A 9 day blast of Oman by 3 young British Birders Introduction This trip was created on the back of hearing Stephen Menzie drown on about the country whilst in Morocco and Western Sahara with him in 2015 and further research showing it to have lots of waders and raptors with the potential for some cool vagrants and crazy residents. Participants Dan Branch, Tim Jones and Jonnie Fisk. L-R below. Highlights The sheer number of raptors at Raysut Tip was incredible THE Verraux’s Eagles at Jabal Shaman were ridiculous The Dhofar mountain habitat of dry forest and change in species composition was nuts Literature
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A 9 day blast of Oman by 3 young British Birders · PDF fileA 9 day blast of Oman by 3 young British Birders ... We made a supply stop in Oman and topped up on food and ... yesterday
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A 9 day blast of Oman by 3 young British Birders
Introduction
This trip was created on the back of hearing Stephen Menzie drown on about the country
whilst in Morocco and Western Sahara with him in 2015 and further research showing it to
have lots of waders and raptors with the potential for some cool vagrants and crazy
residents.
Participants
Dan Branch, Tim Jones and Jonnie Fisk. L-R below.
Highlights
The sheer number of raptors at Raysut Tip was incredible
THE Verraux’s Eagles at Jabal Shaman were ridiculous
The Dhofar mountain habitat of dry forest and change in species composition was nuts
Literature
-Birdwatching guide to Oman, 2nd edition, by Jens & Hanne Eriksen, indispensable (big
thanks to Dave Tucker for lending us his copy).
Logistics
We flew direct from London Heathrow to Muscat with British Airways, costing just over
£300 each including 23kg of luggage each. We hired a class 3 car from Interrent for £242 for
the 9 days, although we didn’t realise at the time of booking they have a 200km a day limit,
we exceed this by someway but didn’t have to pay the expected extra charge! Fuel was
cheap with petrol being around 40p per litre. We changed currency (Omani Rial) through
the Post Office before we left. We camped for all but 3 nights when we paid between £40-
£60 for 3 bed rooms in Hijj, Muscat and Mirbat, accommodation was easy to find and we
didn’t book anything in advance.
Day 1 18/02/17
Our flight to Muscat from Heathrow took 8 hours. We set off at 20.00 on the 17th and, as a result of
the 4 hour time difference, arrived at around 7.00 the following morning. It took us over 2 hours to
get through customs and pick up the car but were finally ready to go just before 10.00 that morning.
The first birds we saw besides Feral Pigeon were Common Mynas and Laughing Doves, which we
found to be extremely abundant in the capital. We decided to drive through to a small park/nature
reserve on the eastern side of the city called Al Qurm. Our drive across provided us with the first of
our trip target species in the form of Indian Roller, which were fairly abundant along grassy verges
and gardens in the capital.
Indian Roller, classy city birds! DB.
Al Qurm
The park itself did not open its doors until 15.00 so we decided to set up on the adjacent beach and
bird around there. The birding was easy here, with both Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Slender-
billed and Heuglin’s Gulls and an assortment of Terns; Saunder’s, Greater Crested and Lesser
Crested. From the gull flock we picked out a superb full summer plumaged Pallas’s Gull, which was
one of the highlights for the whole trip. Looking behind us out over the reserve itself gave us our first
wetland species such as Great White and Western Reef Egret. The scrub alongside the shore also
contained our first Crested Lark of the trip.
Pallas’s Gull very approachable on the beach. DB.
After an hour or so biding the beach we decided to move back bird the outskirts of the park. We
walked around the perimeter of the park where we managed to pick up a surprising number of
northern Oman species. Little Green Bee-eater was abundant, as was Purple Sunbird and both Red-
vented and White-cheeked Bulbul. A small grassy football pitch provided Red-wattled Lapwing and
Grey Francolin, although the former was fairly common of rough areas of ground around Muscat.
Continuing to work the bushes and looking into the park itself produced more results, with Isabelline
Shrike, Indian Silverbill, Graceful Prinia and Eastern Black Redstart all using the area.
By lunchtime we decided to head off east, our target destination being Ras Al Hadd on the north-
east coastline. We made a supply stop in Oman and topped up on food and water. The drive across
took between 2-3 hours, but we picked up more species on the drive across.
Egyptian Vulture was the only raptor in any abundance, but we did also have a Short-toed Eagle. We
also had our first wheatears of the trip with a cracking male Variable Wheatear a nice surprise,
several Red-tailed and a female Desert Wheatear all sat up on the roadside.
Variable Wheatear at the roadside. TJ.
Ras Al Hadd
Once we arrived at Ras Al Hadd it was already early evening and the light was beginning to fade. We
checked the shoreline for waders and gulls, which produced a good number of common waders plus
Caspian Tern, Sooty Gull and more Pallas’s Gulls. A check of the scrub behind the shore, even in the
low light, produced a good number of commoner desert species; Tawny Pipit, Black-crowned
Sparrow Lark and more Desert Wheatears.
We chose to camp in a small area of desert just inland from Ras Al Hadd. By the time we camped it
was already dark but a search of the scrub found us a number of Ground Geckos, a Worm Snake and
a Sochurek's saw-scaled viper that Jonnie nearly trod on! The Worm Snake is particularly impressive
as they very rarely come up above ground.
Day 2 19/02/17
Ras Al Hadd
We spent the first bit of light birding around our campsite. A Southern Grey Shrike was the first
shrike of our trip. We continued to find species which were common in the desert, such as singing
Red-tailed (their song doesn’t resemble a usual Wheatear song!) and Desert Wheatear. We also
flushed a couple of Grey Francolin from the bushes surrounding our campsite, but our attempts to
relocate them were unsuccessful.
Ras Al Jinz Turtle Sanctuary
We then moved down the road to the Turtle Sanctuary. Sadly we arrived too late to see any turtles
but there were large numbers of tracks up and down the beach which indicated they had been
present during the night. By far the most abundant species at the site were the Sooty and Pallas’s
Gulls, which formed large flocks roosting on the beach. The cliffs alongside the beach were a good
spot to get views of Brown-necked Raven, a species common by roadsides. Also along the cliffs was
the only Blue Rock Thrush of our trip.
Once we had walked along the beach, and with the morning warming up, we decided to check the
desert behind. The vegetation cover was limited here, with no trees and only low bushes. We added
Asian Desert Warbler, Desert Lark and Isabelline Wheatear to our collection of desert species, as
well as the regular Red-tailed Wheatear, Desert Wheatear and Crested Lark. A surprise addition to
our list was a Quail. The bird looked to have come in off the sea, before crashing into the desert
where we subsequently lost it.
Once the morning had fully warmed up we began our journey south to Shannah where we hoped to
be able to see a number of wader species. On our drive south we racked up several Black-crowned
Sparrow Larks, as well as our first Greater Hoopoe Lark of the trip.
Dawn at Raz al Jinz. TJ.
Shannah/Barr Al Hickman
We arrived at Shannah late morning/early afternoon. We first headed to the fish port where there
were thousands of Sooty Gulls and other large white headed gull species. A scan out into the bay
itself produced 3 Black-necked Grebes, which were an unexpected bonus to our trip list.
We tried to head down the coast towards Barr Al Hickman, we tried the track by the
communications tower (8.1/H02/H04) but found it unpassable without a 4x4. As a result we decided
to head back to the mudflats at Shannah and scope out waders from there. Our main target was
Crab Plover but we were disappointed to find that there were none around. There were plenty of
other waders though including both Greater and Lesser Sand Plover, as well as Marsh and Terek
Sandpiper. Greater Flamingo was also present along the shoreline and a Gull-billed Tern flew over.
The mangrove themselves were full of Fiddler Crabs.
Filim
After a couple of hours at Shannah with the tide coming in and still no sign of any crab plovers, we
headed down the coast to the small town of Filim. Here there was more marsh, although not really
mudflat and we hoped that the crab plovers might have moved down the coast. They had not. There
continued to be good numbers of waders however, including more Terek and our only Broad-billed
Sandpipers of trip with 2 present.
We also checked the mangroves behind the mudflats for any other birds. Another Gull-billed Tern
was fishing here and showed much better than the bird at Shannah. The mangroves themselves
were alive with the sound of Clamorous Reed Warbler and we had brief views of a couple of
individuals as they flew between patches of reed. A Common Kingfisher was also present here.
Day 3 20/02/17
Shannah
After dipping on crab plover the previous day we decided to stay overnight in Al Hijj and try again at
Shannah early morning. We were on site for first light as the tide was just falling from high, but again
there was no sign of any Crab Plovers. Scanning the waders produced the same selection as
yesterday only today there was the addition of Great Knot, with a couple of individuals among the
Bar-tailed Godwits. 2 Spoonbill present were also the first of the trip.
The highlight of the morning without doubt was a cracking male Pallid Harrier which was hunting
over the mangroves. At times it flew fairly close to where we were watching it from. Also in the
mangroves were a number of Asian Desert Warblers.
JF watching the Pallid Harrier. TJ.
Once we decided there was no chance of crab plover we continued to head south. The journey south
was fairly long and involved large swathes of desert with little birdlife. The highlight of our journey
south was a stunning male South Arabian Wheatear which was picked out at the side of the road,
and was quickly joined by a female. It showed well by the roadside before flying off into the
mountains.
TJ and JF enjoying Great Knot at Shannah. DB.
Ash Shuwaymiyyah Town
Our final destination for the day was the town of Ash Shuwaymiyyah. It was late afternoon when we
arrived. We first stopped at the beach to the north of the town, where we had our first seabirds of
the trip, including plenty of Masked Booby diving close to shore. Amazingly despite there being the
potential for 30,000 we managed just a single Socotra Cormorant that flew south, not that we were
really complaining. A few Common and Greater Crested Tern were also fishing close in shore. A
small pod on Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin also swam past close in shore, which were a nice
bonus.
On the southern side of the town there is a small area of wetland. We pulled over after we spotted a
Pheasant-tailed Jacana on the pond-side vegetation. Once we started birding the pond we picked up
more wetland species, including our first Indian Pond Herons of the trip. We also had more
Clamorous Reed Warblers and an array of commoner wetland species, a 1w Pallas’s Gull flew
towards the town.
Plenty of boobies were showing well from the beach. TJ.
Ash Shuwaymiyyah Wadi
Before dark we headed up into the Wadi adjacent to the town, to a vegetated area known as the
hanging gardens. Here we waited for Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse to come in and drink. A small flock
appeared in the gloom at around half 6 and drank for around 10 mins before flying back off into the
dark. We set up camp in the Wadi with at least 2 Hume’s Owls calling away along the side of the
Wadi. Driving up and down the Wadi produced a Mountain Gazelle with a badly broken leg, Wolf
food!
DB waiting for the Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse to come into drink at the Hanging Gardens. TJ.
Day 4 21/02/17
Ash Shuwaymiyyah Wadi
We started our day birding an area at the top of the Wadi known as the date plantation, where
there was more vegetation and a small stream. We were woken up by the calls of Spectacled
Bulbuls which were common up the valley. Equally common and vocal were Tristram’s Starlings
which were an abundant species all through south Oman.
Working the wadi produced a number of species. Several Sand Partridge and Arabian Partridge
were easily found and here we had our first Ménétries Warblers, with 6+ seen. A Striolated Bunting
came into drink and was our only one of the trip, a male Eastern Black Redstart showed well.
Without doubt the highlight for us was just as we were leaving when a stunning adult male Black-
throated Thrush flew across the road and landed in the trees in front of us. It sat up for around 60
seconds before flying off up the wadi, mega! South Arabian Wheatear remained common here, and
we also had our first Lesser Whitethroats of the trip.
Spanking male Black-throated Thrush. DB.
We left the date plantation mid-morning and headed back to the Hanging Gardens from the
previous evening, but we were disappointed with the lack of birds in what seemed ideal habitat.
Rock Martin and House Martin were the only birds using the oasis. Further down the Wadi we had
an Eastern Imperial Eagle flew over, and several Desert Lark.
DB in Wadi Ash Shwaymiyyah. TJ.
Ash Shuwaymiyyah Town
By late morning we headed back to the small area of wetlands we had explored the previous
evening. The lake was being used by fishermen, who had flushed most of the Greater Flamingos and
other herons. There were still 3 Indian Pond Herons on the other small ponds and 2 Pheasant-tailed
Jacana were also present. A Pallid Swift, buzzed through.
The fisherman did us a favour though, flushing out a Baillon’s Crake, which showed well as it ran
across a ditch away from them! Also in the reedbeds were more Clamorous Reed Warblers. On the
beach we had a couple of larks, which when they flew called to reveal themselves as Oriental
Skylarks. As we were leaving we noticed a large raptor sat on the pylons alongside the road, which
turned out to be a Bonelli’s Eagle. We got some pretty awesome views before it took off and flew
off up the Wadi.
We left Ash Shuwaymiyyah late morning with the intention of reaching Mirbat and the Dhofar
Region in time to bird some of the area before dark. Our trip south went through some pretty
spectacular scenery but was fairly thin on birdlife. We saw several pods of Indo-Pacific Humpbacked
Dolphins and one pod was seemingly very close to shore, so stopped and went swimming out to
them, they weren’t particularly coopearative always staying about 10m away but still a cool
experience. We continued south and racked up several roadside Blackstarts, a male Hooded
Wheatear promptly cleared off after perching on a road sign, was frustratingly the only one of the
trip.
Tawi Atayr Sinkhole
The impressive sink hole. DB.
As soon as we arrived in the Dhofar region of Oman there was a change in the variety of birds. Not
long after Mirbat on the road to Tawi Atayr the road climbs steeply, we stopped the car half way up
and instantly racked up several new birds, Rüppell’s Weaver, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, African
Silverbill, White-breasted White-eye and Fan-tailed Raven were all seen in a couple of minutes by
the roadside, the change of scenery from desert to dry forest including Baobab trees made it fell like
we had switched continents to Africa! We headed onto the Tawi Atayr Sinkhole, the only site in
Oman for Yemen Serin, but we were unable to locate any in a couple of hours search during the
evening. However the variety of birdlife present around the area was phenomenal. There were a
host of new species that we found later to be abundant throughout the Dhofar region; Rüppell’s