The Baha list

I have worked out one or two identifications since I came back from Baha and so I am close to a definitive list of birds seen there. As I am now about half way through reporting on the visit in the blog I thought it would be a good idea to show the list. 

Palestine sunbird at Baha

The one and only valley which I visited yielded six endemics, ten lifers and at least forty two identified species. There were also twelve additions to my Saudi list which has now reached over 150.  In addition there was one large bird of prey which will never be identified and possibly up to two more species which may be added later.

Bird species	Special notes
Kestrel
Philby’s partridge	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
Arabian partridge	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
Rock pigeon
Dusky turtle dove	Lifer, Saudi first
Laughing dove
Namaqua dove
Alpine swift
Hoopoe
Arabian woodpecker	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
African rock martin
Barn swallow
Red rumped swallow
House martin
Long billed pipit	Lifer, Saudi first
Tawny pipit
White wagtail
Yellow vented bulbul
Black redstart
Stonechat
Isabelline wheatear
Pied wheatear
South Arabian wheatear	Endemic
Little rock thrush	Lifer, Saudi first
Yemen thrush	Endemic, lifer, Saudi first
Blue rock thrush
Song thrush	Saudi first
Graceful prinia
Scrub warbler	Saudi first
White breasted white-eye	Lifer, Saudi first
Brown woodland warbler	Lifer, Saudi first
Chiffchaff
Willow warbler
Palestine sunbird
Turkestan shrike
Brown-necked raven
Fan- tailed raven
Tristram’s grackle
House sparrow
Ruppell’s weaver
Yemen linnet	Endemic
Cretzschmar’s bunting	Lifer, Saudi first

Apart from the two partridges my greatest pleasure was a song thrush and a pair of Arabian woodpecker. This must be one of the most southerly places in the world where you can see song thrush (only in winter of course). The woodpeckers will appear in one of the later blogs.

Palestine sunbird launches itself

The next blog looks at the wheatears and stonechats in the valley.