SAUDI ARABIA DAY 3 - Abha

 We were really looking forward to today, as there's a bunch of endemics to find and we want better views of yesterday's serins and linnets. So we were off before sunrise heading to the closest wadi on our list and it only took 20 minutes to get there as we followed streets devoid of maniacal drivers and followed twisting, winding lanes into a rural area. Parking up, we could hear Yemen Linnets singing away from the fields behind us but after a few minutes standing around in the crisply cold air we realised there wasn't going to be much activity until the air temperature increased! In short, it was bloody freezing! So to get moving we located some small pools further down into the wadi that sometimes hold roosting Arabian Waxbills - but not today. We had a decent view down through the narrow wadi and up onto the hillside above us so we decided to watch and wait here. Some time later a Philby's Partridge began calling above us and luckily it was perched prominently on a rock, probably in response to my iPhone! I wasn't expecting this bird here, and that's why i'd left the scope in the car! Bugger! Luckily David volunteered to go back and get it! It's a superb bird and looked great through the scope, remaining on its rock for a good half an hour. 

Philby's Partridge

By the time the sun had reached our spot we were starving, so we walked back to the car and ate our breakfast that we'd purchased from a supermarket next to the hotel last night. As birders do, we began wandering around. I headed up into some fields when I heard another partridge calling but just at the precisely wrong moment when I thought I was going to get a crippling photo, our first Buff-breasted Wheatear appeared in front of me and distracted me, at which point the partridge flew off! But the wheatear was a stunner and we had great views.

African Stonechat

 In the warm sunshine bird activity increased and there were loads of Yemen Linnets around, more Arabian Serins, Yemen Thrush, African Stonechat, and lots of House Sparrows. 

Meanwhile, back where we parked the car we could hear Brown Woodland Warbler and a scratchy song that I was sure was Yemen Warbler. A quick burst of tape and one flew in to the isolated small juniper next to us and proceeded to sing back. What a cracker this is and we thoroughly enjoyed such fine, close views. 

Yemen Warbler

In fact, another bird flew in and the pair of warblers showed incredibly well. So once they left we drove over to Al Soudah Creek where we saw many of the same birds, as well as our first Afrotropicals in the shape of White-browed Coucal, Little Rock Thrush and some exceptionally close Brown Woodland Warblers. 

Brown Woodland Warbler

White-browed Coucal

Yemen Linnet

Yemen Thrush

We had even better views of Arabian Linnet here, a very close Yemen Thrush and our first Arabian Wheatear. It was very pleasant birding in the warm sunshine but I was starting to get a trifle concerned at the lack of woodpeckers!  Nevertheless, we had multiple sites to check for them so decided to head an hour away to Habala plateau for Rufous-capped Lark. 

Arabian Wheatear

They are not meant to be around at this time of year but we checked anyway and.... yep, not here at this time of year! We had a group of Scrub Warbler of the race buryi and some people call them Levantine Scrub Warblers..... Don't know about that tbh! A couple Long-billed Pipits and a few Crested Larks were here as well but not a lot else. With time slipping away we decided to drive to Wadi Atoud Reservoir for Arabian Waxbill - a bird we knew that could be hard to find. We hadn't got far when I had a message that the larks could be at the small dam so we drove back and found a trickle of water at the dam that's right above a large farm. Well, barking dogs and inquisitive farm workers put aid to any chance of larks and it was 3pm by now! A quick stop at an area of trees gave us African Pipit and a confiding Buff-breasted Wheatear but not a lot else. Leaving here we had a dark morph Steppe Buzzard flying overhead - i've never seen this form before and it really perplexed me for a while!

Steppe Buzzard...

So we decided to just return to the hotel as we were all hungry. This proved to be a good move as we had several options for dinner within walking distance of the hotel and plumped for an Arabian restaurant that dished out some tasty stuff!

SAUDI ARABIA DAY 2 Riyadh - Abha

 We returned to Rawdat Nourah just after first light this morning in search for Arabian Lark. It was great to be out in the desert this early and we were optimistic about our chances, despite the vastness of the area. There'd been a lot of rain a month earlier so the desert was quite green, so we wondered if this would hinder or help our chances? We quickly found another Asian Desert Warbler, a Crested Lark, Greater Hoopoe Lark, Eastern Imperial Eagle, and eventually a group of around 8 Bar-tailed Larks. The Arabian Lark is meant to hang out in the vicinity of these groups of BTL's but despite a lengthy scan we couldn't find one. So with time pressing we headed to another area about an hour away as Peter wanted to try for Thick-billed Lark. Again, we drew a lark-blank but had Desert Lark here and it looked a decent area but time was not our friend so we hot-footed it back to Riyadh Airport for our flight to Abha. To be honest we left it a little late but still made the flight despite a bit of a rush to get through the airport!

Yemen Linnet

Yemen Thrush

It was a short flight of just over an hour to Abha, where an extraordinarily slow car rental episode occurred, eating in to our birding time. Once again, more crazy local driving ensued as we headed into the city and to Abha Reservoir, as this is meant to be a decent place to try for Arabian Waxbill. In hindsight, we should have gone to Wadi Atoud Reservoir but who knew?! Anyhow, this was a cracking little spot where we saw our first Arabian Serin, Yemen Thrush and Yemen Linnets, plus we did have 2 jet-propelled waxbills fly overhead but it just wasn't tickle views. Some Red-knobbed Coots were present, along with what was probably a distant Siberian Stonechat, several Palestine Sunbirds, and a bunch of herons and egrets.

SAUDI ARABIA DAY 1 JANUARY 2023

Saudi Arabia hasn't really been on the birding map so far, with the first commercial tour last year by a UK company and numerous trip reports posted on CloudBirders by Greg Askew. But there's been a few private trips over the past year or so and there's some decent info out there! So I decided to go take a look after my Southern Oman tour and flew from Salalah to Riyadh via Doha, arriving at 10am on 20th January with Peter Nickless and meeting David Todd in the Arrivals Hall. 

What I would say right now is that it's important to understand how things work in Saudi and initial impressions were that things were just awkward. With building renovations at Terminal 2 making actually finding the car rental desk our first challenge and then computers at the Enterprise desk crashing, I was left to search around for another car. Eventually I was able to get a SUV from Sixt and we finally left the airport at 11.30am only to find the gas tank was practically empty and we had to turn around back towards the airport to find a petrol station! This gave us the opportunity to get some bits & pieces for lunch and then we headed about an hour north from Riyadh out into the vast desert to Rawdat Nourah. This is THE site to search for Arabian Lark (a recent split from Dunn's Lark) and we immediately headed off the tarmac across the sandy desert and began searching around the small shrubs present. It seemed pretty dead tbh and we drove and scanned.... and drove some more.... and scanned.... It's good fun driving 'off-road' and we covered a fair amount of ground, but we just couldn't find any Arabian Larks. They are meant to loosely associate with Bar-tailed Larks, and we did find a group of 4 or so TL's but had no joy. There were a few Temminck's Larks, the odd Crested Lark, an Asian Desert Warbler, a Great Grey Shrike and that was it. 

Asian Desert Warbler

Temminck's Lark

So with the sun setting fast we hotfooted it over to another area that was meant to be a site for Pharaoh Eagle-Owl, but it was right beside a busy road. It was dark by the time we arrived but we managed to find a track that took us away from the main road and the lunatic, crazy drivers. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived we could hear a bird calling but despite spending quite a while waiting and playing the odd call, it never moved from its position. So we drove up the road a bit and found another pull in away from the traffic and this time the calling owl flew behind us and continued calling from some distance away. We were patient and spent maybe an hour but the bird didn't come closer. 

So by now it was around 8pm and we had to drive back to Riyadh and find our hotel, which is another story in itself. Despite using Booking.Com the hotel didn't honour our booking and we had to find somewhere else, which was fortunately another hotel just further down the street. And then finding somewhere to eat took ages. Actually this was a theme during our visit, and it seems that an actual restaurant where you go in and sit down to eat is quite rare! Well it was in the places we looked! And that was our first day. We were all pretty tired by the time we got to crash out tonight.

SOUTHERN OMAN BIRDERS SPECIAL 13th - 20th JANUARY 2023 + SAUDIA ARABIA EXTENSION

I know it's a bit last-minute but i'm currently in Southern Oman at Salalah and I have to tell you the birding is fantastic. I really think it is worth doing a full 7 days birding in January, staying at one hotel arriving on 13th January. There's a Qatar flight for just over £500 and it gets you into Salalah via Doha at around 4.15am, so you get a full day's birding on the first day! I have done 4 trips here over the past year and found the 1st Banded Martin, the 1st Grey-tailed Tattler, 7th Blyth's Reed Warbler, 4th Dalmatian Pelican and tomorrow i'm hoping to see the 2nd Buff-breasted Sandpiper for Oman. Oh and this evening we found a very rare Black Stork and saw a Pheasant-tailed Jacana that was literally surrounded by a load of Citrine Wagtails. And yesterday we found a Small Pratincole 15 minutes from our hotel.....

So there you have it. I will be posting the full info on my website very soon, but in the meantime please email if you want to reserve your spot. It is going to cost £1925 per person for 8 nights full-board, travelling in 2 SUV's. There's not too much driving involved as most sites are within an easy 30-40 minutes from our hotel, but we will do a longer journey of just under 2 hours to visit our site for Hypocolius & Nile Valley Sunbird, and to view the sandgrouse drinking pools where hundreds of Chestnut-bellied and a few Crowned Sandgrouse visit. A little further away there is an agricultural area where 6 Sociable Lapwings are currently over-wintering. 

So, we stay at a nice hotel where we have breakfast and dinner, with picnic lunches out in the field every day. It is going to be pleasantly hot (around 30 degrees centigrade) so bring your shorts! 

And on to the birding. It's truly fantastic! We target the Arabian specialities: Arabian Partridge, Arabian Wheatear, Arabian Scops-Owl, Arabian Eagle-Owl, Desert Owl, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak and Yemen Serin. But there's so much more to our birding here. We should also see Socotra Cormorant, Sand Partridge, Abdim's Stork, Red-knobbed Coot, Verreaux's, Eastern Imperial, Bonelli's & Steppe Eagles, White-cheeked, Gull-billed, Lesser Crested, Greater Crested, Whiskered, Caspian and White-winged Terns, Caspian, Heuglin's, Steppe & Slender-billed Gulls, Masked & Brown Booby, Bruce's Green-Pigeon, Isabelline & Desert Wheatears, Blackstart, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Abyssinian White-eye, Tristram's Starling, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and so much more.

It's a crazy mix of Asian, African and Western Palearctic species that all meet up here in Southern Oman. So why not see what the buzz is about and join us for some good, old-fashioned birding in the Middle East?

If anyone wants to join me after this in Saudi Arabia for a quick-fire visit to look for Arabian Lark, Philby's Partridge, Arabian Woodpecker, Asir Magpie, Yemen Warbler, Yemen Thrush, Buff-breasted Wheatear, Arabian Golden Sparrow, Arabian Waxbill, Arabian Serin & Yemen Linnet then please let me know.

Here's a link to the full tour info: Southern Oman Birders Special

Here's a few photos from my current Oman tour in Nov 2022:

Eastern Imperial Eagles

African Paradise Flycatcher

Arabian Partridge

Arabian Warbler

Abdim's Stork

Arabian Eagle Owl

Arabian Scops Owl

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Greater Spotted Eagle

Rosy Starlings

Short-toed Eagle

Small Pratincole

Spotted Thick-Knee

Turkestan Shrike

Desert Owl could well be the icing on the cake

You just never know what you will find here. So let's go birding!

CAPE HORN & STRAITS OF MAGELLAN CRUISE FEB 2023

I'm always trying different angles for new tours and this time have come up with something rather unique as we sail on a fully working cruise ship from Santiago, Chile around Cape Horn to Buenos Aires, Argentina.......... This gives us the advantage of utilising a luxury liner to navigate these southern oceans and the stability to use our scopes on deck to view the multitudes of albatrosses, skuas, shearwaters, petrels, prions and other seabirds that inhabit these bird-rich waters. 

Our home for 2 weeks - Sapphire Princess

Ok so it's not a dedicated expedition ship and this tour isn't for everyone but there are many plus points. I think if you do have a tendency for sea sickness and have been put off from doing some of those pelagics in the southern oceans until now, then the stability this ship provides could well be the answer. With a fully working cruise ship you also have numerous benefits of food and drink 24/7, swimming pool, cinema, casino, numerous bars & restaurants, and all this adds up to a very comfortable experience. 

Seabirds are a major feature with Black-browed Albatross,  Salvin's Albatross, Northern Royal Albatross, Antipodean (Wandering) Albatross, Snowy Wandering Albatross (photo above), Chatham Albatross (rare), Grey-headed Albatross,  Westland and White-chinned Petrels,  De Filippi's and Juan-Fernandez Petrels, Stejneger's Petrel,  Pincoya Storm-Petrel, Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, Southern Giant Petrel, Magellanic Diving-Petrel, Common Diving-Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, the rare Subantarctic (Little) Shearwater, Chilean Skua, Slender-billed Prion, Southern Fulmar, Cape Petrel, and we can always hope for something mega such as Kerguelen Petrel, Cook's or Mottled Petrel, or even a Spectacled or Parkinson's Petrel.

In addition we have 7 shore excursions where we have made our own arrangements to try and find as many special birds as possible. The first stop at Puerto Montt will see us speeding off to Alerce Andino National Park for species such as Chilean Hawk, Green-backed Firecrown, Chilean (White-crested) Elaenia, the skulking Black-throated Huet-huet, Des Mur's Wiretail, Ochre-flanked, Chucao and Ochre-flanked Tapaculos, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, White-throated Treerunner and Patagonian Sierra-Finch.

The 2nd excursion is at Punta Arenas where we will be looking for Silver Teal, Red-gartered and White-winged Coots, Red Shoveler, Flying Steamer-Duck, Upland, Ashy-headed and hopefully the scarce Ruddy-headed Goose, Imperial and Rock Cormorants, South American Tern, South American Snipe, Lesser Rhea, Cinereous Harrier, Magellanic Oystercatcher & Correndera Pipit. One of the main targets of today’s outing is the odd-looking Magellanic Plover, and there’s also chances of Tawny-throated and Rufous-chested Dotterels, Two-banded Plover and Least Seedsnipe. Interesting passerines also occur here and we will look for specialties such as Common Miner, Austral Canastero, Austral Negrito, Band-tailed Earthcreeper, Chocolate-vented Tyrant and the stunning Black-throated Finch. 

The 3rd excursion is at Ushuaia and we will head into Tierra Del Fuego National Park for the stunning Magellanic Woodpecker amidst some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable. There's also Kelp and Ashy-headed Goose, Great Grebe, Dolphin Gull, South American Tern, White-throated, Southern Crested and Chimango Caracara, Austral Pygmy-Owl, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Dark-bellied Cinclodes, White-throated Treerunner, Black-chinned Siskin and Patagonian Sierra-Finch.

The 4th excursion is Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands where a dash across the moorland to Volunteer Point where up to 2,000 King Penguins (photo above) breed and this will surely provide one of the most memorable highlights of the tour. There is also a colony of Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins here to keep us entertained along with Imperial Cormorant, Snowy Sheathbill, Falkland Steamer-Duck, Two-banded Plover, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant, and hopefully White-bridled Finch.

The 5th excursion is at Puerto Madryn where we will be birding amidst the wild steppe landscape looking for Lesser Rhea, Elegant Crested-Tinamou (photo above), Common Miner, the endemic Patagonian Canastero, Lesser Shrike-Tyrant, Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail ,White-throated Cachalote, the endemic Rusty-backed Monjita, Patagonian Mockingbird and Short-billed Pipit can be found. We will also make a visit to a Southern Sea Lion colony which harbours our best chances of seeing a Snowy Sheathbill, whilst there are also Southern Elephant Seals along the shore, along with Imperial and Rock Cormorants, Blackish Oystercatcher, Cayenne Tern and others. 

The 6th shore excursion is at Montevideo will see us visiting several interesting wetlands for species such as Black-necked & Coscoroba Swans, Brazilian and Silver Teals, Chiloe Wigeon, Giant Wood-Rail, Plumbeous Rail, Rufous-sided Crake, Spot-flanked Gallinule, Red-gartered, Red-fronted and White-winged Coots, various shorebirds, Yellow-billed and Snowy-crowned Terns, Dark-billed Cuckoo, White and White-spotted Woodpeckers, Glittering-bellied Emerald, White-throated and Gilded Hummingbirds, Wren-like Rushbird, Sulphur-throated, Spix’s and Stripe- crowned Spinetails, Rufous-capped Antshrike, Sooty Tyrannulet, Bran colored Flycatcher, Spectacled Tyrant, Austral Negrito, Gray and White Monjita, White-rumped Swallow, Black-and-Rufous Warbling-Finch, Long-tailed Reed-Finch, Grassland Yellow-Finch, Great Pampa-Finch, Dark-throated and Rufous-rumped Seedeaters, Brown-and-Yellow Marshbird and Chalk-browed Mockingbird.

And the 7th and final excursion will be at the famous reserve of Costanera Sur in Buenos Aires which could give us some great species to round things off nicely. 

And there's a pre-tour extension in Chile and a post tour extension in Argentina, which will add to the interesting species mix.

For the full tour info and prices see: Cape Horn Cruise

Red BoP's, Tricky Pittas and Islands.....

So how to follow yesterday’s Wilson’s BoP extravaganza? With another BoP displaying of course and this morning’s entertainment was provided by some male Red Bird-of-Paradise darting around their display tree in a crazy manner. A totally different experience this one as we were sat on benches out in the open gazing up at a tall tree maybe 70m away and watching this extraordinary species darting around the branches in maniacal fashion. It really was a superb display and my photos just don't do this bird justice at all.

Red Bird-of-Paradise

Whilst watching this, a pair of Hooded Butcherbirds began feeding right in front of us and we enjoyed fine looks at this endemic. 

Hooded Butcherbird

We then spent the rest of the morning wandering along the old logging track looking for Western Crowned Pigeon, occasionally taking side trails or heading inside the forest but we didn’t get a sniff. All we had to show for this morning’s efforts were Papuan Drongo, another Pale-billed Scrubwren and a Green-backed Gerygone. 

 

At lunch I decided we needed a change of scenery and to take a boat out to some islands, and what a great decision this proved to be. 

The Gang....

New birds came thick and fast and spending an hour cruising in a boat wasn’t the worst experience either. On the way out we had fantastic close views of a White-bellied Sea-Eagle, some distant frigatebirds which were mainly Greater but there was at least one Lesser Frigatebird as well. 

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Lesser Frigatebird

Once ashore on what was for all intents and purposes a typical tropical paradise island we were greeted immediately by a Beach Kingfisher. 

That's William watching the kingfisher

We hadn’t walked more than 20m when some Violet-necked Lory’sscreeched by and we eventually had decent perched views of this stunning species. In a nearby large leafy tree we saw Olive Honeyeater, Arafura Fantail, Variable Honeyeater, and a nice Island Whistler. 

Island Whistler

Nearby some Moluccan Starlings seemed to be nesting in a dead palm tree and as we scoped them an Eastern Hooded Pitta began calling. Usually I find this species not too difficult to track down, but this individual was very tricky and we ended up spending way too long trying to get everyone on to it, which we did in the end. So we left here and headed to another island to look for Spice Imperial-Pigeon, but arrived too late and only saw lots of Pied Imperial-Pigeons and some White-breasted Woodswallows, although the sight of hundreds of huge Flying Foxes setting out to hunt against the setting sun made for a pretty spectacular end to the day.

Amazing sunset tonight.....