Some good birds – Talea Valley

Whilst birding the Talea Valley in late June, an area of the Asir mountains, north of Abha, I photographed a pair of Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos doraeat. The Arabian Woodpecker is an uncommon but widespread resident of the south-west highlands, where birds are usually associated with acacia trees but can be found in a variety of wooded habitats. It is classified as near threatened and the population is considered to be relatively small and is decline owing to cutting and lopping of trees for charcoal, firewood and fodder, in parts of its range. They are often located by their loud call. Also in the valley was an African Pipit, which probably breed in this area as we see them every visit to the valley as we do Rufous-capped Lark, of which we only saw two on this visit.

Arabian Woodpecker

Arabian Woodpecker

Arabian Woodpecker

African Pipit

African Pipit

Rufous-capped Lark

Common Zebra Blue – Abha

Whilst birdwatching the Abha area in the Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, I came across a number of small butterflies using a damp area in a dry wadi bottom. These butterflies were mainly Common Zebra Blue Leptotes pirithousa butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is also called Lang's Short-tailed Blue. It is a small butterfly with a wingspan of 21–29 mm in males and 24–30 mm in females. The uppersides of the wings are purple bluish in males, bluish-brown in female. The undersides are dark beige striped with white lines. The hindwings show marginal orange and black spots and two small tails. These butterflies fly from February to November depending on the location and are regular migrants.