Crested (or Oriental) Honey-Buzzard, Salalah (Mike Watson)
Next morning saw us at Ras Mirbat, the promontory beyond the small fishing town of the same name, around 65m east of Salalah. The town here is a glimpse of the old Oman, with no glitzy modern trimmings and was the site of fierce fighting in the Dhofar war of 1970. In fact the flat Mirbat plain is comprised of one of the oldest basement rock formations in the world, more than 800 million years old, well before any life appeared. With younger, overlying layers of rock having been planed off by the sea around 50 million years ago. Encouraged by the passage off Khawr Rouri the previous day but a little pessimistic about our chances in the almost flat calm sea conditions we were very pleasantly surprised by the action this morning. The highlight was the storm-petrels, with around five Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrels (a new bird for us in Oman) and many tens of Wilson’s passing relatively close inshore. Even more surprising considering they are both monsoon birds in Oman but they were undoubtedly further products of Kelia. Good numbers of both Jouanin’s Petrel and Persian Shearwater were also passing today, the latter allowing some great views of their ‘hairy armpits’. Three Masked Boobies also passed by along with a couple of Socotra Cormorants and a Brown Booby was sat on a distant buoy. Fairly pleased with our tally, especially those who had already decided not to run the gauntlet of seasickness and Somali pirates on our upcoming pelagic, we headed back west to try a site where the grosbeak had been seen a couple of months previously. We will see this bird one day in Oman but unfortunately it was not to be today. Instead we enjoyed some nice views of Palestine Sunbird, including a couple of males, as well as Yellow Bittern, a pair of Bonelli’s and a single Booted Eagle as well as a couple of the now ubiquitous Pied Cuckoo, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and some lovely views of some of the commoner birds of the escarpment like African Paradise Flycatcher and Grey-headed Kingfisher.
Jouanin's Petrel (above) and Wilson's Storm-Petrel (Dave Andrews)
We got off to a great start at Jarziz Farm, with Phil spotting a small group of Spotted Thick-knees out of the corner of his eye. We all enjoyed great views, as the thick-knees relied on their cryptic plumage as camouflage. Then… disastrous news, farming operations appear to have more or less ceased there. In a similar fashion to Sohar there are now only a handful of fields being cultivated and the matrix of irrigated fields that were so productive in the past have now been abandoned, their irrigation apparatus dismantled and there were even some signs of preparation for construction. Even though the overall number of birds and variety of species was catastrophically lower than usual we still managed to scrape up some interesting sightings. An adult male Crested Honey Buzzard, spotted perched in a shelterbelt was a new bird for us in Oman, its beady blood red eye fixed on us. A couple of Common Quail and several Singing Bush Larks flew up from one of the remaining alfalfa crops and a Red-necked Phalarope was frequenting a tiny trackside puddle. One dozen Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse paid a brief visit and of course there was an obligatory Pied Cuckoo. Around 40 European Rollers and 20 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters had gathered here but there were no clouds of larks, pipits and wagtails anymore. Such a shame. A visit to East Khawr (or Khawr ad Dahariz) did not add anything new for the tour but instead some nice views of Eurasian Spoonbills, Greater Flamingos, another couple of Collared Pratincoles, a Terek Sandpiper amongst the smaller shorebirds as well as the desperately sad sight of an exhausted Red-necked Phalarope, which expired in front of us. Yet another Pied Cuckoo, around 30 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and a lovely adult male Daurian Shrike was a sign of the migration taking place. We had an early finish this afternoon and off to bed with an exciting nocturnal adventure ahead.
Spotted Thick-knee, Salalah (Mike Watson)
A small band of intrepid owl enthusiasts set off at a truly unearthly hour into the darkness of a very remote wadi in the Salalah region, where we have seen the sought-after Hume’s Owl in the past. With Yemen and (effectively) Israel off limits for us at the moment there are not many places to see it and having never missed it on this tour there was a lot of expectation we would score, especially by throwing a lot more hours at it than we usually do. In the end we had a very frustrating time. The wadi, which we needed to hike along to a known nest site had been flooded by Kelia, necessitating numerous detours up its rocky flanks around the impassable sections. Although we eventually heard around five owls in all they were all just out of reach of the spotlights in the cavernous wadi. After the disappointment of missing the owl we spent a very pleasant morning checking some wetland and foreshore areas back towards Salalah finding Baillon’s and Little Crakes, two Eurasian Coots, five Ferruginous Ducks and after some study around five White-cheeked Terns amongst the many Common Terns here. Another six Pied Cuckoos were added to the tally this morning as well as a couple of European Nightjars, two Blackstarts, six Arabian Wheatears, Great Reed (new for us in Oman) and Ménétries’s Warblers as well as a Rosy Starling in the company of Tristram’s Starlings. The tree spotters also had the opportunity to inspect some very nice Frankincense Trees in a wonderful location. An early lunch and a siesta meant we could do a recce of Salalah’s other farm, Sahnawt. Long closed to birders amidst fears of contamination we checked its perimeter and found several points from which we could see what was inside.
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Mike Watson)
It is all very well seeing migrants rare in Oman but common elsewhere but it is far more important to see the regional specialties and there was one big gap that was becoming a worry – Arabian Partridge. We usually see plenty on our first day in Dhofar but had drawn a blank this time and with Yemen out of the question it is one of a trio of endemics not to be left behind. I had seen them coming to roost in the sinkhole at Tawi Attair in the past so this was where we would try this afternoon. On the way to the sinkhole we saw five dead road kills, three camels (!) and two cows. Some people have such little respect for other creatures. So imagine my horror when we arrived there to find around 100 noisy Indian tourists, on a day off from their usual work during the Muslim New Year celebrations. As some left even more arrived, screaming and whooping into the sinkhole. Our chances of seeing the partridges appeared rather slim, however, they are chickens with very small brains so I thought and must be programmed to return here every night. What else could they do? Sure enough they did arrive, seven fine looking partridges in total. They took in some sun on the rim of the sinkhole before descending to their roost. Phew! We watched a fine sunset from the escarpment before having a brief try for Arabian Scops Owl. However, our efforts were hampered by an endless stream of holiday traffic coming out of Wadi Darbat and then an outdoor party at Ayn Hamran.
It is all very well seeing migrants rare in Oman but common elsewhere but it is far more important to see the regional specialties and there was one big gap that was becoming a worry – Arabian Partridge. We usually see plenty on our first day in Dhofar but had drawn a blank this time and with Yemen out of the question it is one of a trio of endemics not to be left behind. I had seen them coming to roost in the sinkhole at Tawi Attair in the past so this was where we would try this afternoon. On the way to the sinkhole we saw five dead road kills, three camels (!) and two cows. Some people have such little respect for other creatures. So imagine my horror when we arrived there to find around 100 noisy Indian tourists, on a day off from their usual work during the Muslim New Year celebrations. As some left even more arrived, screaming and whooping into the sinkhole. Our chances of seeing the partridges appeared rather slim, however, they are chickens with very small brains so I thought and must be programmed to return here every night. What else could they do? Sure enough they did arrive, seven fine looking partridges in total. They took in some sun on the rim of the sinkhole before descending to their roost. Phew! We watched a fine sunset from the escarpment before having a brief try for Arabian Scops Owl. However, our efforts were hampered by an endless stream of holiday traffic coming out of Wadi Darbat and then an outdoor party at Ayn Hamran.
Terek Sandpiper, Salalah (Mike Watson)
We spent more time than usual in the habitat of the damned grosbeak in the hope of a chance sighting, as happens from time to time, but no luck again next morning. Although we did have a nice view of a Little Bittern, a White-breasted Waterhen for some and yet another eight Pied Cuckoos! Nearby Khawr Taqah was a little disappointing but still turned up an Indian Pond Heron amongst the Squacco Herons, around 10 Purple Herons and more Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters (including 20 in a single bush at one stage) and European Rollers. Back towards Salalah a small southward passage of raptors included around 10 Steppe Buzzards and a female Crested Honey Buzzard and inside the perimeter of Sahnawt Farm the three Spur-winged Lapwings from our recce were still present (another new bird for us in Oman) as were a Broad-billed Sandpiper, four Marsh Sandpipers and around 10 Red-necked Phalaropes. Namaqua Dove was also new for the tour here with a fairly high count of 24 and we saw another nine Pied Cuckoos! The afternoon session included a visit to Salalah dump where, amongst the plastic bags and piles of tipped rubbish, there was an amazing gathering of 350-400 Steppe Eagles and around 300 White Storks. We had a lot of fun checking the eagles of all ages and found a few other birds amongst them, including two young Greater Spotted Eagles, one of which was a strange rufous morph bird. There were also at least two Imperial Eagles, a first year and a second year. This was an amazing sight despite the grim surroundings. Next stop was Raysut harbour for our south coast pelagic. The boats we usually use out of Mirbat had gone east to help survivors of Cyclone Kelia so this time we were left with trying our luck out of Raysut some 70km west. There were obviously far fewer birds moving offshore here but gradually we succeeded in attracting the attention first of some Jouanin’s Petrels, then Sooty Gulls, Persian Shearwaters and Wilson’s Storm Petrels until all were milling around the boat down to only a couple of metres at times to take the small fish pieces on offer. Somali pirates had boldly hijacked an oil tanker from Raysut port recently and had then been thwarted in an attempt to take a second vessel so we were very pleased to see a heavily armed Omani warship patrolling offshore today. The last bird of the day was a big surprise and also new for us in Oman, a juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike, perched on fishing nets in the harbour.
Steppe Buzzard, Salalah (Mike Watson)
We were now running out time with only one more night birding session left and two big targets still needed before we flew back north and out of range of them. First was a second, determined effort for Hume’s Owl, which was met with success this time and a pair of lovely deep orange eyes staring back at us in the spotlight. Hume’s Owl has a most evocative hooting call, which echoes around the rocky walls of its desert home and although it was fairly easy for us to locate its source, hiking across rocky slopes towards it in the darkness was a different proposition. After ‘walk-away’ views we left and it continued to hoot as we hiked out of the wadi. Jens told us later that local people apparently associated the call of the owl with the presence of leopards. It is bad enough finding your way along the stony wadi floor in the dark let alone worrying about being jumped in the process. I choose not to think about it. Hume’s Owl is such an enigmatic bird, almost one of a kind, that it would be shame to leave it behind for want of a few hours sleep. After an efficient operation we were able to dash across the city to one of our sites for Arabian Scops Owl, just in time to hear one. Unfortunately it had chosen the thickest and most dense tree possible to call from and then disappeared as we got near to it. Spurred on by ‘Scops Meister’ Jürgen we mounted a search for it in daylight thinking it cannot have gone too far and sure enough, after some extensive effort he managed to find it, briefly, before it was gone again. Very nervous this small owl was. After some more effort we managed to track it down again, guided by the mobbing Blackstarts and African Paradise Flycatchers and all enjoyed some excellent scope views before the call of a cooked breakfast became too much to resist. The rest of the day was spent filling in time at the farms, East Khawr and Raysut dump before our flight back to Muscat. Highlights included a Pallid Harrier and Greater Spotted Eagle (fulvescens phase) of note at Sahnawt Farm and Montagu’s Harrier and the introduced Scaly-breasted Munia at Jarziz. We revisited the dump but a blasting northerly wind had scattered the eagles and numbers were well down on our previous visit. The ‘land-lubbers’ who had opted out of the pelagic the previous day caught up with the Lesser Grey Shrike, which was still hanging around the fishing boats. And so ended the birding part of our amazing adventure in the Sultanate. Our flight to Muscat went very smoothly and we arrived to a strangely chilly capital with spots of rain in the air. Muscat and its suburbs had taken a battering from Kelia and some remnants of its massive weather system persisted. Those who could still summon some strength enjoyed a wonderful soirée at our agent’s penthouse apartment, including live traditional music and entertainment as well as a fantastic view over Muscat’s night skyline – a fitting end to this section of the tour.
Muscat nightscene (Mike Watson)
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