Life in the air, Saudi Arabia

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Playing: Yalely

All my personal comments/ notes are in maroon italic type. / Pictures to open: 9

Life in the Air

a bit dark, sorry

Butterflie on a flower

Butterflies of South-West Saudi Arabia by Dr. Graham R. Lobley
It may come as a complete surprise to most people to learn that the Arabian peninsula is home to more than 150 different species of butterflies. Many of these, including some of the most beautiful, can be found in the mountains and lowlands of the Hejaz and Asir Provinces in the west and southwest of the Kingdom.
www.arabianwildlife.com/archive/vol3.2/buttr.htm

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Where to watch birds and other wildlife in Saudi Arabia www.arabianwildlife.com/archive/vol2.2/sauwhe.htm

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Bird Diversity: Birds diversity is very high because of the zoo geographical connection of the region to Afro tropical, Pale arctic and Oriental regions, and of the country's location at the crossroad of several migration routes. Nearly 450 species of birds recorded in the kingdom.

The avifauna of these regions includes northern volcanic harrats the only breeding population of Houbara bustards (Chlamydotis [undulata] macqueenii) in Saudi Arabia, and in the central and southern regions the largest breeding population of lappet-faced vultures (Torgos tracheliotus) in the Middle-East.

www.birdlifemed.org/Contries/saudi/saudi.html

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Hunting with falcons is a cherished tradition in Saudi Arabia that dates back centuries.

www.justlikebeingthere.com/countries/Saudi+Arabia/

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Great site for wildlife information

Birding South West Saudi Arabia: Arabia boasts a number of endemic bird species, meaning that these
birds exist only on the peninsula itself. Where to watch birds in Asia by Nigel Wheatley, suggests that 11 such birds exist, while Michael Jennings, in his ABBA project, states that there are 10.

http://www.fatbirder.com/links_geo/middle_east/saudi_arabia.html

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Dhahran Wildlife Haven

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Back in the 60's 70's and early 80's there were not many birds in the sky and you only heard the song of a bird from some poor caged bird. In the late 80's someone decided to bring and release into the air, several bird species. Now the skies are filled with crows and pigeons, mainly but you will see several other types of bird. It's so nice to hear birds singing now and then, especially if it's a cool day and the windows are open for a change.

The disadvantage of this is that now everyone complains of the crows loud screeches and the food scraps they leave on the air conditioner trays to rot. And all the pigeon nests made on the window sills, especially in the shafts that many of the buildings have.

A pigeon on her nest, on our window sill, peeking from under her a baby pigeon.

Why don't you see any baby pigeon's? we watched the babies grow and they don't learn to fly until they're almost the same size of the mother!!

my picture

The baby pigeons make quite a mess, not to mention all the food that the mother brings to the next, just try opening that window and hordes of small bugs drop or fly into the room!

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Oystercatchers: A family of 11 species spread out over most parts of the world. They are medium sized birds stoutly built with relatively short legs and a heavy dagger-like beak.

The oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) is the only one to appear in Arabia, where it is a locally common migrant and winter visitor. www.arabianwildlife.com/current/waders.html

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Saudi Arabia (bird watching) Trip Report 4th -11th May 2002
This was at the personal invitation of Prince Bandhar who has supported the idea of limited eco-tourism to this region of Saudi Arabia.

Brown Boobies, Al Birk

We encountered few difficulties once we had arrived at Abha but the police did question John and myself when they found us birdwatching at the beach in Jizan. An uneasy situation was easily resolved once we revealed both the purpose of our trip and the name of our sponsor. It has to be remembered that the whole concept of looking at birds through binoculars is totally alien to the
majority of Saudi people and as there are no western tourists we did rather stand out. On the whole the Saudi people were most hospitable and in no way did we feel pestered or threatened.
Systematic Bird List (found during their visit, see the web page) http://www.osme.org/osmetrip/satrip4.html