Lou finds a Goliath heron

Birding colleague and friend, Lou Regenmorter was down in Jizan last week for business. He did, however, have Thursday free to go birding. 

He tells me he spent a large amount of his time looking for the elusive spotted thick knee including in the Lake Maliki area. This species has evaded our current close network of birders since we started looking for it over the past year. 

Goliath heron through a spotting scope

Lou had more luck elsewhere at finding new species. He has told me about excellent coastal habitat just north of Jizan's north corniche which he recommends me to visit. However it was further up the coast in an area best approached by going directly west out of Sabya that Lou had his best find.

Here he saw his first Goliath heron (a bird which is missing from my Saudi list by the way).  Lou doesn't normally photograph but he tells me the bird was so well behaved he had chance to improvise.

Goliath heron in the distance

Armed only with a point-and-shoot camera and a spotting scope he managed to "digiscope" the bird. 

Otherwise the photos would all have been like the second picture (which incidentally gives a good indication of habitat).

Congratulations to Lou on his find and thanks to him for providing the information and pictures.