Upland Muhayil

At dawn on Saturday, I headed out to an upland area near Muhayil whose exact location I won't disclose for reasons I will explain later.

On arrival there some of the birds were different than those seen early in the weekend at slightly lower altitude and on average denser vegetation.

blackstart

This was the only place I observed blackstart all weekend.

the valley

My main birding at this higher location was along a shaded gorge into the hillside.

kestrel

The cliff sides were peppered with rock dove holes. Rock dove were plentiful.

In these environments, it is no surprise to see kestrel and two were soon sighted flying high above the gorge.

fan tailed raven

Fan tailed raven are common birds of the hills and mountains of south west Saudi Arabia. They were also present though they made photography difficult.

barbary falcon

After a couple of minutes scanning the hillside while resting I suddenly realised a barbary falcon was perched right in the middle of some of the rock dove holes high up a cliff side. Given the value of falcons in this part of the world I am not disclosing the exact location.

second view of barbary falcon

I posted some pictures on Birdforum to check whether it was a barbary falcon or peregrine as some of the characteristics were uncertain.

After much discussion it appears that this barbary falcon does not closely match the pictures in the main regional guide nor the "standard bird" from sub Saharan Africa.  Nevertheless it is a barbary falcon.

It doesn't have a rufous wash behind the ear and the head has no rufous either. The moustache is wider than the "standard". The white cheek is smaller than "standard" and there is more blue between the cheek and the eye.

However the moustache is narrower than a typical peregrine, the underparts have very little barring at all and the pink wash rules out many types of peregrine.

Furthermore it looks almost identical to a picture of a barbary falcon I found from near Eilat, Israel. 

black bush robin

On the way to the upland area, I managed better photos of birds seen elsewhere in Muhayil over the weekend. These included black bush robin.

white throated bee-eater

The wires were full of white throated bee-eater.

Nile valley sunbird

Nile valley sunbird is ubiquitous in Muhayil.

Arabian babbler

I had been seeing Arabian babbler all weekend but only on this trip did I get good photos.

African silverbill

African silverbill was also obliging.

With the early start, this trip was undertaken before the heat of the day. That might explain why it was the only time I saw any passage birds making their way north. These were rufous bush robin, eastern olivaceous warbler and common whitethroat. 

Overall the weekend was another success. The barbary falcon was probably the top sighting. Below is a list of all birds seen and where.

Species	Wadi Haly	North Muhayil	Upland Muhayil
Sand partridge	x
Helmeted guineafowl		x
Hamerkop	x
Black crowned night heron	x
Squacco heron	x
Kestrel			x
Barbary falcon			x
Little grebe	x
Rock dove/feral pigeon		x	x
African collared dove		x
Laughing dove	x	x
Namaqua dove		x
White browed coucal		x
Little swift	x
Grey headed kingfisher	x
White throated bee-eater	x	x	x
Little green bee-eater	x
Arabian babbler	x	x	x
Fan tailed raven			x
White spectacled bulbul	x	x	x
Desert lark	x		x
Pale crag martin		x
Graceful prinia		x	x
Eastern olivaceous  warbler			x
Common whitethroat			x
Rufous tailed bush robin			x
Black bush robin	x	x	x
Blackstart			x
Nile valley sunbird	x	x	x
House sparrow		x	x
Ruepells weaver	x	x	x
African silverbill	x	x	x