UAE/Oman
13th-23rd September 2007
See photo page here
Thursday 13th September
Up at 0515, and into the taxi for the novel experience of a train journey
to Gatwick. Easy! Arrived in good time, checked in to be greeted with
the good news that the plane was almost empty, and relaxed.
And indeed the plane was empty! I had three seats to myself - excellent.
I arrived in Doha at about 2100 local (6.5 hour flight), and quickly transferred
to a short hop to Abu Dhabi, which took just 40 minutes. Oscar was there
to meet me as planned, and we bundled into the hire car and sped off into
the (very hot!) night. Once ensconced at his pad, there was time for a
swift Guinness, and then into bed - at about 1230.....with the alarm set
for 0250!!!! Clearly, I was about to be Oscared....
See photo page here
Friday 14th September
And so it turned out - what a day! Shattered already, I got up ready
for our 0315 departure, and then off we drove into the darkness, heading
east for the UAE's east coast, and specifically Wam Farm. We got there
shortly after dawn (3 hour drive), and met up with almost the entire UAE
birding contingent - all eight of them!
We hit the fields and scrub, and quickly turned up some great birds -
most of which I can remember seeing! An excellent UAE rarity in the form
of Baillon's Crake (after much confusion!), Blyth's Pipit, Indian and
European Rollers, Isabelline, Hume's and Variable Wheatears, a female
Ménétrie's Warbler, Citrine Wagtail, Red-backed and Southern
Grey Shrikes, Grey Francolin, Little Green and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters,
Pale Crag Martin and Purple Sunbird. Overload already - and also extremely
hot by the time we left late morning!
Next, we headed for the coast a bit further south at Ras Dibba, and did
a bit of beach and seawatching - more lifers in the form of Bridled and
White-cheeked (and possibly Saunders'?) Terns, Sooty Gull and Socotra
Cormorant. Also Red-necked Phalarope and an Arctic Skua offshore.
Onwards again in the afternoon heat, and down to Kalba mangroves, where
we quickly found the local 'mega' - the regional endemic form of Collared
Kingfisher. Also here were Indian Pond Heron, Pacific Golden Plover, Terek
Sandpiper and a good variety of other waders, although we couldn't find
a Sykes' Warbler in the mangroves.
We called it a day (a very long one!), and drove in the dusk across to
Sharjah, where we met up again with Oscar's mate Andrew, had an Iranian
meal, and then (really!) crashed out......what a day - thoroughly Oscared.
See photo page here
Saturday 15th September
A much needed little lie-in, and then off again, this time to Khor al
Beida, up on the northern (Gulf) coast in Umm al Quain. We very quickly
connected with the major target here - CRAB PLOVER! And in short order,
I found my other much wanted wader - GREAT KNOT! Excellent - and all supported
by stacks of other waders, Black-crowned Finch Lark and Hoopoe Lark as
well. Superb stuff.
Next stop was the Pivot Fields - a bit disappointing (something of a
migrant clear out has occurred), but still White-tailed Plover, Temminck's
Stint, Richard's Pipit, Turkestan Shrike and a scattering of other migrants.
The Wimpey pits were also poor - too hot now - but Khor Dubai was pretty
good - lots of Flamingoes and waders to check through, plus Osprey and
Marsh Harrier.
By 1500ish, it was hot and dusty, and we'd checked all the sites needed,
so we headed home (via a Cream-coloured Courser dip at the polo club),
regrouped, and got ready for the evening....
....which was a very pleasant Lebanese meal with Nick, Becca and Gilly.
Ate too much, groaned a lot....
See photo page here
Sunday 16th September
Up at 0600 and out of the door by 0630, and quickly heading south-east
across the Abu Dhabi desert to Al Ain, where I successfully found the
café at Green Mubazarrah, where Dave Clark turned up just minutes
after me. After a relaxed look at Red-tailed and Hume's Wheatears, Desert
Larks (including a stunning, ultra-white leucistic bird), we checked the
bushes in a small wadi - Wryneck, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler....and then
a bird I called as a Rufous Bushchat hopped out of a tamarisk and proceeded
to dip its tails (deeply) on the ground - all fawn/grey, long tailed,
long-billed, a bit of a supercilium....er....massive warbler - Hippo?....what?!?
As I write this, and post a look at some photos I managed to take, my
mind is split between a form of Clamorous Reed Warbler of which I have
absolutely no knowledge, or the extreme possibility of Olive-tree Warbler
- which would be a first for the UAE! Let's wait and see what the boys
think....
Dave and I checked the other hotspots of this weird little fantasy-oasis
in the desert - Isabelline Shrike (and Wheatear), Blue-cheeked and Little
Green Bee-eaters, Sand Partridge, and a variety of common migrants - plus
brief Little Bittern and Barbary Falcon.
By about noon, it was a cauldron, and it was time for me to hit the road
- I crossed the Omani border, and it was then a long, long drive to Muscat
- 640km in all today! I hardly saw a bird en route (just a Brown-necked
Raven was worthy of note), and reached Muscat and the very welcoming Brown
family by just after 1700. We had a cup of tea (AHHHHH!), and then had
half an hour down on the sea front by Qurum Park - no Sooty Falcons, but
two Kingfishers and a few waders and terns.
Slap up meal, knackered, bed!
See photo page here
Monday 17th September
Up even before the mullahs, and funnily enough, not even with an alarm
clock! I must be getting used to these early mornings.... Anyway, I sneaked
out and drove to the Al Ansab sewage plant - not as good as hoped - there's
a lot of construction going on, and many of the pits were very overgrown
as well. But there were many Night Herons, and a few Purple Herons, and
a few Reed Warblers and other small passerines about.
Having failed to find the Sunub waste dump, I cut my losses and returned
for a hearty breakfast, and left the Browns at about 0900. More judicious
map-reading led me to the dump in the end - not that there were many birds
about! Just a Hume's Wheatear and a couple of Egyptian Vultures. So it
was time to hit the road for the long drive to Sur and Rass al Had.
The drive was fine, if less easy than yesterday's, and I got to Sur early
afternoon. A few waders (including Terek Sandpiper and Black-tailed Godwit),
a tickable flock of Saunders' Terns and a photogenic Osprey later, I did
the last 40km to Rass al Had along a pristine, and yet totally deserted
highway - the place is right off the map, like being on the moon - and
eerily silent, too! I found the Beach Hotel OK and checked in for two
nights. Plush, with the most astonishing sea view - and a Rufous Bushchat
in the only tamarisk!
I dozed the heat of the day away, ate a sandwich, and then decided to
go down to Rass al Jinz, where the evening light would be behind me. I
found it fine (via a Short-toed Eagle), and excitingly the whole upper
beach was covered in massive turtle tracks and pits! But I was here to
seawatch, which is what I did. And scored! About 15 JOUANIN'S PETRELS
(the #1 target bird of the trip, several quite close), several Persian
Shearwaters, plus Bridled, Lesser Crested, Common and Sandwich Terns,
Sooty Gull, Arctic Skua, and stacks of Red-necked Phalaropes. Even two
Crab Plovers treated me to a fly-by - nice....
Dusk fell, and I headed back to the hotel for a meal and brush up - feeling
grubby just now!
And at 2100, I was back down at Ras al Jinz, getting my permit with about
six or so other tourists - hard to tell in the dark! After a lengthy (but
quite interesting) lecture about the turtles (featuring many references
to "small baby turtles"), we headed down to the beach, and soon
gathered around a huge laying Green Turtle. Fantastic! In the end, we
saw three females, and a couple of "small baby turtles" too,
including one that was heading inland and needed rescuing! What a great
evening.
See photo page here
Tuesday 18th September
A bit of a lie-in today, and after breakfast, I drove the 40km or so
down to Ras al Khabbah. I parked near the edge on the awesome limestone
cliffs, and set up in the lee of the car for the big seawatch - and it
was good! Distant Jouanin's Petrels soon showed up, but closer in, other
good birds - Crested Tern, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Wilson's Petrel and
several Red-billed Tropicbirds. An Arctic Skua was closely followed by
a distant Catharacta skua sp. in wing moult - South Polar, or even Antarctic?
Also a couple of Green Turtles loafed about offshore, and four Garganey
flew south.
Well satisfied, but quite sunblasted, I returned to the hotel, and dozed
for an hour or two. In the late afternoon, I went down to the east-facing
beach at Ras al Hadd (more turtle tracks, and at least two females already
offshore), and enjoyed an hour's seawatch - not so many birds, but some
quality: Arctic Skua, Purple Heron, two Collared Pratincoles, more Red-necked
Phalaropes and several Lesser Crested Terns.
Walking back up the beach (poetic bit coming up), I was struck by the
prehistoric tracks of 100+ year old turtles, criss-crossed by 4x4 tracks.
Makes you think about the passage of time.... Poetic bit over!
See photo page here
Wednesday 19th September
After a disturbed night's "sleep" (an awful nightmare), I got
up just after 0400, and drove down to Ras al Jinz. I set myself up in
darkness, and soon found a turtle just returning to the sea. About six
other tourists were there and seemed well-pleased, but I had my eye on
some distant flying sand further up the beach, and when they wandered
off for breakfast at about 0600, I closed in. Waiting for her to finish
covering her eggs, I did a quick seawatch - which was well worthwhile,
with three Masked Boobies and four Common Noddies the pick of the bunch,
which also included Jouanin's Petrel, Crested Tern, Arctic Skua, Persian
Shearwater and many Red-necked Phalaropes.
Finally, she emerged from her hollow, and I closed in for a fantastic
half hour of photography and reptile communion. Awesome! She got a bit
stuck in a neighbour's hollow at one point, and so I dug away some sand
to help her - did she appreciate it? Hard to tell... I was able to clean
all the sand off her carapace for the full photographic effect, and she
finally returned to the ocean at about 0715. What an experience.
Elated, I returned to Ras al Hadd (via a Red-tailed Wheatear), and checked
out a little migrant trap I had spotted the night before - and what a
trap! A tiny, slightly vegetated wadi just behind the beach held 25+ Isabelline
(=Turkestan) Shrikes, 2 European Rollers, 7 Quail, 2 Desert Lesser Whitethroats,
2 Rufous Bushchats, 2 Rose-coloured Starlings, 2 Golden Orioles, 15 Black-crowned
Finch-larks, a Hoopoe, a Rock Thrush, 3 Sand Martins, 2 Whitethroats and
a Spotted Flycatcher. Not bad at all! Who wants to be on Fair Isle anyway?
After a not so hearty breakfast, I headed off north, via the rather attractive
town of Sur, and drove long and hard on Route 23 towards Muscat once more.
I was really knackered, and at one point had to stop for a snooze under
the (feeble) shade of an acacia tree. But finally, I reached the capital.
I was a bit early, so I decided to have a look in Al Qurum Park, badly
storm-damaged as it was. Rather few birds about, but some real quality
in the shape of another Baillon's Crake, Eastern Olivaceous and Booted
Warblers, Masked Wagtail, and best of the lot, two Sooty Falcons mobbing
a Kestrel high overhead.
At about 1730, I turned up at the Browns' house, was warmly welcomed,
and
SHOWERED! Phew! I've almost had enough of this heat.... David and Gilly
were going out for a drinkie-do at the Army chief's house (attended by
the head of the British Army, no less), so Tom and I settled in for a
slap-up pasta-fest and some Twenty20 cricket - England vs. India. I lasted
about six overs, and then simply had to crash out - bad choice, it turned
out, as I missed the first ever 6x6 in Twenty20.....oh well.
See photo page here
Thursday 20th September
A leisurely start today - away by 0900, and straight up the busy coast
road to Ras as Sawadi, where I easily managed to find a boatman (and son),
and quickly crossed over to the very barren, exposed island - what a scorcher!
the discomfort was supplemented by 100m or so of climb up to the castle
- at least there were steps. Very quickly, I nailed a Sooty Falcon, and
I spent a very happy hour photographing three of them as they zoomed about
the island - fantastic birds.
Now roasting and drenched with sweat, I gratefully put the AC on full
blast, and drove fast northwards towards Sohar, the main town between
Muscat and the UAE. With no intention of sampling the urban delights of
the place, I checked in to the Al Wadi Hotel on the bypass (fine), and
slobbed out with room service and a DVD while I cooled off.
Once it was a bit less searing outside, I drove down to Sohar Sun Farms
- sadly, the farm is plainly much less irrigated than it once was, and
while birds were hardly in short supply (1000s of Mynas, many Indian Rollers
and White-winged Black Terns, stacks of waders on the ponds, a few Grey
Francolins etc.), the diversity and "rarity feel" of the place
was not great. Still, lots of decent oddities - Shoveler, Ruff, Marsh
Harrier, Arabian Babbler (at last!), Turtle Dove, Isabelline Wheatear,
Black-crowned Finch-lark, some flyover Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse and
a large falcon against the light - it appeared to be nothing other than
a Peregrine - certainly not a Saker, but I suppose possibly either Lanner
or Barbary Falcon.
I gave the coastal Khawr by the hotel a quick try, but the light was
now right in my face, and there were lots of picnickers on the beach,
so I cut my losses and retired early.
See photo page here
Friday 21st September
Another quick look at the Khawr was a dead loss, so I hit the road and
reached Shiwas pretty early. I managed to drive out onto the sabkha towards
the fairly limited mangroves, and very quickly located two Sykes' Warblers
- and almost fell into the muddy creek to boot! Other nice birds in this
area were two Namaqua Doves, Black-crowned Finch Lark and Indian Pond
Heron.
Next, it was further north and over the Oman/UAE border, and swiftly
on to Khor Fakkan, where I enjoyed a coffee in the Oceanic Hotel, before
hopping on the dive boat and zipping across to the main port where I met
up with the other nine or so pelagic birders for the day. Oscar et al.
were a bit late in arriving, but we were away by 1230, and soon seeing
large numbers of White-cheeked, Bridled, Common and Little Terns close
inshore, plus a fly-by Pomarine Skua.
Quite quickly, we also found substantial rafts of Persian Shearwaters,
along with quite a few Red-necked Phalaropes. Although we did not add
substantially to this species list (apart from an inbound Marsh Harrier),
we had a really enjoyable trip, featuring Nick on chum duty with his box
of rancid fish remains and the patented "Procellarator" - he
did make a pretty decent chum slick, but sadly nothing ultra-rare or tubenosey
was attracted.
Back onshore, Oscar and I said goodbye to the others, and headed a short
distance inland to a mountain dam, where, sure enough, a few Lichtenstein's
Sandgrouse came in to drink at dusk - also here were Little Grebe, Night
Heron, Purple Heron and Hume's Wheatear.
Finally, we drove the short distance north to Dibba, and checked in at
the rather faded but perfectly OK Beach Motel. We ate an "interesting"
curry in a local roadside café, and then retired for some much
needed sleep.
See photo page here
Saturday 22nd September
Up at 0600, and pretty much straight out into the field at Wam Farm once
more. Really not as many migrants about as we might have hoped, but some
real quality in the form of Glossy Ibis, an Upcher's Warbler, two Montagu's
Harriers, Pintail Snipe and two Ménétrie's Warblers. Sadly,
yesterday's Black-winged Pratincole appeared to have done a bunk. Still
that particular bogey-bird haunts me!
It got roastingly hot very quickly, and by about 1100, we had had enough,
so we headed east, stopping at Masafi Wadi in the mountains, in a vain
hunt for Striated Bunting, Long-billed Pipit - or indeed almost anything
else! All we had was a forlorn-looking Lesser Whitethroat.
I fell asleep for almost an hour as Oscar drove on through the desert
to Al Ain, and we finally stopped at some pools just outside town. Immediately,
a very dark-looking Pratincole appeared on the nearest shore. Gulp! It
flew, showing no visible white-trailing edge....double gulp! But it then
banked, flashing the richest of red underwing coverts....and there was,
in fact, a narrow white trailing edge. Drat! A juvenile Collared Pratincole
- but still a very smart bird. We mopped up a few waders, including Temminck's
Stint, and then headed for Green Mubazarrah, where the putative Olive-tree
Warbler had still been present mid-week, and where yesterday there had
been a Savi's Warbler.
Unfortunately, neither of those birds presented themselves, so we had
to make do (!) with Blue Rock Thrush, plenty of Isabelline Shrikes and
Wheatears, Hume's Wheatear, two Nightjars and another Upcher's Warbler.
This really is a great little spot, made especially atmospheric by the
warm evening light as the air (finally) cooled down a little.
We blasted back to Abu Dhabi on the main road, made ourselves presentable,
and then joined Nick and Becca next door for a rather good curry, beer
and whisky session.
See photo page here
Sunday 23rd September
Last day! And not a very bird-orientated one, really. I got up after
0700, and didn't head out until after 0800, by which time it was already
stupidly hot. NO WAY could I live here.... I birded the golf course/racetrack
area first (Alexandrine Parakeet, Red-vented Bulbul), and then checked
around the Mushrif Palace Gardens - more bulbuls and Grey Francolins,
but the only migrants to be found were a Hoopoe and a Spotted Flycatcher.
The best bird was a rather distant thermalling Honey Buzzard - which from
the look of it was surely one of the regularly wintering Oriental Honey
Buzzards.
I now felt like a steamed haddock, so I retreated to the absurd nonsense
of the Marina Mall - almost empty because of Ramadan, and almost entirely
given over to ladies' clothing outlets. And no cafés open, of course!
So I bought myself a picnic lunch in Carrefour downstairs, and returned
to Oscar's pad to chill out, ahead of him knocking off work at about 1500.
Once he got home, we headed down to the scrubby/tree area at Khalidiyah,
where Oscar and I quickly relocated the apparent Pied Flycatcher (a UAE
mega), plus a Honey Buzzard sp. raiding a wasp nest (ID still to be finalised!),
and finally finaly, te first two returning Asian Desert Warblers.
So that was that - a final meal at the Lebanese Flower, and then off
to the airport - unsociable timings for the flights but again they were
only about 1/4 full, so I had not only TWO emergency exit seats to myself,
but the whole of the row behind to lie down and sleep as well! Business
class!
I finally reached home, in cool rain and fresh air (aaah!) at about 1000
local on Monday.
See photo page here
Simon Woolley
September 2007
|