Methods 
Systematic counts were made from the house by two observers on a total 
of 12 days between 14 and 28 October 1991, with additional counts being 
made from a point north of Harathi (21°N, 40°17'E) on 13 October and at 
Ash Shafa (2r06'N, 40°17'E) on 21 October; 250 man-hours observation 
time in total. Observations were made using 10x40 and 7x42 binoculars 
and a 20x77 telescope. Counts were made at hourly intervals (using hand 
tally counters for the most numerous species), information being recorded 
in a field notebook. At the end of each hour, counts were totalled and tally 
counters zeroed. Simple meteorological records (wind direction, wind 
speed and cloud cover) were also made, together with notes on visibility 
and height and direction of migrating birds. At the end of each day, the 
information was transferred to standardised migration recording sheets. 
Opportunistic counts of obvious migrants were also made when travelling 
to and from the main count site and elsewhere. 
Results 
A total of 25,330 migrant raptors of 18 species was recorded, the most 
numerous being Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus (22,495) and Steppe 
Eagle Aquila nipalensis (2,001 ). All other visible migrant species were also 
counted and gave an additional total of 1,337 birds of a further 17 species 
- see summary table. 
Discussion 
For this preliminary study, it was decided to count at the time when large 
numbers of Steppe Buzzards and Steppe Eagles could be expected to be 
migrating. 
In the case of Steppe Buzzard, the available information indicates that a 
significant part of the population migrates around the eastern end of the 
Black Sea, with 205,000 birds in autumn 1976 (Beaman and Porter, 1977), 
but then remains virtually undetected until it crosses the Bab-el-Mandeb 
into Africa (Welch and Welch, 1988) suggesting a rather narrow migration 
route through western Arabia. This study's count compares favourably 
with figures for the equivalent period in Djibouti in 1987 - 22,501 in Saudi 
Arabia, 16,791 in Djibouti - and is the third highest autumn count in the 
Middle East. This clearly demonstrates that the Asir mountains lie on the 
migratory route of this species and that Al Hada offers an excellent 
opportunity for monitoring the autumn migration of Steppe Buzzards 
through Saudi Arabia. 
The situation with the Steppe Eagle is, however, more complex. This 
species migrates slightly later than the Steppe Buzzard (peak being mid 
to late October compared with early to mid-October) and therefore 
would have been expected to be passing along the escarpment in increasing 
numbers as the count progressed. This was not the case, and no significant 
6 
