The spectacled (or yellow-vented bulbul) was possibly the easiest "lifer" for me to see on the whole trip. It's noisy and common. It is happy close to man. It is no surprise I saw a flock in Dana Village and frequently wherever I went thereafter.
spectacled or yellow-vented bulbul.
The arabian babbler was much more difficult. I was told by people who had seen it the day before where to find it. It was to be found in the next valley south of Wadi Dana.
You can get to this by walking along the road out of Dana until the forestry commission house and then descending into the wide valley below.
terrain holding arabian babbler, near Wadi Dana
Unfortunately after three hours searching I failed to see one. My consolation is that if I hadn't walked that way I wouldn't have seen the kurdish wheatear that I blogged about last week or seen so many common redstart apparently wintering.
spectacled bulbul, southern turkey
My confidence was n't improved when I got back to Benghazi and compared notes on holidays with my friend and fellow teacher, Wendy. She had been on a walking holiday in southern Turkey. She asked me what the birds were at her hotel. They were, of course, spectacled bulbul. At least it wasn't possible for her to see arabian babbler -they aren't there.
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