An unnamed wadi north of Riyadh

On Friday on the way back from Rawdhat Khuraim and some 50 kilometres north east of Riyadh, Lou and I stopped off at a random small wadi. It was just off the main road. We were both interested in what we might see if anything.

This was a ten minute stop and we almost didn't do it justice. Nevertheless there was a selection of birds to be seen. Even here there were both house sparrow and rock pigeon. You simply cannot get away from these two.

woodchat shrike

This small cluster of bushes and the odd tree along the wadi managed to be temporary home for a woodchat shrike.

pied wheatear

Pied wheatear is commonplace at the moment over a very wide variety of habitats including in and near this wadi.

hoopoe

A pair of hoopoe were poking the earth for insects.

common redstart

In the one large tree in our part of this small wadi was yet another a common redstart. They are also proving to be a very common passage migrant. An awful lot of them must winter in South west Saudi Arabia and Yemen to supply this numbers I am seeing unless they cross over from east Africa.

chiffchaff

I have made a mental note to look at more small wadis. This chiffchaff didn't really have anywhere to hide. I suspect I might get good views of many warblers this way.

second view of chiffchaff