Larger land birds near Jizan

There was so much material for my blog produced when I went to Jizan with Mansur Al Fahad two weekends ago.

Today's blog looks at some of the larger land birds found around Lake Maliki. 

 

Abyssinian roller. Cropped from a photo by Mansur Al Fahad

 Abyssinian roller is a beautiful bird and can usually be easily seen on a wire as in this case. This one was on the main road up Wadi Jizan near Lake Maliki.

African grey hornbill. Cropped from a photo by Mansur Al Fahad 

This time, an African grey hornbill was also seen on a wire (close to the roller) but this is a little less common. I usually see them in trees.

 Arabian babbler

Arabian babbler is common around Lake Maliki and indeed all over Jizan province. Two sub species occur side by side. The majority had a yellow bill but this one had the dark bill like those seen in central Arabia.

White browed coucal

The final featured bird is white browed coucal. This bird was seen in two areas, one place was in the bushes at the side of the Lake. The other was a dry wadi nearer Abu Arish. Unfortunately it evaded good photography. This was a lifer for me and one of ten additions to my Saudi list while in Jizan.