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12 June 2016

Streaked Scrub Warbler - Thanoumah

Whilst birding the Tanoumah area I came across a pair of Streaked Scrub Warblers on some large boulders well away from the road through Al Mehfar Park in Tanoumah. The birds were mainly keeping in the shade but on one occasion came out in the sun on top of a large rock. This allowed me to take my best photos so far of the species some of which are shown below. The Streaked Scrub Warbler is a regionally common breeding resident in all western areas of the Kingdom. In Central Arabia it is absent from the east of the Tuwaiq escarpment and north of a line from Tabuk to Buraydah but occurs elsewhere. It is very rare in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. There are three subspecies in Saudi Arabia: S. i. inquieta that occurs in Egypt, Israel and northern Arabia east to the Persian Gulf. S. i. grisea that occurs in western Saudi Arabia, eastern Yemen and Oman and S. i. buryi that occurs in southern Saudi Arabia and western Yemen. S. i. grisea is darker than nominate, but greyer above, with less marked streaking; S. i. buryi is darker still, and very heavily streaked.