Observations by abbad

APOLOGIES for the awful quality of this photo. It wasn't taken with my usual device, but I still opted to upload it because it's not usually easy to photograph wild mammals in Jordan. This little guy was standing by the road leading to the Dibben Nature Reserve in Northern Jordan, and was rather chill about the car approaching him, watching us directly from where he was for a about fifteen seconds. Of the the three fox species existing in Jordan, and according to the Red Book of mammals in Jordan, its location is within the known range of only one species: that of the Arabian red fox, which is the only real basis of this proposed identification. Rüppell's fox is excluded because of its arid habitat. Blanford's fox remains a slight possibility, considering the low quality of the photo and the observation.

Observed in the garden of a privately-owned villa (only approximate location provided). The villa has a pool but the toad was between dry shrubs. It was about or at least ten centimeters long, although I wasn't able to see it long enough to give a good estimation.

I first saw this beautiful bird of prey short after sunrise. I thought it was just passing by, but few minutes later, I watch it again, and it kept flying in the area around my building for the next hour. I kept tracking it with my camera, and these are the best shots I have managed to get. I am still researching the species details.

We followed the lizard for quite a while. We first spotted it over a prominent rock near the edge of the valley, we kept taking pictures for around 15 minutes. It kept running away, but only for small distances, and didn't really try to hide. The exact location where the lizard was spotted was at the trail between Ar-Rummana camp and Dana village, but only few hundred meters away from the camp.

Since the color is bright blue, it's certainly a male which was looking for a mate, as he was running around a relatively open area. It was also the breeding season, as the observation was taken early in the spring.

I met at least two of them during the trip, they seemed to be fairly common in the area. Following the lizard was relatively easy, this picture was taken like a meter away or so, it kept running, but never hided under rocks or dense vegetation. The exact location where the lizard was spotted was at the trail between Ar-Rummana camp and Dana village, but only few hundred meters away from the camp.