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03 September 2022

Little Owl – Al Namas

Whilst birding the Al Namas area of the Asir Mountains, 150 km north of Abha, we found an adult Little Owl Athene noctua sitting in a dry-stone wall calling softly to a nearby bird that we could not see. The owl disappeared into a hole in the wall after a few minutes and then a young bird flew across in front of us to another wall before entering a hole. It came back out and the photos I took show it is a young bird proving they breed in the area. This area of dry stone walls around Al Namas is excellent for Little Owl but their plumage matches exactly the rock walls making them very hard to see if not sitting on top of the wall itself.