Whilst birding the stony Desert area around Sakaka with Phil Roberts and Nader Fahd, we came across a wheatear at the bottom of the escarpment on the stony ground. It was a black and white wheatear, which Nader pointed out had more extensive black on the throat that the nearby Eastern Morning Wheatear and on closer inspection in became apparent it was a male Hooded Wheatear. These birds are quite distinct with their large size and long thin bill but this single bird was hard to judge the size on. They are a scarce but widespread bird throughout the region and are most often encountered in barren, remote stretches. They are a rare but widespread breeding resident of Central Arabia and also occur at Najran in the south to the Northern Hejaz. This was the first time I have seen a male of this species with all previous records having been females. We also saw two Eastern Morning Wheatear and a few White-crowned Wheatears in the same area.
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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 |
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| Hooded Wheatear - male |
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| Hooded Wheatear - male |
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| Hooded Wheatear - male |
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| Hooded Wheatear - male |