Different silverbills

I have just cleared some space on my camera's memory card because it was getting quite full. Luckily I looked before I deleted.


The pictures I was deleting from the card (I've got them on my hard drive anyway) were from my Eid trip to the Jeddah area. 

The silverbills in that trip in the compound I was staying in were Indian silverbill. The ones in Riyadh are Indian silverbill too. However the ones seen outside Jeddah in Wadi Uranah south of Mecca were not!  I misidentified them at the time.

African silverbill at Wadi Uranah

Looking at the pictures from Wadi Uranah, they don't have any white rump like the Indian birds. This is the best way I can tell them apart and it should be obvious! 

Indian silverbill seen at the Intercontinental hotel, Riyadh

Even at this poor angle you can see the white rump in the Riyadh birds.

another African silverbill at Wadi Uranah

I had originally planned to go to Najran in south west Saudi Arabia this weekend but circumstances caused a late cancellation.  Ironically African silverbill was one of the species I would almost certainly have added to my species list for Saudi Arabia anyway.