Well, this isn't a day i'd do on a proper tour..... We began at Wadi Dahna and didn't see anything new here but it's a really, really good place for Philby's Partridge. I could have got an awesome photo of a close calling bird but messed the opportunity up again! However, we saw at least 2 groups of approx 8 or 9 birds in each, with further calling birds higher up in the hillsides that remained unseen. There was also a flyby Arabian Woodpecker that we didn't bother trying to get views of after yesterday's point-blank views, and there were many Arabian Babblers, Arabian Wheatear, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Yemen Warbler, with the only new bird of note an Arabian Warbler.
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| The reservoir...... |
We were fixated on finding Arabian Waxbill and I located the small reservoir at the far end that had some water and vegetation around it but no waxbills. We waited a while before deciding to call it quits and return to the car up in the village for some coffee and breakfast.
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| Great scenery coming down the escarpment... |
So what to do next. There's a bunch of other sites up here but we felt we were just repeating sightings now and the chances of waxbills seemed remote. So we decided to set out on the 3 hour drive to the coast, driving down the very steep escarpment into the lowlands. It's a very scenic drive down and we saw more Arabian Wheatears and a fine Bonelli's Eagle.
Once in the hot lowlands we saw our first of many Namaqua Doves on roadside telegraph wires before reaching Wadi Hali, a great birding site where Black Scrub Robin was numerous with 11+ birds seen and more heard.
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| Black Scrub Robin |
And amazingly a pair of Arabian Waxbills flew in and landed at the top of an acacia right in front of us. I think my hysterical directions made it difficult for the others to get on the birds quick enough and they only stayed put for maybe 40 seconds before flying away. But they were at the top of the tree right in front of us guys...!
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| Masked Shrike |
Anyway, we also saw our only Masked Shrike here, many Nile Valley Sunbirds & some other common species. It was nice to see some different birds!
So leaving here we drove to Wadi Hali and checked out a site for Arabian Grosbeak. It was early afternoon by the time we reached here but the site looked good despite no grosbeaks. There was a small water hole attracting more Black Scrub Robins, Blackstart and all the usual suspects and we had our picnic lunch here and more coffee. Then we set off towards the coast. Google Maps threw a wobbly and couldn't cope with the very, very new 3 lane highway that we were on and we weren't sure if it was the right road for a long time but we were heading west.... So it had to be alright. Right? All of a sudden the road ended with a barrier across it. Bugger! So i parked by the roadside and stared blankly at zero options apart from retracing our steps about 60 minutes... That was until a small van appeared (the road was devoid of traffic up until this point) and went down the side of the embankment and continued on west, so I decided to follow. Well, we were closer to the coast than I realised and pretty soon all was ok and we had the red Sea to our right as we drove south. We stopped to view a mixed group of Common, Caspian, Whiskered, Gull-billed and White-winged Terns and our first Sooty Gulls in Saudi. We continued south to Al Birk, found the digs (what a weird place) and then drove further south to the mangroves. We did get Mangrove Reed Warbler briefly before 4 policemen insisted I accompany them to their van and questioned me. But it was all good natured and we stayed scrutinising the mangroves until dusk, seeing Clamorous reed Warbler and some distant flamingo's and pelicans. Getting dinner in the small town was a nightmare tonight and it was rubbish - when we eventually found somewhere. What a day!
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