Phil Roberts and I went to Taif in the hope of
seeing Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak. We went to a wadi where we had located
birds in summer 2015 and hoped to get some better photographs than we managed
the previous year. The area we went to
was about 130 kilometres south of Taif where there are a few good looking
valleys with fields and trees. We got to Bani Saad just after first 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 a juvenile Arabian
Golden-winged Grosbeak. The bird was initially located by its odd contact calls
and stayed in a dead tree. We managed to get a few photos before the bird flew
off. More searching was conducted and we found a second bird some distance from
the first perched on some overhead wires but no photos were obtained of this
individual. Plenty of other species were seen in this valley including Arabian
Woodpecker, Long-billed Pipits, Arabian Wheatears, Little Rock Thrushes, Little
Swift and three Bruce’s Green Pigeons.
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| Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak |
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| Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak |
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| Arabian Serin |
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| Arabian Wheatear |