OMAN & BAHRAIN 2011 WITH BIRDQUEST - JABAL AL AKHDAR & BARR AL HIKMAN

Pallid Scops Owl - the jewel in the crown! (Mike Watson)

A right turn on the city limits of Muscat took us up into the Jabal al Akhdar (= Green Mountain). We started our exploration with highlights: Egyptian Vulture (a kettle of at least 56 birds, maybe 100 some said); Lappet-faced Vulture (pair); Sand Partridge (three for a lucky few); Rufous-tailed and Hume’s (c.10) Wheatears; another five Plain Leaf Warblers; Arabian Babbler and Rufous-tailed and Southern Grey Shrikes. After dark we did a spot of payback for Pallid Scops Owl and despite hearing two we were not successful in seeing any. Eventually we admitted defeat and made our way to our hotel, situated high on the cool plateau at an altitude of 1950m asl, the temperature drop a welcome relief from the heat of the lowlands.

Our two main targets up here amongst the junipers and olive trees are Common Wood Pigeon of the Central Asian form casiotus and the perky little Scrub Warbler. The warbler was quickly located, in same wadi in which we had seen it on the last three tours. Unfortunately the only sighting of the wood pigeon was a close fly-by for some of the group. Black Redstarts and White-spectacled Bulbuls were common and a nearby tiny hamlet again came up trumps with both Rufous-tailed and Blue Rock Thrushes, almost side-by-side. We had two sightings of Barbary Falcon on the plateau this year, one them was a juvenile, which was toying with some naughty Brown-necked Ravens. Also of note on the plateau were Arabian Babbler and Turkestan Shrike (this species bred here, for the first time in Arabia, in 2005, although we could only manage one individual).

(Streaked) Scrub Warbler (Mike Watson)

The Sayq Plateau is also famous for its picturesque mountain villages and terraced field systems, perched precariously on the edges of towering cliffs. We took a little time to admire these impressive sights and at the same time keep an eye out for birds. The spectacular terraced hillside at Al Ayn (The Spring) cascades over the travertine deposits of the hillsides below. We saw several more Blue Rock Thrushes around the settlement here, with its groves of pomegranate and walnut trees irrigated by a network of man-made channels or falaj. Formed in an earlier, wetter climate the light coloured calcareous travertine was deposited by mineral-laden spring waters flowing from the surface and evaporating. In fact Oman was once part of Gondwanaland and during the last Carboniferous and Permian periods (280-300 million years ago) it was close enough to the South Pole at 40 degrees south to undergo several glaciations! At our lunch stop we decided to search for Pallid Scops Owl and to our amazement, Jürgen found one in no time at all, in the first tree he looked in. What a star! Lunch boxes were abandoned as everyone paid their respects to this fantastic slumbering little bird. Less than 200 metres away from the owl a pair of Desert Larks (a pair of the dull grey local form taimuri) was spotted and whilst locating them in the scope a small group of Sand Partridges walked into view, high on the cliff face. Drive-away views being had by all.

Al Ayn, Jabal al Akhdar and Phil Rostron, one of our sharp-eyed drivers this year (Mike Watson)

The landscape as one drives eastwards from the Sayq plateau gradually flattens into a featureless and empty sea of sand and gravel. Here people fight a constant battle against the shifting sands, their homesteads surrounded by perimeter walls, built to keep the relentless attack at bay. Pausing at the isolated gas station at Al Safaj for once we failed to add to our small list of migrants seen here on previous tours but Dave did manage a Desert Wheatear as consolation. Eventually we reached the remote desert town of Al Hij, gateway to the awesome Barr al Hikman, wader capital of the Middle East. At the end of the long journey we checked into our hotel, which is much more acceptable these days than it once was and is actually quite comfortable now. New developments are still springing up on the outskirts of Al Hij but it was nice to see that there are still some ethnic fishing villages with their wooden shack homes remaining on the coast although their numbers are becoming fewer as the area is being opened up. There is even talk of a building a small airport here! Al Hij was fairly quiet but a spectacular sunset against a fiery sky should have been an indication of what was coming next.

Crab-Plover (a juvenile, above!) and Broad-billed Sandpiper (Mike Watson)

It was raining (!) as we headed out early next morning for what was supposed to be our overnight stay on Masirah Island. At Shannah there was a surprisingly small number of vehicles waiting for the first ferries of the morning and a stiff northerly wind was blowing across the jetty. A smiling chap, Prasad, a Volvo engineer from Hyderabad was making the crossing to fix a truck on the island, armed with his diagnostics kit in a plastic bag. A couple of Omani guys had pickups loaded with goats, which were on their last journey to the Muslim New Year festivities. The first ferry came and went, filled exclusively by an oil tanker, for safety reasons. The next was one of the smaller craft and after an insane free-for-all we managed to get all three vehicles onto it, only to find that it might not be going after all, owing to the worsening weather in mid channel. There were white horses on the waves just outside the shelter of the jetty and faced with a snap decision I decided to err on the side of caution and abandon our plans to cross. A small flock of Red-necked Phalaropes at the start of the jetty was another sign of the worsening weather. We also saw our first Saunders’s Terns here. Our agent completed a hasty rearrangement of our forthcoming hotel nights and the rest of the day would be devoted to finding our three main wader targets at Barr al Hikman instead of migrant watching on Masirah. The fisherman’s huts that line the beach to the south of the ferry terminal at Shannah act as a great migrant trap and end at a shallow mangrove-lined inlet. This area always produces something of interest and this time was no exception. A juvenile Crab-plover on the beach allowed some close views of a normally quite shy bird but it was a slightly soggy Pied Cuckoo that stole the show. A bedraggled European Nightjar and a grounded Osprey followed for some, as did a dark, sodden Greater Short-toed Lark, which had us scratching our heads for a while. Heading inland across the salt flats, side trips onto the wet sabhka were out of the question, but fortunately we were able to find several Broad-billed Sandpipers by the roadside amongst the thousands of other calidrids, their facial features blurred by soaking wet plumage we had to rely more on their broad, blob-ended bills for identification. Our final main target, the declining Great Knot, was finally secured at another mudflat site at Barr al Hikman, one of the few that were accessible today. A loose flock of nine birds was feeding, typically way out on the water’s edge amongst a wonderful selection of waterbirds, including Greater Flamingos, Crab-plovers, Broad-billed and Terek Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalaropes and our first Gull-billed Terns. Barr al Hikman is shorebird heaven!

Flash floods near Al Hij (Dave Andrews)

The sound of the downpour hammering down on the roof of our hotel woke me up in the early hours and I decided to have a look outside. Still half asleep, I was met with the shocking sight of a flooded car park and water half way up our vehicles’ wheels. The cars one block down were submerged to around half way up their windows and water was pouring into the centre of town from all directions, filling it up like a bath tub. Although we did not know her name at the time (in fact she was only given one today, ‘Kelia’, having reached sufficient intensity to be upgraded from tropical storm to cyclone) the significance of what she was doing was obvious with a raging torrent flowing down Al Hij’s now canalized main street. With a worse than usual smell coming from the bathroom as the sewers started to back up it was clearly time to leave immediately and head for higher ground. Everyone quickly evacuated and we drove uphill out of the deluged town and pondered what to do next. There seemed little point to go back into town for supplies as the shopkeepers would hardly be swimming around in their stores serving customers. Also as far as we knew there was no gas in town either and as the electricity supply failed, lights gradually went out across Al Hij. Even though we were at the highest point for miles around there was still a massive flow of water across the road ahead of us coming from what must have been a relatively small catchment area, such was the intensity of the rain immediately running off the already saturated desert sands. From time to time the rain eased a little and we were eventually able to cross the first flood, only to be a halted by a much deeper one a couple of kilometres further on. Not even the ‘gung ho’ Omani locals would try this one yet, especially as the roof of a pick-up truck, already washed off the road, poked above the floodwater. A bemused local policeman drove back and forth in his Land cruiser giving out his mobile number (as if he could be of any assistance) and a small group of vehicles built up at the edge of the flooded wadi before us, which had been transformed into a massive lake. There was also an ornithological event, which was taking place that would become clearer as the skies cleared later. Several soggy European Rollers were sat on telegraph poles along the otherwise insignificant stretch of road we were waiting on. The rain finally stopped, for a while at least, and we spotted an amazing six Pied Cuckoos drying their wings on acacia tress scattered across the wadi along with more European Rollers. A couple of Asian Desert Warblers scurried around their marooned bushes and a Pied Wheatear put in a brief appearance. To think I had encouraged some rather reluctant Birdquesters to walk all the way along Shannah beach and then to wade through a knee-deep channel to see our Pied Cuckoo of the previous day!

Flash floods near Al Hij, Barr al Hikman - this is what happens if you miscalculate! (Mike Watson)

Eventually the water level started to recede and the first Omani truck drivers headed out across the water. We followed a while later, crossing the big one and then a couple of lesser floods only to discover from folks coming in the other direction that there was no gas ahead on the main highway. However, there was apparently some back at Al Hij. A couple of swift phone calls later (“I will call the sheik” said our agent) and it was clear that there was still some gas in Al Hij but unfortunately this would mean crossing the floods again and then for a third time to get back to where we were now. In a race against time, as more storm clouds loomed on the northern skyline, we made it back to town, filled up and headed back across the floods and on to the highway, where the gas station was indeed closed. Our next move, the long drive south to Ad Duqm, was made easier when we spoke to a car load of locals who had just come from there, contrary to the demoralized foreign tourists who had abandoned their camping trip and told us that this road was impassable. It is difficult to know whom to believe at times like these. The drive south was actually quite pleasant, leaving the torrential rain behind as we stayed ahead of the storm clouds. It was clear that there had been some major flooding along the way the previous day but it was gone in a flash as quickly as it had come. It was a major relief to break clear of the east coast. Getting caught between floods with a group of fifteen people, limited supplies, little gas and nowhere to stay was a seriously unattractive prospect and with no indication of how long the rain was likely to persist I was very glad to escape. Our thoughts returned to what might have happened if that oil tanker had not taken the whole of the first ferry of the previous day - we would surely have been stranded there for goodness knows how long? I had been kicking myself yesterday as it appeared that the ferry we had been waiting on had departed in the afternoon after all and we could have made it to Masirah. However, missed lifers aside, Masirah in fall conditions would not have been such a bad place to get stuck. I can think of worse.

Barr al Hikman (Mike Watson)