Wadi Juwa

The last major stop on last weekend's trip to the Jizan area was Wadi Juwa which is alternatively also written as Wadi Jawwah or even Wadi Giwa.

The Giwa spelling is used on the local road sign which is important as it would otherwise have been difficult for Lou Regenmorter and I to find. This is even though the turning is right next to Lake Maliki.

African grey hornbill in Wadi Juwa

Wadi Juwa is a recommended birding venue for several reasons. First and foremost it is the place in Saudi Arabia with the highest density of helmeted guineafowl. This is due to protection by the local Emir. 

Lou managed to see them at Lake Maliki but I didn't so I was keen to go there for the guineafowl alone.

Wadi Juwa

It is a rare north-south wadi in south west Saudi Arabia. Most are west-east. I don't know whether this affects the bird life but it is also apparently the best place to gabar goshawk. Dark chanting goshawk can be found here too but it has a wider distribution. Tawny eagle had been reported here as well.

Well we didn't see any goshawks clearly enough to identify though there was a goshawk- like bird over the al Giwa district at the bottom end of the wadi. It was probably one of the two goshawks but we can't claim it.

We had more success with helmeted guineafowl when a flock dropped in near where we were walking. Without their flight movement we may not have seen any.

helmeted guineafowl

And we were lucky enough to see a tawny eagle.

tawny eagle

The wadi had a high number of both Abyssinian roller and African grey hornbill as well as the ubiquitous Ruepells weaver. This is also a good place to see Arabian warbler. These are all resident. However one migrant caught my eye as we also saw two masked shrike.


While most go on to east Africa to winter, some stay in South west Saudi Arabia and Yemen for the season.

masked shrike

Together the helmeted guineafowl and tawny eagle made my Saudi list reach 270 species with 5 additions over the weekend as a whole.


A list of birds seen over the Jizan weekend compiled by Lou Regenmorter

There are 107 or 108 species depending on whether yellow-billed kite is counted as a full or sub species.

Arabian Babbler	Long Legged Buzzard
Little Green Bee-eater	Marsh Harrier
Blackstart	Osprey
Brown Booby	Tawny Eagle
White-spectacled Bulbul	Brown Necked Raven
Ortolan Bunting	Abyssinian Roller
Zitting Cisticola	Isabelline (Daurian) Shrike,
European Coot	Masked Shrike
White-browed Coucal	Asian grey shrike (aucheri)
House Crow	African Silverbill
African Collared Dove	Common Snipe
European Turtle Dove	Arabian Golden Sparrow
Laughing Dove	House Sparrow
Namaqua Dove	Eurasian Spoonbill
Rock Dove	Stonechat
Greater Flamingo	Nile Valley Sunbird
Little Grebe	Barn Swallow
Helmeted Guineafowl	Alpine Swift
Sooty Gull	Pallid Swift
Grey Heron	Palm Swift
Little Egret	Caspian Tern
Purple Heron	Gull-billed Tern
Squacco Heron	Whiskered Tern
Striated Heron	White-winged Tern
Western Cattle Egret	Black Bush Robin
Western Reef Heron	Bluethroat
Hoopoe	Bar-tailed Godwit
African Grey Hornbill	Black-winged Stilt
Glossy Ibis	Common Greenshank
Collared Kingfisher	Common Redshank
Sociable Lapwing	Common Sandpiper
White-tailed Lapwing	Curlew Sandpiper
Black-crowned Sparrow Lark	Dunlin
Crested Lark	Eurasian Curlew
Desert Lark	Green Sandpiper
Hoopoe Lark	Little Stint
Singing Bush Lark	Ruddy Turnstone
Pale Crag Martin	Ruff
Moorhen	Terek Sandpiper
Common Myna	Oystercatcher
Great White Pelican	Wimbrel
Pink Backed Pelican	Citrine Wagtail
Tawny Pipit	White Wagtail
Crab Plover	Yellow Wagtail
Greater Sand Plover	Arabian Warbler
Grey Plover	Chiffchaff
Kentish Plover	Graceful Prinia
Lesser Sand Plover	Lesser Whitethroat
Little Ringed Plover	Sedge Warbler
Black Kite (and yellow billed kite)	Arabian Waxbill
Booted Eagle	Rueppells Weaver
Common Kestrel	Isabelline Wheatear
Greater Spotted Eagle	Pied Wheatear
	Greater short toed lark