Farewell to Jizan and welcome to the updated list

There have been two birds which have defied full identification since I got back from Jizan 5 days ago. Both were seen in open woodland part way up wadi ar Rayth, 100 kilometres north east of Jizan.

 probable Isabelline wheatear

Both birds have been shown to friends and experienced birders as well as posting on the bird identification page of BirdForum. The above bird has been variously called including a hippolais warbler and female hooded wheatear. The most consistent answer has been Isabelline wheatear. However no true consensus has been reached.

unknown chat

The second bird was seen very close to the first one in the same semi-wooded area. This has proved even more problematic than the first. Although it looks superficially like a blackstart this is seen as unlikely as it seems to have a dark bib. I personally support the view of one of the region's experts who thinks it is a young wheatear of some sort.

second view of unknown chat

I have expended enough time and energy on these birds and have reluctantly decided I can live without knowing! Furthermore, I have just returned from birding my local patch at Al Hayer near Riyadh where the passage plus last night's rain have made for some very interesting birding today. I'll start blogging about them tomorrow. 

In the meantime he is the definitive list from  last weekend. S means it's the first time on my Saudi list while L means its a lifer for me.

List of birds seen during the weekend of April 5th/6th in Jizan province

Green bee-eater	Lesser sand plover S,L
Blackstart	Brown necked raven
Yellow vented bulbul	Fan tailed raven
House crow	Common redshank S
African collared dove	Common redstart
Laughing dove	Black bush robin
Namaqua dove	Rufous bush robin
Dunlin	Abyssinian roller S
Greater flamingo	Common sandpiper
Bar tailed godwit  S	Curlew sandpiper S
Common greenshank S	Masked shrike
Lesser black backed gull S	African silverbill
Slender billed gull	House sparrow
Sooty gull  S, L	Tristram’s starling
White eyed gull	Black winged stilt
Striated heron	Barn swallow
Grey heron	African palm swift S
Western reef heron	Crag martin
Kestrel	African rock martin
Black kite	Caspian tern S
Black crowned sparrow lark S,L	Whiskered tern
Crested lark	White cheeked tern S,L
Hoopoe	Ruddy turnstone
Common myna	Grey wagtail
Oystercatcher S	Yellow wagtail
Pink backed pelican S	Willow warbler
Rock pigeon	Arabian warbler S,L
Grey plover S	Isabelline wheatear
Pacific golden plover S,L	Desert wheatear
Ringed plover	Pied wheatear
Crab plover	Ruppells weaver
Kentish plover	Whimbrel  S
	African grey hornbill  S