue-cheeked and European Bee-eaters were streaming north on migration making for a spectacular sight, whilst a female Western Marsh Harrier had other ideas and was heading south! We'd been searching for 5 hours for the elusive, mysterious, enigmatic, nomadic, unpredictable and flipping annoying Arabian Lark..... Needless to say it remains invisible and the news of zero sightings for 2.5 months continues..!!!

But the best birding was an hour away in a narrow wadi. A small pool attracted an Ortolan Bunting, and some lush grasses proved enticing to 6+ Willow Warblers and a female Menetries's Warbler. But the standout species was White-throated Robin, two of which we found without too much effort. 

I managed to phone-scope the first White-tailed Robin....

Trumpeter Finch was a good find today...

Add to this Rufous-tailed Bushchat, Red-throated Pipit, Barred Warbler, several Spotted Flycatchers & Common Redstarts, a few White-crowned Wheatears, Brown-necked and Fan-tailed Ravens, Whinchat and even a Trumpeter Finch were all much appreciated. So not a bad day!

Riyadh Migration

 I had the opportunity to visit Al Hai'ir this afternoon after collecting our rental car. It's only an hour from the hotel in Riyadh and I was surprised to find an area of marsh, small lagoons and reeds. Amazing. This is where Basra Reed Warbler sometimes breeds, and despite a couple of hours searching all I had were numerous Eurasian Reed Warblers. But it's a great area and after roughly 25 inches of rain here this year, the main channel was full of water...

An adult and immature Purple Heron flew over, along with a Western Cattle Egret and the odd Pallid Swift, whilst trackside bushes held Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and a fine Eurasian Wryneck. 

Eurasian Wryneck

Purple Heron

I also had a brief glimpse of a sylvia warbler that eluded identification, and a Turkestan Shrike was seen distantly. 

Turkestan Shrike

Several Arabian Green Bee-eaters were also present,. along with many White-eared Bulbuls. However, I was particularly pleased to get 3 Saudi ticks: Red Avadavat, Indian Silverbill and Streaked Weaver! Yay!! 

Indian Silverbill

Red Avadavat

Not a bad 2 hours birding and I only wished I had longer! So I have 4 hours sleep tonight before starting our Saudi Arabia trip in the deserts north of Riyadh......

Japan Preparations.....

 It's a 'chicken & egg' scenario with regards to booking a cruise and then flights isn't it? Should I have done it the other way around? Dunno! But i'm pretty sick of the stupidly exorbitant cost of flights being charged these days, especially when you leave it a bit late like i've done for Japan. But anyway it's all done and we are off on 14th June to Tokyo. I think it's a pretty good time to visit, especially for the summer visitors,  but I have to check it out as i'm planning to do this next year starting the cruise on 16th May. That may be a better time for seabirds (maybe) but we will see....

Anyway, i'm currently in Riyadh ahead of our Saudi Arabia trip that starts tomorrow. There's negative news on Arabian Lark in that there haven't been any sightings for 2.5 months due to extremely wet weather creating ideal AL habitat for hundreds & hundreds of miles in every direction. So the signs aren't promising but we will try.... And I can get back to posting about birds & birdwatching again....!

Japan is on!

 It was off. It was on and then off again. And today it's definitely on as we've booked the cruise! Woohoo!! So 22nd June we are off and sailing south from Tokyo to Okinawa and Taiwan. Of course i'm hoping for Short-tailed Albatross but what else is out there? With 2 full days at sea on each leg of the cruise i'm hopeful of some goodies but i'm thinking that next year, mid May should be a better time, so with that in mind..... 

Mount Fuji (12,389 feet high)

I'm off to Mount Fuji (Copper Pheasant & Japanese Accentor) for a few days and then taking the ferry over to Miyake-Jima (Owston's Tit, Izu Thrush, Izu Robin, Ijima's Leaf-Warbler & Styan's Grasshopper Warbler. Nice!) before boarding the cruise ship. And afterwards there's a short flight to Hokkaido for Sakhalin Leaf Warbler, Japanese Robin, Middendorff's & Sakhalin Grasshopper Warblers, and maybe a little pelagic too! Oh and would be rude not to have a look at Blakiston's Fish-Owl as well. And i'm planning this around the itinerary for next year's tour..... More info to follow. 

Man, I just can't wait! But i've got to tell the wife about the new Japan field guide i've just ordered......!!!

Tanzania Dreaming.... or Getting Ahead of Myself A Bit...!

 Well Japan will have to wait for a bit, so onwards with the plan for 2024. It's just over 3 weeks until i'm off to Saudi Arabia for my 3rd trip there. Then it's just over 2 weeks until I do Turkey and Mongolia back-to-back - all great trips and very exciting. I will come back to them in another post. And I really need to lose a bit of weight after the recent Cape Horn cruise first!!

The ever-angry Yemen Warbler from Saudi Arabia...

A gorgeous Oriental Plover from Mongolia

So today i'm a little preoccupied with my trip to Tanzania in July. I've been seeing plenty of great photos posted on Facebook from my guide over there, and it's really whetting the appetite. This isn't going to be the usual safari thing but what people call the Eastern Arc Mountains Tour, a region choc full of endemics and really rare stuff. Well, actually, i'm super-excited about this one and having visited Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, northern Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and a bit of South Africa in the past, there's still a whole bunch of lifers possible. But why does it tantalise the tastebuds so much? Hmmmm.... 

Firstly, it's just an area that's not really one of those places high on birders wish lists of places to visit - and that always draws me for some reason. Secondly, there's a feast of new birds for everyone. Thirdly (and possibly most importantly) it's going to be a bit of an adventure. Ahh yes, adventure in the safest possible terms but it also means the dreaded camping! After doing a Snow Leopard trip in Ladakh years ago I swore I wouldn't be camping ever again! But the lure of some great birds and the passage of time has swept that hatred of camping away. And it's only 6 or 7 nights, we'll be in the mountains so it won't be hot 'n' sweaty, which would drive me mad and we will have a ground crew looking after us. The rest of the time will be spent in much better accommodation. The camping aspect has already put several guys off joining the 4 of us already committed to the trip and it's obviously not everyone's cup of tea. But you gotta suffer for your birds right?! 

Bohm's Bee-eater is a big deal...

Chapin's Apalis 

Rubeho Akalat

Rubeho Warbler

Uluguru Bushshrike

Usambara Thrush

Usambara Weaver

And there really are plenty of cracking birds to look forward to. The photos above show a small sample of what is ahead. Oh, and we've booked a couple of nights on Pemba Island for a few more endemics as well. Our flights are booked, and the East Africa field guide is dusted off and ready. There's still 2 spaces available for anyone who fancies a shed load of lifers, a bit of an adventure and a few laughs along the way. The full itinerary can be viewed here - Eastern Arc Birding Adventure

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia beckons....