Mansur Al Fahad sent me an e-mail a few days ago saying he had been talking with his friend Mohammed Al Monatresh about birds in Saudi Arabia when Mohammed told him he had seen two rare pigeons in the Kingdom. The first was a group of four Common Woodpigeon at Al Jouf on 29 November 2012. Common Woodpigeon is a rare winter visitor to the northern areas of Saudi Arabia with very few records. I am currently trying to find all the records of this species but am finding it difficult and I have only managed to find a single record from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The other good pigeon Mohammed saw was an African Olive Pigeon in Abha in June 2010. This species was only recorded for the first time in the country by Mike Jennings in the mid-1980’s and is almost always seen on mount Soudah near Abha with the Raydah Escarpment the best place to observe them although they are shy and difficult to observe. I would really like to thank Mansur and Mohammed for these excellent records that are very valuable, and are helping to fill in the distribution and occurrence of birds in Saudi Arabia. It is also very encouraging that local Saudi Arabian birders are finding birds in their own country now as this holds hope that bird recording will continue for many years to come. Mohammed’s excellent photographs are shown below as Mansur very kindly obtained approval from Mohammed for me to put them on my website. Well done guys, keep up the excellent work.
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| Common Woodpigeon |
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| Common Woodpigeon |
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| African Olive Pigeon |