Wadi on the edge of Jizan

Before we even left Jizan on Thursday morning, we stopped at a well vegetated wadi which Lou Regenmorter had discovered earlier in the week.

It was early morning and the dawn chorus was still in session.

Arabian golden sparrow

The most noticeable bird was Ruepells weaver. Flashes of yellow were everywhere. It's their breeding season and they were hyperactive. However they were not the only birds providing flashes of yellow.

Nile valley sunbird were also darting around. The third species providing so much yellow was Arabian golden sparrow. At one stage, one tree had over 60 birds.

Some visitors struggle to find this bird but I wonder if they are being steered to the wrong places. The guides suggest it likes drier terrain than in the two places I have seen them - once in tall reeds at the edge of a fodder field and now in a very green wadi.

African collared dove

Actually this wadi was teeming with bird life. If it weren't for the fact that we had a long journey planned ahead, we would have stayed longer.

Arabian babbler

Other notable birds in the wadi were Arabian babbler. The ones here were sporting the yellow bill of the "Yemen" variant.

Black bush robin

At this time of year in the south west, black bush robin are regularly in song and it is seriously melodious. I don't think I ever read anybody else stating this but it is a truism.

Ruepells weaver

My final picture is of the most common bird in the wadi, a Ruepells weaver.

The next blog looks at the other birds seen alongside the sociable lapwing north of Jizan and includes a lark species still unidentified at the time I am writing this.