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06 June 2015

Plenty of good birds in a Wadi at bottom of Raydah Escarpment – Bird records by Khalifah Al Dhaheri

Khalifah went down the Raydah Escarpment as mentioned in a previous post and when at the bottom kept right for a few kilometres until he came to a good looking wadi area. In this area he saw the following species:  Three Rock Pigeons (Feral Pigeon), two Dusky Turtle-Doves, four Laughing Doves, one Bruce's Green-Pigeon, two Dideric Cuckoos a species that is not easy to see in Saudi Arabia and one I have not seen myself. They have a status as a vagrant but this is clearly not the case as they have been seen every summer in the Abha area in recent years but is still an excellent find. There were also four White-browed Coucals, 50 Little Swifts, nine Gray-headed Kingfishers, 20 White-throated Bee-eaters, five Green Bee-eaters, four Eurasian Hoopoes, African Gray Hornbill, four Arabian Woodpeckers, three Black-crowned Tchagras another species that is regularly seen but one I have failed to locate myself up until now. Khalifah also saw Pale Crag-Martin, three Barn Swallows, four White-spectacled Bulbuls, three Abyssinian White-eyes, four Arabian Babblers, Gambaga Flycatcher, five Black Scrub-Robins, Blackstart, six Violet-backed Starlings, six Nile Valley Sunbirds, five Shining Sunbirds and two African Silverbills. Khalifa has very kindly allowed me to use some of his excellent photographs below for which I thank him.
White-throated Kingfisher
White-throated Bee-eater
Violet-backed Starling
Violet-backed Starling