SW Saudi Arabia trip report- part 5 Ash Shafa, Taif

The city of Taif itself and its immediate surrounds are not great birding territory. The only obvious birds in the city are laughing dove, rock dove, white spectacled bulbul, house sparrow and common myna. It's only the last bird that added to our trip list.

Taif is at an altitude of about 1850 metres. However near-by is the mountain of Ash Shafa which reaches 700 metres higher. 

Brian had visited it before but I soon discovered that the birding became much more interesting as soon as we had risen 200 metres or more although we found the very top surprisingly barren of birds.

The area is considerably greener than the city itself. There are several wadis - both narrow and wide, steep and shallow crossing the main upward road.

This was the only place we saw more than one type of pipit. Wintering tawny pipit were very scarce on the trip because it was so early in the season. We saw just one at As Shafa. 

long billed pipit

However As Shafa was also the only place we positively identified the resident long-billed pipit. Identification was briefly hampered by the fact that the pipit was olive backed here but the guide book picture shown it grey backed. The text did however confirm the olive variant and pictures of east African birds are a perfect match.

Tree pipit

The third pipit and the most common at the time was actually migrant tree pipit.

In the same area as the tree pipit we saw an olive tree warbler, a lifer for me and further south than the marked distribution in our guide book. However the identification was clear even based on size alone. 

young gambaga flycatcher

This was a good place to compare the resident gambaga flycatcher with the passage spotted flycatcher.

spotted flycatcher

Some of the Arabian endemics and Afro-tropical species were present despite the fact we were relatively far north.

Abyssinian white-eye

Two Abyssinian white-eye gave me a good show.

female Arabian wheatear

A female Arabian wheatear lingered a long while next to a water trough. I was surprised how rufous its head looked.

Striolated warbler

At the same water trough we got prolonged views of striolated bunting and I got my best pictures of them for the trip.

whinchat

No resident African stonechat or migrant eastern stonechat were seen. However the second whinchat of the trip made a long appearance.

steppe buzzard

Finally, once again the area was a little disappointing for birds of prey. Only kestrel and one passage steppe buzzard were seen. 

It's one of the most significant thinking points I have been left with now this very interesting and absorbing trip has ended.

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Below is a list of all 92 species seen on the four day trip in chronological order. L means it was a lifer while S means it was an addition to my Saudi list.

Taif to Baha – 18th August	Baha and south – 19th August
Laughing dove	Red-backed shrike
Striolated bunting       L, S	Scrub warbler
Pale rock sparrow	Common redstart
Rock dove	Steppe buzzard
Little green bee-eater	Arabian waxbill     L, S
House sparrow	Yemen thrush
White spectacled bulbul	Common nightingale
Namaqua dove	Violet-backed starling  L, S
Little egret	Tristram’s starling
Common sandpiper	Bruce’s green pigeon   L, S
Green sandpiper	Dusky turtle dove
Wood sandpiper	Black bush robin
Greenshank	Marsh warbler    S
Little stint	Common whitethroat
Glossy ibis    S	Baha to Taif – 20th August
Whiskered tern	Little rock thrush
Little swift    L, S	Red rumped swallow
Barn swallow	Tawny pipit
Collared pratincole	Daurian shrike
Arabian babbler	Shining sunbird     L, S
Eastern olivaceous warbler	Arabian partridge
African silverbill	House martin
Palestine sunbird	Turkestan shrike
Arabian wheatear	Whinchat
Kestrel	Chiffchaff
Fan-tailed raven	Cuckoo
Semi collared flycatcher   S	Taif area – 21st August
Southern grey shrike	Common myna
Steppe grey shrike	European crag martin
Hoopoe	Long billed pipit
Rufous bush robin	Tree pipit
Thrush nightingale    S	Olive tree warbler   L, S
Gambaga flycatcher   L,S	Squacco heron
Crested lark	Little ringed plover
Desert lark	Ruddy turnstone
African crag martin	Blue cheeked bee-eater
Pallid swift	Woodchat shrike
White crowned wheatear
Alpine swift
Swift
Blackstart
White throated robin
Arabian woodpecker
Yemen linnet
Lesser whitethroat
Short toed lark
Yemen serin   L,S
Long legged buzzard
Brown necked raven
Masked shrike
Ruepells weaver
European bee-eater
African collared dove
Grey wagtail
Abyssinian white-eye
Cinnamon-breasted bunting   S