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OMAN: Birding the DHOFAR Region

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OMAN: Birding the DHOFAR Region 1 OMAN: Birding the DHOFAR region 16th to 23 rd November 2007 Mike Cram, Dave Lewis and Neil Tovey Arguably offering the best birding in Oman, the Dhofar region is encircled by mountains which back a coastal plain containing numerous freshwater lagoons. About 600km of desert effectively separates the region from the Asian/Middle Eastern avifauna to the north. As a result many North African species thrive here. The main habitats are the coastal lagoons, or khawrs that attract many species of wildfowl, herons & egrets. The well wooded wadis need to be thoroughly explored for migrants, raptors and the numerous Dhofar specialities. Rocky promontories offer some exciting sea-watching opportunities. Introduction Few birders in our recording area have visited Oman, so it was with great trepidation that we began our exploration of the Dhofar region on Saturday 17 th November. Dave and I travelled from Heathrow on Thursday 15th overnight to Muscat via Bahrain with Gulf Air (£405 rtn each ). After a delay at Bahrain, we met up with Neil on 16th. He’d flown in from Dubai and we took our scheduled evening flight to Salalah with Oman Air (£ 72 rtn each ). We picked up our 4WD Nissan Patrol 4.5 ( £147 each for the week ) and headed for our self-catering Beach Villa in Salalah ( £110 each for the week ) after dark via a local general store for provisions. We began the break in style with a nosh up at the Crowne Plaza nearby. It was clear and sunny throughout the week with occasional light cloud, with temperatures averaging around 30 degrees Celsius at the hottest time of the day. The nights were warm, air conditioning in both car and villa was essential. Mosquito nets also helped assist a good night’s sleep! Water was more expensive than petrol (!) and we were able to get a good meal at many available decent cafes for a few pounds. The supermarkets that we used to stock up on provisions were reasonably clean and well stocked. Generally the Omani people we met were very friendly, even the police and military! 2 MAP OF THE DHOFAR REGION The map reproduced here is by kind permission of Hanne & Jens Eriksen and Panadda & Dave.E.Sargeant, from Page 123 of their excellent publication: Birdwatching guide to Oman (Al Roya Publishing) (October 2001) 3 DAY 2 – Sat 17Nov07 (Day 1 was spent travelling!) Salalah Beach at dawn : A great start with 1 Red-billed Tropicbird , 1 Pacific Golden Plover, 1 Caspian Tern , the 1st of many Sooty Gull , Caspian Gull , Siberian Gull, 2 African Rock Martin and 30+ Ring-necked Parakeets flew from the nearby plantations. East Khawr 1 Black-necked Grebe, Western Reef Heron, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Greater Flamingo, 1 Cotton Teal, 2 Ferruginous Duck, 10+Garganey, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, Swift Tern, Saunders’s Tern, num Laughing Dove, 50+Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, 20+European Bee-eater, Citrine Wagtail, Isabelline Wheatear, Desert Wheatear, Graceful Prinia, Clamorous Reed Warbler, 4 Palestine Sunbird, num African Silverbill and the first of many Ruppell’s Weaver. Purple, Grey & Western Reef Herons & Blue-cheeked Bee-eater at East Khawr Sahnawt Farm We were quickly greeted by several Singing Bush Lark, Crested Lark and Black- headed Wagtail. This working farm was teeming with bird life. Among the pivots and crops were White Stork , 1 Black Kite, 2 Great Spotted Eagle, 1 Steppe Eagle, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 100+White-winged Black Tern, 1 European Roller, 25+Blue- cheeked Bee-eater, 6+Citrine Wagtail, 1 Clamorous Reed Warbler and 100+ African Silverbill. Bonelli’s Eagle at Sahnawt Farm and 2 views of Ayn Hamran Ayn Hamran This site offers the best opportunity to find most of the Dhofar specialities in a short space of time. How true that proved. From 0930 to 1130 we were kept very busy and well rewarded as we worked our way up past a farm, spring and then into a wadi. 4 Birds seen at Ayn Hamran included 2 Bonelli’s Eagle, 1 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Imperial Eagle, 2 Bruce’s Green Pigeon, 1 Grey-headed Kingfisher, 1 Hoopoe, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Upcher’s Warbler, 1 Desert Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Arabian Warbler, 2+ African Paradise Flycatcher, 2 Blackstart, 1 Shining Sunbird, 2 Palestine Sunbird, 4+ White-breasted White-eye, 2 Fan-tailed Raven, several White-spectacled Bulbul , num Ruppell’s Weaver, 4+ African Rock Bunting. We then drove past the Crown Plaza hotel in Salalah and recorded Great Cormorant and 1 Little Green Bee-eater . The afternoon was to be spent birding the khawrs to the east, but this was delayed by the second of four stops past a police and military checkpoint where we had to return to the airport to get some correct documents from the Rental Company. We finally got back to some birding at an unnamed khawr nearby which we affectionately named ‘ Khawr Checkpoint’ ! We enjoyed prolonged views of a pair of Montagu’s Harrier here. Khawr Sawli The khawr was dry at the north end and we failed to get Pheasant–tailed Jacana . We did however see 1 Greater Spotted Eagle , 1 Long-legged Buzzard and 1 Indian Pond Heron. African Rock Bunting & Blackstart (Ayn Hamran) Indian Pond Heron(Khawr Sawli) Khawr Taqah A seawatch from the beach produced 1 Masked Booby , 1 Cattle Egret , numerous Lesser Crested Tern, Swift Tern, Sandwich Tern & Sooty Gull, 1 Slender-billed Gull and some Desert Wheatear . As we moved back to the main road to check out the north end of the khawr, Neil shouted excitedly as he’d found a rare vagrant Pied Cuckoo . Appropriate celebrations ensued for all as the trip list passed 100 on Day 1! Pied Cuckoo celebrations at Khawr Taqah! Khawr Rouri 5 Khawr Rouri This beautiful site was scanned from on high from the ancient ruins of Sumharan, believed to be the castle of The Queen of Sheba: 1 Persian Shearwater, 2 Masked Booby, 1 Eurasian Spoonbill, 1 Black Stork ( rare for Oman !), 1 Northern Shoveler, 2 Osprey, 1 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Greater spotted Eagle, 100+Greater Flamingo, 200+ Red-necked Phalarope in large flocks on the sea and 1 Common Noddy on an offshore buoy,. Several Tristram’s Grackle and Blackstart were very confiding here. We also watched up to 100 ‘Dhofar’ Swift which looked like a cross between Common and Pallid Swift. It is not known what exact species these enigmatic birds actually are. Some recent work points towards Forbes-Watson’s Swift . They certainly look different! (Eats tonight were at KFC in Salalah!) DAY 3 – Sun 18Nov07 Al Maghsayl – coastal lagoons including Marneef Caves and Blowholes . We arrived to stunning coastal scenery at dawn and set to work checking through the numerous species in the lagoons and passing out to sea close by . Our first priority was a rare local breeder and we were quickly rewarded with excellent views of 2 Yellow Bittern feeding in the morning light along with 1 Little Bittern, 1 Striated Heron, 1 Intermediate Egret , 2 Cotton Teal, 9 Ferruginous Duck, 1 Glossy Ibis, 1 Baillon’s Crake, 4+ Masked Booby, 2+ Brown Booby, 10+White-cheeked Tern, several Citrine Wagtail, Isabelline Shrike and Desert Wheatear. Yellow Bittern at Al Maghsayl Mike above the blow holes We retired to a nearby café for a cheap and tasty snack and relaxed, simply taking in the fantastic scenery of the cliffs plunging in the distance towards Yemen . Cotton Teal, Intermediate Egret and Arabian Partridge at Al Maghsayl Our return to the Marneef Caves part of the site was rewarded with stunning views of a party of 15 Arabian Partridge distant views of a female South Arabian Wheatear and some very confiding Tristram’s Grackle. Later on when we returned from Raysut we added 2 Barbary Falcon, 1 Lesser Kestrel and 1 Blue Rock Thrush. 6 Raysut Harbour We eventually found our way along a rough track past what appeared to be a disused power station. We scanned the beach and harbour area: 2 Masked Booby , 15 Osprey, 1 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Greater Spotted Eagle, 1 Caspian Tern, 1 Lesser Sandplover, 25+Swift Tern plus numerous Kentish Plover, Ruff, Greenshank and a Grey Plover . We were rewarded on exiting via the rough track with fine views of a Black-crowned Finch Lark BCF Lark at Raysut Wadi Ashawq - stunning male South Arabian Wheatear! Wadi Ashawq The 4WD was essential for the 7km journey up the wadi along bedrock in places. We stopped by some pools and saw Little Grebe, Teal, Garganey and Pintail. We parked up where the track became too rough and walked the last 3km in the heat. As we waited for nightfall, we enjoyed excellent views of 1 Long-legged Buzzard, 2 superb Verreaux’s Eagle, 4 Arabian Partridge, 2 Little Green Bee-eater, 3 Desert Lark, a pair of Menetries’s Warbler and 2 Fan-tailed Raven. We did not hear Hume’s Tawny Owl, but we were disturbed by a guide who appeared to be taking some immigrants through the wadi(!). We headed back to the car and used our strong spot lamp to scan at intervals as we left the site. Our luck was in as we flushed a Hume’s Tawny Owl , 1 Egyptian Nightjar and a European Nightjar ! Eats tonight were cheap and adequate at a restaurant next door to KFC. DAY 4 – Mon 19Nov07 Wadi Baqlat As we drove out east towards the seawatching hotspot of Ras Janjari , we chanced across a wadi with water in it and almost immediately found another Omani rarity – White Pelican! As we took photos we also noted a Western Reef Heron, 1 Squacco Heron, 1 Greater Flamingo, 1 Avocet, 1 White-tailed Plover, 1 White-cheeked Tern, 2 Greenshank and 2 Little Stint.
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