A very early morning trip to Judah in mid-January saw Phil Roberts and I finding eleven Eastern Morning Wheatears and three White-crowned Wheatears. These limestone escarpments are a very good place in winter to see both species and the below photographs were obtained. The White-crowned Wheatear was seen in the middle of a pivot irrigation filed a very strange place to locate one, but it was some distance away. Amazingly as soon as it had been seen it flew and came straight towards us landing only a few metres away. Unfortunately, the sun was not in a good position but some reasonable photos were taken. Eastern mooring Wheatear is quite a specialty of the Arabian Peninsula and is bird sought after by the big birding groups who occasionally visit Bahrain where the species can be seen. Numbers in Saudi Arabia are much higher and easier to see but visiting restrictions to the country have made seeing them more difficult, although it is now possible to obtain tourist visas so anyone really interested can now can and look for them here.
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| Eastern Morning Wheatear |
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| White-crowned Wheatear |
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| White-crowned Wheatear |
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| White-crowned Wheatear |
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| White-crowned Wheatear |