Birds of Saudi Arabia: Ringing in the southwest

I recently spent two days ringing in the Tanoumah area with Chris Boland and Abdullah Alsuhaibany and trapped many species I have not ringed previously. This area is part of the Asir Mountains and is an endemic hotspot for animals, plants and birds and olds a number of African species as well. As a result, we caught many birds, 70 on the first day and 24 the next morning. Some of them only occur in the southwest such as Arabian Warbler, Brown Woodland Warbler, Gambaga Flycatcher and Little Rock Thrush. The recently proposed new Arabian Endemic species Arabian Green Bee-eater was also caught as were the more widespread Eurasian Hoopoe, Palestine Sunbird and Ruppell’s Weaver. Ringing was pleasant temperature wise but difficult for the nets as it was in acacia scrub with plenty of thorns and with large flying beetles that became caught in the net and then tried to chew their way out. We set eight nets in various locations with all catching birds. The nets were set in the open, between open acacia cover and in denser juniper trees. Ringing was much easier for me than normal due to the excellent help of Abdullah and Chris.