We decided to leave early as we just didn't like Al Birk - getting dinner last night was a chore and the mangroves weren't holding our interest. So we headed south to Jazan and aimed for the Either Mangroves. This was much better as we nailed a close Mangrove Reed Warbler very easily. We also had Lesser Flamingo and Pink-backed Pelicans, as well as some confiding Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks here giving decent scope views to add a bit of variety to our lists.
From here we headed inland towards Sabya and on to the villages around Abu Arish for our negative search for Arabian Golden Sparrow. They just aren't around at this time of year and apart from one or two Ebird sightings this is really a summer bird. But we gave it a damn good go and in hindsight I think we should have concentrated on the Sabya Farms, which we'd be doing tomorrow. Nevertheless we drove, we walked and we drove some more, checking out various sites finding large flocks of House Sparrows, with more Black Bush Robins, and more of everything that you can label "common" at but no Arabian Golden Sparrows. We spent a fair chunk of the day searching in vain before deciding go and see some different birds over at Jazan Dam Lake.
This is a hell of a birding site and the chances of finding something good are actually quite high. We liked this place, despite several new road systems causing Google Maps to struggle a bit. And we met some very friendly locals who insisted on plying us with some delicious tea! Well, the upshot was that we found an African Openbill, a rare bird here and probably left over from last year's influx. There were plenty of birds and we saw Intermediate Egret, Gabar Goshawk, loads of Glossy Ibis, a ridiculous number of Eurasian Spoonbills, Arabian Green Bee-eaters, Arabian Babblers, some close Hamerkops and lots of other 'waterbirds'.
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| Hamerkop |
With time pressing and that damn sun sinking way to fast, we raced around to the southern end and of-roaded a bit to get close to a nice reedbed. We still wanted better waxbill views and sure enough this is the place. With at least a dozen coming in to roost we thoroughly enjoyed the closer views, along with a very close sumplum White-winged Tern parading in front of us. And so we waited for dusk, but no Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse appeared to drink but the best was yet to come.
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| Nubian Nightjar |
As soon as it was dark Nubian Nightjars began calling and in no time at all we had a pair in the spotlight. it's been many years since i've seen this bird and to get within a few metres of one was incredible. So with that in the bag we drove an hour back to the hotel, which was ok tbh and we even had minimal trouble finding a pokey little restaurant nearby for dinner and enjoyed pizza of all things to round off a decent day.
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