Birds of Saudi Arabia: Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak

Whilst birding in the Taif area for the weekend of 3-4 Junly 2015 Phil Roberts and I went to the Maysaan area about 130 kilometres south of Taif. There are a few good looking valleys with fields and trees in this area and around Bani Saad and this was good looking habitat for Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak. Although we had seen the species on our previous visit to Taif in January 2015 we did not get good views and no photographs were taken so we particularly wanted to see this species again. As a result we got to Bani Saad before it was properly light and spent most of the day checking suitable areas of habitat looking for the species. We managed to find a number of good looking valleys with fields and trees and one of these we were lucky enough to find three Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeaks. At least one was an adult and one a juvenile with the adult seen feeding the youngster on a few occasions. The birds were quite flighty and moved a number of times and never allowed close views but a few photographs were obtained that although small in the picture were sharp and usable. The birds were initially located by their odd contact calls and stayed high in the trees, occasionally out of sight completely. They moved up the valley often flying some distance between trees, following an adult that was searching for food for the juvenile. Plenty of other species were seen in this valley including Long-billed Pipits, Arabian Wheatears, Little Rock Thrushes, Little Swift, Red-breasted Wheatear and three Bruce’s Green Pigeons.