On the way back to the airport in Abha from Tanoumah area we
stopped at the Raydah Escarpment for a few hours. The ranger station gate was
open so we go into the reserve easily and drove down to the disused farm. The
farm now has a new locked gate blocking access for vehicles along the small
track but as we always walked there was no issue as it was easy to get around
the outside of the gate. As we were at the location around midday it was
relatively quiet but we still saw some good birds including two Arabian
Waxbills. This was only the second time we had seen the species with the first
in the reed beds at Malaki Dam near Jizan in April 2014. These two birds were
perched in the low scrub of a large tree, very different habitat from the
previous sighting. Two African Paradise Flycatchers were also seen here
including a fantastic male with extra long tail streamers. Little Rock Thrush,
Yemen Thrush, Yemen Linnet and Abyssinian White-eye were also common here. With
a few Fan-tailed Ravens flying over.
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| African Paradise Flycatcher - female |
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| African Paradise Flycatcher - male |
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| Yemen Linnet |
We then slowly made our way down the incredibly steep road
to the small village at the bottom where the first bird I saw when getting out
of the car was a Grey-headed Kingfisher. An African Grey Hornbill was sitting
quietly in a large tree and a couple of Bruce’s Green Pigeons flew over. Violet-backed
Starlings and Gambaga Flycatchers were also seen. Arabian Partridge could be
heard calling from the steep cliffs but remained unseen. This was our tenth out
of twelve Saudi Arabia Arabian endemics in a two day trip – a good result for
two full days birding with virtually no sleep due to looking for owls and
nightjars in the dark. After Raydah we
had a hour left so went to the top of Mount Soudah where there were plenty of
Fan-tailed Ravens as always and two
Yemen Serins on the rocks at the top.
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| Gambaga Flycatcher |
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| Violet-backed Starlings |
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| Yemen Serin |