Warblers and more on Jebel Lawz

As I have already trailed, Jebel Lawz above about 1800 metres is so temperate that Viv Wilson and I saw several birds which are not know to summer in Saudi Arabia. One of these which we saw was  featured in a previous blog and is black headed bunting.

Garden warbler

Three warblers which we also observed were easily identified. These are blackcap, garden warbler and eastern olivaceous warbler. We strongly suspect that at least blackcap has bred there this summer. We saw 5 of them in a small area. One was an adult male (with black cap) and the other four were either juveniles or female (with brown caps).

Blackcap and garden warbler

A fourth warbler caused more identification difficulties mostly because all the pictures were obscured by twigs. The bird just wouldn't behave for the camera. It is however definitely a lesser whitethroat. Like all the other warblers this species should be further north in June. It's outside its known summer range. 

Of the four warblers, the garden warbler in particular is way south of where it is documented to be. The far north of Turkey is its closest book distribution in summer.

lesser whitethroat obscured by a twig

Ironically, right next to the place where the warblers were concentrated were a flock of sand partridge. Just as the warblers were further south than their supposed range, the sand partridge were towards the highest altitude of their "book range".

male sand partridge

I got the best and most prolonged  views I have had of sand partridge in Saudi Arabia here.

sand partridge climbing

In a near-by wadi we saw our only Sinai rosefinch of the day too. This was another species which we should have more likely seen further down but didn't.

Sinai rosefinch

If there was any disappointment at all with this mountain trip it was a lack of birds of prey towards the top. We had to make do with frequent sightings of fan-tailed raven.  Another black bird, Tristram's starling also made appearances.

Fan-tailed raven

At lower levels, birds were more scarce. The two highlights were three trumpeter finch and a pair of scrub warbler.

Scrub warbler

Otherwise, by far the most frequent birds were desert lark and black crowned wheatear.

Desert lark

One kestrel at low altitude was our only bird of prey seen on Jebel Lawz.

white crowned wheatear

Overall this was an eventful day out. I will be looking for routes to other parts of the mountain range and would like to return to this area in the future.

I am grateful to Viv Wilson for driving there, his company and his photography. All the pictures on this blog are his except the white crowned wheatear. 

Below is a summary of all the species seen over the weekend:

	Jebel Lawz  above 1800m	Jebel Lawz below 1800m	Tabuk city	Duba coast	Tabuk-Duba road
Sand partridge	x
Grey heron				x
Kestrel		x
Moorhen			x
Black winged stilt			x
Spur winged lapwing			x
Common redshank				x
Marsh sandpiper				x
Common greenshank			x
White eyed gull				x
Caspian tern				x
Lesser crested tern				x
Whiskered tern			x
Rock dove		x	x	x	x
Collared dove	x		x
Laughing dove	x		x	x
Namaqua dove				x
Pallid swift					x
Little green bee-eater				x
Asian grey shrike (aucheri)					x
Brown necked raven		x	x		x
Fan tailed raven	x
White eared bulbul			x
Yellow vented bulbul				x
Crested lark					x
Desert lark	x	x			x
Pale crag martin	x
Scrub warbler		x
Graceful prinia			x	x
Mangrove reed warbler				x
Eastern olivaceous warbler	x
Blackcap	x
Garden warbler	x
Lesser whitethroat	x
Common myna			x
Tristrams starling	x
White crowned wheatear	x	x			x
House sparrow			x	x	x
Trumpeter finch		x
Sinai rosefinch	x
Striolated bunting	x
Black headed bunting	x