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29 April 2015

Last couple of weeks near Tabuk – Bird records by Viv Wilson

Viv has been out birding the Tabuk area the last couple of Weekends and has sent a few photos of his trips. This area is in the northwest of the Kingdom and is very good for both migrants as well as resident species. Viv normally either goes to the desert areas where there are plenty of rock formations or to the large Tabuk wetlands. He takes photos of quite a number of species that are either absent or extremely difficult to see in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia where I live and bird so the photos are always interesting to look at. This selection include Scrub Warbler and Tristram’s Starling that do not occur in the Eastern Province and Pale Crag martin that does occur but is only seen near the escarpments in the desert in areas like Shedgum. The main passage migrants seen by Viv cross the country in broad fronts so are seen throughout the Kingdom at the right time of year and these include Barn Swallows, Eurasian Blackcaps, Eurasian Hoopoes, Northern Wheatears and Ortolan Buntings with Common Kestrel being a resident in the area. Viv has kindly allowed me to use some of his photos on my website that are shown below.
Tristram's Starling
Tristram's Starling
Scrub Warbler
Scrub Warbler
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
Common Blackcap
Common Blackcap
Eurasian Hoopoe
Eurasian Hoopoe
Northern Wheatear
Northern Wheatear
Ortolan Bunting
Ortolan Bunting
Common Kestrel
Common Kestrel
Pale Crag Martin
Pale Crag Martin