opisska
rabid twitcher
On a high note from seeing the Hornbill and the Roller, it was time to leave the lowlands for good before it gets unbearably hot again. On the ferry I talked to some locals and they spoke really well about some places on the way between the Jazan lake and Abha through the mountains, so I decided to put them on the itinerary. Going back this way is quite a bit longer than using the direct Jazan-Abha highway, but it's also far more interesting. Unlike around Tanomah and Abha, there is no sharp escarpment anymore this far south - instead, there is a large area of mountains going up and down before the inland plateau is reached. These mountains are jagged and scenic and they are traversed by just a few roads - those roads, while being paved, can be quite challenging to drive because they are really steep. I was joking that the only limit for the steepness here is that the asphalt has to solidify before it flows down during construction. Even with maximal engine braking with low gears, the brakes would still overheat and burn and I had to take breaks going down the hills. There were also thunderstorms and flash floods, causing water flowing across the roads - overall a surprisingly adventurous experience.
First, we drove up to Fayfa, which is a city built upon an absurdly steep hill, towering over a kilometer above its immediate surroundings. Its steepness makes it not easy to navigate, but the views are simply fantastic. It also brought a very surprising sighting - the only Yellow-billed Kite of the trip. In the lowlands, there were endless flocks of Black Kites, which we studied thoroughly, but there was not a single Yellow-billed Kite to see, despite many eBird records. And here, there was one single bird, yet it was the right one! Also a Shikra was briefly seen hunting around and a few typical mountain species were present in the gardens. From here we headed to Wadi Lajab, a well-known scenic spot, a sharp canyon in a rock similar to the area around Petra in Jordan. The area around the entrance had multiple African Grey Hornbills, surely the best spot for those we found. We wanted to continue for the evening to Jebel al Qahar, which is known for sightings of Dark Chanting Goshawks, but it was not really clear from the maps if that's in any way possible, as the site is far from the main road and very high up. At first, the nice paved road, winding around to keep the incline reasonable, looked promising, even though we had to drive carefully as there were thousands of fallen stones on it, no doubt the result of the recent storms. However at one point the road just ends with a roadblock - and for a good reason, because behind this roadblock is a huge landslide; in fact it's not even possible to walk any further as the landslide is steep and high. Truth to be told, even if the landslide were not there, the road also stops being paved at this point and it would probably not be possible to drive a sedan there anyway.
Next to the roadblock, there was a large parking space, so we decided to camp for the night. A few people arrived to look at the landslide, some of them looked like they are surveying the slope for further possible risks - and those later indicated to us to move further from the slope because they feared that some rocks could fall sooner than later. Before the night fell, a huge thunderstorm rolled in - we waited it out in the car, which was heavily rocked by the wind, then set up the tent when the weather calmed. After nightfall, we walked the road a bit, hearing African Scops-Owls and, a big surprise, Desert Owl, albeit very briefly. In the morning we were keen to see if we will make it back down - a single landslide or a bigger rockfall would have stranded us here, but we got lucky.
Getting back up to the plateau, we explored the Al Habalah area. A large park close to highway 15 (shown as Al Muruba'a National Park on eBird) became somewhat inadverently our home fro the night, after I left the lights on while waiting out the afternoon rain and drained the battery, but in the morning, a kind stranger jumpstarted the car. This incidentally led to our only sighting of a King Jird; the park, with its many acaccas also had a lot of Arabian Warblers. Unlike around Abha, this part of the escarpment edge is not so heavily developed and offers a lot of nice places to bird. We focused at the area recommended by |Gregory and the reports and after some searching found a large flock of Rufous-capped Larks at 18.07444, 42.85212. This was an interesting observation because we noticed the flock and then took a long time to find out what the birds were - even if there were maybe 50 birds, there were next to impossible to see when on the ground. Only by slowly following the flocks and gradually getting closer we managed to get a better look. The nearby park next to the road had Buff-breasted Wheatears.
We explored the area more, looking for African Pipit, to no avail - they are probably not present this time of the year. Al Jarrah National Park was fenced and locked, but the entrance area had yet another Buff-breasted Wheatear. Not far from there, a road leads down the escarpment and just before it plunges down, there is a nice area to hike a bit, producing a Peregrine Falcon, but, sadly, no Verreaux's Eagle. Back up north-east one finds the "tourist" area of Al Habalah, with a chairlift leading to a park below the escarpment (not in operation) and magnificent views of the steep cliffs - and also the only Yemen Serins of the trip.
On our way back to Ryiadh, we stopped at a dam in Wadi Al Jouf (18.1312, 43.0027) where we saw a Red-knobbed Coot on a nest, possibly the first breeding record for KSA. Driving through a varied and scenic desert landscape, we got all the way to Sultanah and then took hwy 175 south-east, which cuts through the edge of the Empty Quarter. This area fulfills the promise and is, indeed, quite empty, but the scenery of the huge dune fields in the sunset was absolutely stupendous. We camped at 19.95876, 45.37754 (there are no side roads accessible with a sedan around Sultanah due to all the sand) and woke up to the calls of several really, really weird Lesser Whitethroats (see the thread in the ID forum).
Back around Ryiadh, our primary target was the cat. C population of Streaked Weawer that exists around Al Haeer. This is, in general, a very interesting birding area - the "Ryiadh river" - in fact the outflow from the immense wastewater treatement plant for the entire metropolis - flows through a wadi into some lakes, parks and agricultural landscape. There are many reedbeds, known to occasionally host such gems as Basra Reed Warbler, but also the Weaver population. We really liked the spot around the bridge between the pivot fields (24.34902, 46.92951), but only found the Weavers in the wadi at 24.39467, 46.82562. Thanks to the abundant water the area also has both Common and White-throated Kingfishers, Bluethroats, Eurasian and either Clamorous or Great Reed Warblers (we couldn't really be bothered) and, somewhat interestingly Indian (not African) Silverbills. The nearby "Lakes Park" is busy and security there does not allow access to some of the reed areas, but on the flip side, one can camp there.
At this point we realized, thanks to the Saudi Birding website - Birding Saudi’s Riyadh Province - that the Arabian Lark sites are much closer than we thought before and headed there for the final night, but that's already been described in the first post.
After a finally tally, 206 species of birds in 19 days. Not bad.
An album of landscapes and a few animals is on Facebook - Facebook (you do not need an FB account to view this, so no excuses
)
PS: these posts combined have over 9000 words. Kudos to anyone actually reading it
First, we drove up to Fayfa, which is a city built upon an absurdly steep hill, towering over a kilometer above its immediate surroundings. Its steepness makes it not easy to navigate, but the views are simply fantastic. It also brought a very surprising sighting - the only Yellow-billed Kite of the trip. In the lowlands, there were endless flocks of Black Kites, which we studied thoroughly, but there was not a single Yellow-billed Kite to see, despite many eBird records. And here, there was one single bird, yet it was the right one! Also a Shikra was briefly seen hunting around and a few typical mountain species were present in the gardens. From here we headed to Wadi Lajab, a well-known scenic spot, a sharp canyon in a rock similar to the area around Petra in Jordan. The area around the entrance had multiple African Grey Hornbills, surely the best spot for those we found. We wanted to continue for the evening to Jebel al Qahar, which is known for sightings of Dark Chanting Goshawks, but it was not really clear from the maps if that's in any way possible, as the site is far from the main road and very high up. At first, the nice paved road, winding around to keep the incline reasonable, looked promising, even though we had to drive carefully as there were thousands of fallen stones on it, no doubt the result of the recent storms. However at one point the road just ends with a roadblock - and for a good reason, because behind this roadblock is a huge landslide; in fact it's not even possible to walk any further as the landslide is steep and high. Truth to be told, even if the landslide were not there, the road also stops being paved at this point and it would probably not be possible to drive a sedan there anyway.
Next to the roadblock, there was a large parking space, so we decided to camp for the night. A few people arrived to look at the landslide, some of them looked like they are surveying the slope for further possible risks - and those later indicated to us to move further from the slope because they feared that some rocks could fall sooner than later. Before the night fell, a huge thunderstorm rolled in - we waited it out in the car, which was heavily rocked by the wind, then set up the tent when the weather calmed. After nightfall, we walked the road a bit, hearing African Scops-Owls and, a big surprise, Desert Owl, albeit very briefly. In the morning we were keen to see if we will make it back down - a single landslide or a bigger rockfall would have stranded us here, but we got lucky.
Getting back up to the plateau, we explored the Al Habalah area. A large park close to highway 15 (shown as Al Muruba'a National Park on eBird) became somewhat inadverently our home fro the night, after I left the lights on while waiting out the afternoon rain and drained the battery, but in the morning, a kind stranger jumpstarted the car. This incidentally led to our only sighting of a King Jird; the park, with its many acaccas also had a lot of Arabian Warblers. Unlike around Abha, this part of the escarpment edge is not so heavily developed and offers a lot of nice places to bird. We focused at the area recommended by |Gregory and the reports and after some searching found a large flock of Rufous-capped Larks at 18.07444, 42.85212. This was an interesting observation because we noticed the flock and then took a long time to find out what the birds were - even if there were maybe 50 birds, there were next to impossible to see when on the ground. Only by slowly following the flocks and gradually getting closer we managed to get a better look. The nearby park next to the road had Buff-breasted Wheatears.
We explored the area more, looking for African Pipit, to no avail - they are probably not present this time of the year. Al Jarrah National Park was fenced and locked, but the entrance area had yet another Buff-breasted Wheatear. Not far from there, a road leads down the escarpment and just before it plunges down, there is a nice area to hike a bit, producing a Peregrine Falcon, but, sadly, no Verreaux's Eagle. Back up north-east one finds the "tourist" area of Al Habalah, with a chairlift leading to a park below the escarpment (not in operation) and magnificent views of the steep cliffs - and also the only Yemen Serins of the trip.
On our way back to Ryiadh, we stopped at a dam in Wadi Al Jouf (18.1312, 43.0027) where we saw a Red-knobbed Coot on a nest, possibly the first breeding record for KSA. Driving through a varied and scenic desert landscape, we got all the way to Sultanah and then took hwy 175 south-east, which cuts through the edge of the Empty Quarter. This area fulfills the promise and is, indeed, quite empty, but the scenery of the huge dune fields in the sunset was absolutely stupendous. We camped at 19.95876, 45.37754 (there are no side roads accessible with a sedan around Sultanah due to all the sand) and woke up to the calls of several really, really weird Lesser Whitethroats (see the thread in the ID forum).
Back around Ryiadh, our primary target was the cat. C population of Streaked Weawer that exists around Al Haeer. This is, in general, a very interesting birding area - the "Ryiadh river" - in fact the outflow from the immense wastewater treatement plant for the entire metropolis - flows through a wadi into some lakes, parks and agricultural landscape. There are many reedbeds, known to occasionally host such gems as Basra Reed Warbler, but also the Weaver population. We really liked the spot around the bridge between the pivot fields (24.34902, 46.92951), but only found the Weavers in the wadi at 24.39467, 46.82562. Thanks to the abundant water the area also has both Common and White-throated Kingfishers, Bluethroats, Eurasian and either Clamorous or Great Reed Warblers (we couldn't really be bothered) and, somewhat interestingly Indian (not African) Silverbills. The nearby "Lakes Park" is busy and security there does not allow access to some of the reed areas, but on the flip side, one can camp there.
At this point we realized, thanks to the Saudi Birding website - Birding Saudi’s Riyadh Province - that the Arabian Lark sites are much closer than we thought before and headed there for the final night, but that's already been described in the first post.
After a finally tally, 206 species of birds in 19 days. Not bad.
An album of landscapes and a few animals is on Facebook - Facebook (you do not need an FB account to view this, so no excuses
)PS: these posts combined have over 9000 words. Kudos to anyone actually reading it
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