Whilst birding with Phil in the farm area at the bottom of the
Raydah Escarpment I heard a Dideric Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius calling
nearby. Luckily I had the window open and knew the call so we stopped the car
and started looking for the bird. As it was very vocal we soon located it
sitting high in a tree but it soon moved to a more convenient lower bush
allowing some good photos to be taken of it. The Diderick Cuckoo is a summer
visitor to southwest Saudi Arabia where it parasitizes Rüppell's weaver. They
were thought to be vagrants to the area but recently birds have been seen near Tendaha
dam 5 July 2010, Abha area 20 July 2010, As Sudah 5 July 2013 and Wadi Jaw June
2015 so are probably a scarce summer visitor to the high mountains of southwest
Saudi Arabia. This was a new species for me in Saudi Arabia and this combined
with the fact I got some good photographs made for a rewarding sighting.
