OMAN: Birding the DHOFAR Region

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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

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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.

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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.

White Pelican, White-tailed Plover and White-cheeked Tern at Wadi Baqlat 7

Ras Janjari A two hour seawatch early morning despite the offshore breeze, gave us 5+ Persian Shearwater, 3 Pale-footed Shearwater, 5+ Jouanin’s Petrel, 8 Masked Booby, 100+ Red-necked Phalarope, numerous Sooty Gull and Swift Tern and 100+ Bridled Tern. Not huge numbers for the site, but we were still very happy. On checking the beach nearby we found about 20 stunning yellow Ghost Crabs . We were treated to tea by some very friendly Omanis in a café in the nearby village of Mirbat , where we also saw a flock of 20 Fan-tailed Raven .

Khawr Rouri We stopped off to twitch a superb Long-tailed Shrike which a German birder staying near us had found. We enjoyed excellent views. Working our way down a small stream in the valley we also saw an Intermediate Egret, 1 Night Heron, 2 Citrine Wagtail, 1 Tawny Pipit and a Clamorous Reed Warbler.

Tawi Atayr As we drove up in to the mountains, we passed through another police check-point and a field with 100 White Stork . As we arrived at Tawi Atayr, several raptors flew in, 2 Steppe Eagle ( 1 of which mobbed a Booted Eagle!), 1 displaying Bonelli’s Eagle, 1 Long-legged Buzzard and a Short-toed Eagle . We also quickly located one of our key targets, 2 Yemen Serin - non-descript little birds but restricted to only a few sites outside Yemen. WE also checked out the famous sinkhole.

Yemen Serin and the sinkhole at Tawi Atayr Mike at Wadi Darbat

Wadi Darbat Another beautiful site, but the water levels at the pools were low. We again missed Pheasant-tailed Jacana . We think the recent tropical storm may have destroyed the floating vegetation at the sites that normally hold them. However we still enjoyed 2 Bruce’s Green Pigeon, 6 White-breasted White-eye, 10 White-spectacled Bulbul, 10 African Rock Bunting and 6 Ruppell’s Weaver.

We took a break for another cheap but fine curry in a café near East Khawr. East Khawr at dusk: 50+ Common Sandpiper, 2 Ruff and 2 Curlew Sandpiper. Finishing the day in Salalah , we saw some Fruit Bats around the various plantations.

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DAY 5 – Tues 20Nov07

We set off just after 0300h for our journey out of Salalah, over the Dhofar Mountains to Muntasar 300km to the north. After a brief sighting of a Porcupine , we stopped off between Dawkah and Qatbit to experience the sheer beauty of the clear starlit night sky, untouched by any artificial light from civilisation. Simply breathtaking, the silence even more so!

Muntasar Oasis We departed from route 31 for about 25km on rough sandy tracks. We arrived 0630h at the desert oasis. It has a permanent supply of water from an underground spring. The smell of sulphur was strong! We worked the vegetation. Although no sandgrouse were coming to drink, we noted 1 Greater White-fronted Goose, 10 Water Pipit, 2 Red-throated Pipit, 1 Asian Desert Warbler, 1 Pied Wheatear, 1 Siberian Stonechat, 2 Red-breasted Flycatcher ( including a stunning male), 2 Song Thrush, 3 Blackcap, 2 Desert Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler, 10+Chiffchaff, 1 Southern Grey Shrike and 1 Brown-necked Raven. It was not long before we found our main quarry , 2 Grey Hypocolius , normally difficult to see, sunning themselves in the palms before flying to drink.

Qatbit Rest House and Oasis On checking in at Qatbit (B&B and EM £30 each ) we saw a bedraggled Cattle Egret, 1 Hobby , then at the Oasis; which was quiet and lacking water; 3 more White- fronted Geese, 1 Pied Wheatear and 2 Asian Desert Warbler. The gardens at the hotel were enticing, but we opted for a few hours rest in our rooms. Islam the manager is very keen and very knowledgeable and keeps a bird log.

We scoured the gardens and we were rewarded with a Hume’s Whitethroat ( rare for Oman). We also saw numerous Laughing and Collared Dove, 1 Hoopoe, 2 White Wagtail, 3 Bluethroat, 8 Desert Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Menetries’s Warbler, 20+ Chiffchaff, 1 Common Redstart, 10 Black Redstart, 2 Isabelline Shrike, 1 Red-backed Shrike, 6 Red-breasted Flycatcher and 2 Common Rosefinch.

No sandgrouse this evening at Oasis, so we retired for a curry & a good night’s sleep.

DAY 6 – Wed 21Nov07

Qatbit Rest House and Oasis At dawn, new arrivals in the garden included 1 Red-wattled Plover, 2 Siskin and a Brown-necked Raven . We staked out the Oasis for Sandgrouse and were rewarded when 4 Spotted Sandgrouse flew in and landed on the desert about 100 yards away. We were joined by a confiding Southern Grey Shrike. We took breakfast, checked out and headed south . 10km south of Dawkah , we found the first o f 3 Hoopoe Lark at the roadside.

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Qatbit Rest House Southern Grey Shrike Dawn at the hotel gardens

Al Beed Farm As we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of over 200 Spotted Sandgrouse flying from wet fields. We got better and better views of smaller groups in flight as we made our way around the pivot fields. Also noted were 5 Red-wattled Lapwing, 1 White- tailed Plover, 1 Ruff, 5 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Common Snipe, 3 Black-headed Wagtail, 3 Tawny Pipit, 2 Red-throated Pipit, 10+ Isabelline Wheatear, 10+ Desert Wheatear and 2 Bluethroat .

At midday, 22km S of the farm we found a magnificent Golden Eagle sitting close to the road. We soon stopped for another Hoopoe Lark .

We then turned off on to the Thumrait to Marmul road to try and find Wadi Rabkut in search of larks and possible MacQueen’s Bustard . Recent road works and alterations to the landscape and the afternoon heat conspired against us. We moved on. After 6km, we screeched to a halt. Neil and I spotted a dark under-tail on a displaying lark. We had found a pair of the typically nomadic Dunn’s Lark ! They were fairly tolerant of us and we got excellent scope views. This major hoped-for species capped off our visit to the desert nicely.

East Khawr, Salalah 2 Masked Booby, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Greater Sandplover, 1 Lesser Sandplover, 10 Temminck’s Stint , numerous Curlew Sandpiper and Siberian Gull, 1 Red- necked Phalarope, 1 Slender-billed Gull.

Khawr al Balid We made our way to this attractive site in Salalah to twitch Oman’s first Slavonian Grebe, happily sitting on the edge of the khawr. Also present were 3 Night Heron, 1 Squacco Heron and 88 Blue-cheeked Bee-eater . On the beach nearby was a flock of over 2,000 gulls, mainly Sooty, but with large numbers of Siberian and Caspian.

Ayn Sahnawt Neil at Ayn Sahnawt

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Ayn Sahnawt Neil and I left Dave at the villa and set off on an owl hunt. We stopped off at the Ayn Sahnawt picnic spot. It was noisy with excited teenagers. After some searching further away, we managed to find the a Black-crowned Tchagra . We think they were not calling at present which can make them difficult to locate. A very dapper bird all the same. We also noted Imperial, Booted Eagles, Ruppell’s Weaver and WB White-eye.

We took the road to about 2km towards Shir , chose an appropriate lay-by at sunset and waited. A Rock Hyrax scuttled around and we noted 3 Hobby, 1 Sparrowhawk and 3 Harriers which were probably Pallid. At least 6 African Scops Owl began to call at dusk, 2 of them very close-by. We could not locate any in the torch light, but we did manage to see one in the headlights as we later searched the valley.

Salalah Beach Villas Whilst we were away, Dave managed a seawatch from the Beach Villa and scored with 2 leaping Indo-Pacific Hump-backed Dolphin, 1 Red-billed Tropicbird, 8 Masked Booby, 3 Brown Booby, 203 Red-necked Phalarope plus numerous Persian Shearwater and Bridled Terns . Our final evening together was celebrated with another fine meal and a few wines/beers at the Crown Plaza in Salalah.

DAY 7 – Thu 22Nov07

With a long journey ahead of us this evening, I decided to rest at the beach and seawatch: 2 Persian Shearwater, 1 Red-billed Tropicbird, 2 Masked Booby, 1 Swift Tern, 1 Lesser-crested Tern and a Pied Wheatear

Ayn Hamran Neil added Common Myna and Black-headed Gull for the trip in Salalah. Then Dave & Neil just missed a Didric Cuckoo at Ayn Hamran . Neil pointed out a Red- breasted Flycatcher that some nearby English birders decided was most likely a Taiga Flycatcher.

Khawr Sawli 2 imm Pallid Harrier, 11 Greater White-fronted Geese and an Arctic Skua .

Khawr Taqah 15 Indo-Pacific Hump-backed Dolphin , several Socotra Cormorant, 30 Masked Booby and 4,000 Sooty Gull .

6 Abdim’s Stork at Khawr Rouri capped off a fine morning

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Date Plantations, opposite the Crown Plaza Hotel in Salalah Dave decided to rest up. Neil and I acted on some local birding gen and checked this site out. It was close to our villa. We scored with one of our main target birds, a Spotted Thick-knee sunning itself against a wall. We had driven past the site several times over the last week!

Spotted Thick-knee, Salalah Gulls at the beach Abdim’s Stork, Jarziz

We moved down Salalah beach and saw 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Ruddy Turnstone. Then came the amazing spectacle of over 10,000 Gulls , mainly Siberian, Sooty and Caspian, gathering as the local fishermen brought in their nets. 50 Swift Tern were also present.

Jarziz Farm, Salalah As we approached the farm a stroke of luck! 2 Abdim’s Stork obligingly sat on 2 lamp posts in the middle of the dual-carriageway! We took the 4WD around the farm and also saw 12 White Stork, 1 Graceful Prinia and 2 more Ruppell’s Weaver .

East Khawr A mid afternoon finish here , 1 Indian Pond Heron being the only different bird compared to earlier visits. We had late lunch at the local KFC – cheap as chips!

Dave and I finished our birding with a Blue-headed Wagtail at the Salalah departure gate. We caught our connection back to Muscat at 1800h and were refreshed by the excellent hospitality of Oman Air.

Neil had another night’s stay until his flight to Dubai and duly added a few more birds to the trip list:-

Ayn Razat 20 Red-rumped Swallow and 5 House Martin

Park in Salalah 4 Whiskered Tern 12

DAY 8 (Neil only) – Fri 23Nov07

Jarziz Farm Salalah Beach 12 Sand Martin 1 Terek Sandpiper and 1 Little Egret near the beach villa.

Sahnawt Farm 400 White-winged Black Tern , 40 White Stork and 100 Blue-cheeked Bee-eater .

Ayn Razat 1 Grey-headed Kingfisher and 1 Sparrowhawk .

Khawr-al-Balid The Slavonian Grebe was still present.

Dave and I landed at Heathrow at 0620h and got back to Bridgend by lunch time on Friday 22 nd . We could reflect on a truly wonderful trip, but were very tired after a long journey.

On reflection, we can say we thoroughly enjoyed the excellent service and hospitality of Gulf Air and Oman Air. However, in hindsight we did kind of think we could have used British Airways. They fly direct to Muscat. Gulf Air decided to no longer offer a direct service there shortly before we flew leaving us no time to re-schedule.

Mike Cram 1st December 2007

Trivia: Mike – 48 lifers, Dave - 30 lifers, Neil – 24 lifers (Plus whatever those Dhofar Swifts are!) 13

Species List Little Grebe Greater Spotted Eagle Black-headed Gull Black-necked Grebe Steppe Eagle Slender-billed Gull Slavonian Grebe Eastern Imperial Eagle Baltic Gull Jouanin’s Petrel Golden Eagle Siberian Gull Pale-footed Shearwater Verreaux’s Eagle Caspian Gull Persian Shearwater Booted Eagle Gull-billed Tern Red-billed Tropicbird Bonelli’s Eagle Caspian Tern Masked Booby Osprey Swift Tern Brown Booby Lesser Kestrel Lesser Crested Tern Great Cormorant Common Kestrel Sandwich Tern Socotra Cormorant Hobby Common Tern White Pelican Barbary Falcon White-cheeked Tern Little Bittern Arabian Partridge Bridled Tern Yellow Bittern Baillon’s Crake Saunders’s Tern Night Heron Common Moorhen Whiskered Tern Striated Heron Common Coot White-winged Black Tern Squacco Heron Eurasian Oystercatcher Common Noddy Indian Pond Heron Black-winged Stilt Spotted Sandgrouse Cattle Egret Pied Avocet Rock Dove Western Reef Heron Spotted Thick-knee Collared Dove Little Egret Little Ringed Plover Laughing Dove Intermediate Egret Great Ringed Plover Bruce’s Green Pigeon Great White Egret Kentish Plover Ring-necked Parakeet Grey Heron Lesser Sand Plover Pied Cuckoo Purple Heron Greater Sand Plover African Scops Owl Black Stork Pacific Golden Plover Hume’s Tawny Owl Abdim’s Stork Grey Plover European Nightjar White Stork Red-wattled Plover Egyptian Nightjar Glossy Ibis White-tailed Plover ‘Dhofar Swift’ Spoonbill Little Stint Grey-headed Kingfisher Greater Flamingo Temminck’s Stint Little Green Bee-eater White-fronted Goose Curlew Sandpiper Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Cotton Teal Dunlin European Bee-eater Eurasian Wigeon Ruff European Roller Gadwall Common Snipe Hoopoe Eurasian Teal Black-tailed Godwit Singing Bush Lark Mallard Bar-tailed Godwit Black-crowned Finch Lark Northern Pintail Whimbrel Dunn’s Lark Garganey Eurasian Curlew Desert Lark Northern Shoveler Common Redshank Greater Hoopoe Lark Ferruginous Duck Common Greenshank Crested Lark Tufted Duck Green Sandpiper Sand Martin Black Kite Wood Sandpiper African Rock Martin Short-toed Eagle Terek Sandpiper Barn Swallow Marsh Harrier Common Sandpiper Red-rumped Swallow Pallid Harrier Ruddy Turnstone House Martin Montagu’s Harrier Red-necked Phalarope Tawny Pipit Eurasian Sparrowhawk Arctic Skua Red-throated Pipit Long-legged Buzzard Sooty Gull Water Pipit 14

Black-headed Wagtail Clamorous Reed Warbler Isabelline Shrike Blue-headed/Yellow Wagtail Upcher’s Warbler Red-backed Shrike Citrine Wagtail Menetries’s Warbler Long-tailed Shrike White Wagtail Asian Desert Warbler Southern Grey Shrike White-spectacled Bulbul Arabian Warbler House Crow Grey Hypocolius Lesser Whitethroat Brown-necked Raven Bluethroat Hume’s Whitethroat Fan-tailed Raven Black Redstart Desert Lesser Whitethroat Tristram’s Grackle Common Redstart Blackcap Common Mynah Blackstart Common Chiffchaff House Sparrow Whinchat Willow Warbler Ruppell’s Weaver Siberian Stonechat Spotted Flycatcher African Silverbill Isabelline Wheatear Red-breasted Flycatcher Yemen Serin Pied Wheatear Taiga Flycatcher Eurasian Siskin Desert Wheatear African Paradise Flycatcher Common Rosefinch South Arabian Wheatear Shining Sunbird African Rock Bunting Blue Rock Thrush Palestine Sunbird Song Thrush White-breasted White-eye Graceful Prinia Black-crowned Tchagra

A Total of 201 species

Mammals Indo-Pacific hump-backed Dolphin Porcupine Rock Hyrax Arabian Red Fox Fruit Bat (plus a couple of smaller unidentified Bat sp.)

Reptiles – several small lizards/geckos that we did not identify

Crustaceans Ghost Crab

Butterflies Tiger, Swallow-tail sp, (Plus several species of moth & butterfly unidentified)

Dragonflies Several were seen, including 1 photographed, likely Sympetrum sp?

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References

(1) Birdwatching Guide to Oman – Hanne & Jens Eriksen/Panadda & Dave.E.Sargeant (Al Roya Publishing)

(2) Birds of the Middle East – Porter, Christensen, Schiermacker-Hansen (Helm)

(3) Field Guide to Birds of Britain & Europe – Mullarney, Svennson et al (Collins)

(4) Birds of Eastern Africa – Ber van Perlo (Collins)

(5) Pocket Guide to Birds of the Indian Continent – Grimmett, Inskipp & Inskipp (Helm)

(6) A Complete Guide to the Seabirds of the world - Peter Harrison (Helm)

(7) Sultanate of Oman Map by the Ministry of Tourism, PO Box 200, Muscat 115. This was handy and contained a useful, but small, street map of Salalah, www.omantourism.gov.om or email [email protected]

USEFUL INFORMATION If you are planning a visit to the region, the following links and websites may prove useful. Naturally, different times of year can provide different birds!

WEBSITES : www.birdsoman.com The Eriksen’s website is very useful and informative with regular updates. I recommend using this in conjunction with theirs and the Sargeant’s above-mentioned guide. www.tommypedersen.com Tommy’s website is highly recommended, especially if you wish to combine your trip with a visit to the UAE

TRIP REPORTS : We found the following useful and informative: www.rekel.nl/Oman/omanbird/petersen/index.htm www.osme.org/osmetrip/tripreps.html www.birdquest.co.uk/reportFiles/OMAN%20&%20BAHRAIN%20REP%2005.pdf www.norfolkbirding.com/tripreport_uae_oman.html