Saudi Arabia Day 1

After picking Peter up from the airport at 5am I collected the rest of the group and we headed an hour north to Rawdat Nourah, the alleged hotspot for Arabian Lark. Well, after spending 2 days in January and yesterday afternoon failing miserably to find one, I was amusingly optimistic about our chances today. The weather was clear, calm and bright, contrary to yesterday’s rain, wind, sandstorm and general dull weather. 

And we began at an area north of the road where I had found a pair of Red-necked Phalaropes yesterday, and luckily they were still present along with the same group of Little Stints, a Kentish Plover and Wood Sandpiper (unfortunately yesterday’s Curlew Sandpiper had departed overnight). 

Little Stint

Seeing Red-necked Phalarope out in the desert was bizarre

Then things really kicked off as we walked along a line of very green and lush vegetation, finding an amazing bunch of northward bound migrants that must have been waiting for yesterday’s poor weather to clear. I mean there were groups of Willow Warblers, with a lone Chiffchaff tagging along but the best was yet to come. A large leafy tree held singles of Great Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler and a superb Barred Warbler and made for a fantastic sighing out here in the desert. Then a Common Whitethroat appeared, followed by 2 Red-backed Shrikes, 1 Daurian Shrike, 2 Greater Hoopoe Larks, 3 Bar-tailed Larks, Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat, with Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and several Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse flying over, quickly followed by 4 European Bee-eaters… Best of all a single Little Swift proved to be our rarest sighting so far. Phew!

Greater Hoopoe Lark

We then moved along a bit to some large trees where Common Redstart, Garden Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and a pair of Eurasian Golden Orioles were found. 

Moving south of the road, crisscrossing the desert in search of Arabian Lark, we saw European Roller, more Red-backed Shrikes, a Lesser Grey Shrike, many more Greater Hoopoe Larks (21), more Bar-tailed Larks (17) and 12 Temminck’s Larks.

In the mid afternoon we drove 50 minutes to Jebel Towki and found the scenery a refreshing change with rocky wadis, huge escarpments and nice scenery. 

The scenery here is great

In a roadside wadi we found Long-legged Buzzard, Desert Lark, Brown-necked Raven, more European Bee-eaters, Pale Crag Martins, Pallid Swifts, and a fine White-crowned wheatear. 

White-crowned Wheatear

A nearby wetland held flocks of Western Yellow Wagtails, double figures of Red-throated Pipits, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and even an Eurasian Whimbrel. Once it got dark we tried a spot of owling but failed to get any response.