20 May 2017

Blandford's Lark in the Talea'a Valley - Abha


The Talea’a Valley near Abha is in the Asir mountains in southwest Saudi Arabia and is a large upland wadi with stony ground and acacia trees growing in the bottom. The valley is hot and dry and any area of water attracts a steady stream of birds in the summer coming down to drink so are worth looking at if found so a small wet area near a dam looked promising especially as we had seen Blandfords Lark in this area last year. After a little searching we managed to located about twenty birds feeding in the stony areas and song flighting as well. We were there at just after midday so the light was very harsh making photography difficult but I took a few reasonable photos of this difficult to see species.
Blandfords Lark

Blandfords Lark

Blandfords Lark

Blandfords Lark