Birding Saudi’s Southwest—Part Two Targeted Birding Over Three Short Visits (Oct – Dec) Highlights: the most recent sightings all came Philby’s Partridge from the Raydah Preserve, so my plan was to get there super early and Arabian Partridge hike down to a small patch of African Olive Pigeon remnant terracing among the Pallas’s Gull junipers and acacias where they had Hamerkop been encountered before. Squacco Heron Black Kite Eurasian Griffon Vulture Arabian Spotted Eagle-Owl Arabian Scops-Owl Little Owl Arabian Woodpecker Green Bee-eater Masked Shrike Eurasian Crag Martin The road through the Raydah Preserve Asir Magpie viewed from the escarpment edge Brown Woodland-Warbler As noted in part one of my trip Abyssinian White-eye report, accessing the Raydah Yemen Warbler Preserve can be tricky as all but Arabian Warbler residents of the villages below are forbidden from passing through the Arabian Babbler gates. However, it’s “possible” to get Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush in—and leave without incident—if Arabian Wheatear you arrive before 4:30 AM. Well, on Red-breasted Wheatear this particular morning, as I Yemen Thrush attempted to walk through the gate, the guard was awake and talking to Arabian Serin two young men who apparently Arabian Waxbill wanted to borrow a phone to call for Yemen Linnet a ride back to the city. Dogs barking betrayed my presence and he saw me. He called me over and, try as I October 26 – 27, 2018—Abha might to persuade him to let me walk into the preserve, he refused A weekend work trip to the Abha my access, saying I’d need area in late October gave me an permission from the Saudi Wildlife opportunity to follow up on species I Authority. With nothing else to do missed during my visit in August. In but walk away, I decided to explore particular, I was hoping to find along the escarpment for other African Olive Pigeon, a species points to descend. That’s how I infrequently encountered along the discovered Jebel Al Muhareth. wooded slopes and ravines of the Asir escarpment. In the Abha area, Non-Business Use Like my Facebook page—Saudi Birding! Subscribe on YouTube—Graskew1975! Birding Saudi’s Southwest—Part Two Targeted Birding Over Three Short Visits (Oct – Dec) ridgeline, a bird flew up in the wooded ravine some distance below and perched out on a bare branch. I put my scope on it and sure enough it was an African Olive Pigeon. I watched it for a while through the scope before trying to digiscope some reasonable record shots. Shortly after, that bird settled on the ground further down the ravine, and given how short on time I was I decided to begin the climb back up. On the way, I scared up another two The view from Jebel Al Muhareth at sunrise birds from the ravine, immatures I drove south along the escarpment this time. Unlike the first, they road from the entrance to Raydah weren’t as amenable to sticking Preserve. I was heading to a place around for a photo op, and soon took visible in Google Maps that appeared off down the mountain. Still there to show a dirt road descending the isn’t anything quite like setting upon mountain through relatively dense a target and successfully tracking it woods. Sure enough, once I arrived, down, especially given how that’s exactly what I found. I parked unfamiliar I was with the area. just off the pavement and began hiking down the dirt road through mostly tall, wizened-looking junipers populating the upward slope of the escarpment. The track was rough and loose in places, but not nearly as steep as the paved road at Raydah. A 4WD vehicle would be a must, but at least one could visit at any time without hassle, which can’t be said for Raydah. Looking out over the wooded ravine at Jebel After the first switchback I had a Al Muhareth quick flyby of a dark, long-winged, About a third of the way back to the long-tailed pigeon, getting my heart top of the mountain, a local farmer pumping, but unfortunately it was stopped and let me ride with him the too brief to say African Olive for rest of the way to the top. I was sure. Still further down I flushed super grateful as it would’ve been a another from a treetop and again slog and even more so when he only caught a short glimpse in flight invited me to have breakfast with as it clapped off further south. him and his neighbor. In the short However, just where the track time I spent with them I learned a lot straightened, running a westward of local names for places and the Non-Business Use Like my Facebook page—Saudi Birding! Subscribe on YouTube—Graskew1975! Birding Saudi’s Southwest—Part Two Targeted Birding Over Three Short Visits (Oct – Dec) animals living there, the former November 30 – December 1, abundance of birds in that area prior 2018—Tanomah and Abha to a new paved road and the power lines running electricity to the The following month I had the villages below, as well as the local supreme pleasure of guiding a friend struggle against the roving hordes of from the UAE on his first birding Hamadryas Baboons, raiding their tour of the Asir hotspots. As it was farms and eating their crops. I also winter, we couldn’t track down all of learned that he had brought Rock his targets, but we did manage to Hyrax from Yemen to release near find most of the endemics on his list, his farm at the base of the with the most productive birding escarpment, which thrilled me with around the town of Tanomah—the the prospect of finding Verreaux’s heart of Asir Magpie country! Eagle at some point in the future. First stop that Friday was at Dahna If time is short and hassle isn’t your Waterfall before dawn. After thing, then Jebel Al Muhareth is a adjusting to the noise of the baboons good alternative to birding Raydah rousing on the cliff, we headed into Escarpment. Conceivably one could the wadi bottom with our flashlights. make it all the way to the wadi Just at the bottom, there is a small, bottom below and you’re likely to tight copse of trees from where we encounter most, if not all, of the heard African Scops-Owl. Prowling same species. I also turned up during beneath the limbs, we soon found that first visit Steppe Eagle, Steppe the bird, posing obligingly for both Buzzard, European Bee-eater, of us to get shots. Less than 30 Fan-tailed Raven, Brown minutes into his trip and my friend Woodland-Warbler, Yemen got his first target bird. Warbler, Abyssinian White-eye, African Stonechat, Arabian We made our way slowly further Wheatear, Yemen Thrush, Grey down the wadi as we waited for the Wagtail, and Yemen Linnet. sun to rise. Just as its light was striking the tops of the hills on the The first morning was the most other side of the wadi, the distinctive productive; however, a short stop at call of Asir Magpie sounded from Abha Dam on the way back into that direction and we caught sight of Abha produced a handful of three flying down into the wadi and waterbirds, including Eurasian settling a short distance away. Coot, and a return visit to Wadi Al Second target down! Tale’a the next day turned up some good raptors, including more Steppe Soon, with the sun warming the air Eagle and a Long-legged Buzzard, and the birds becoming more active, as well as two troops of Arabian we picked up several more species, Babbler, Little Rock-thrush, Blue including Steppe Eagle, Arabian Rock Thrush, Arabian Wheatear, Woodpecker (a fairly shy female), Red-breasted Wheatear, Brown Woodland-Warbler, Tristram’s Starling, Palestine Yemen Warbler, Arabian Warbler, Sunbird, Long-billed Pipit, Abyssinian White-eye, Black Arabian Serin, and Yemen Linnet. Redstart, Arabian Wheatear, many Non-Business Use Like my Facebook page—Saudi Birding! Subscribe on YouTube—Graskew1975! Birding Saudi’s Southwest—Part Two Targeted Birding Over Three Short Visits (Oct – Dec) Song and Yemen Thrush, as well as magpie, which are listed as the Arabian Shining Sunbird. endangered by the IUCN Red List. We then headed to the dam above We ultimately only explored a short the Dahna Waterfall as I had never stretch of the wadi, starting about been there and the place looked mid-way down its length, as well as promising as well. Here we picked the adjacent agricultural terraces up Hamerkop, Grey Heron and and low rocky mounds, but there Eurasian Moorhen. Further up the were a good number of birds about, wadi is a longer stretch of well- including small feeding groups of vegetated wadi than found at Dahna, Yemen and Song Thrush, a few which led us to explore the area the more Asir Magpie to the day’s following morning in the hopes of count, and our first brief glimpses of turning up Arabian Waxbill. a covey of Philby’s Partridges. The However, after the short stop at the terraces near the wadi also dam, we headed west along the road produced yet another target—the and stopped at a village at the very Arabian Red-breasted Wheatear. edge of the escarpment. From here we saw the first Eurasian Griffon Vultures of the trip, but the real highlight here was another group of Asir Magpie hanging around the village itself.