Oman seawatching 2009 (and other birding) (1 Viewer)

[Helsinki Birder]

Hi all,

Taking a break from the cliffs at ras ranjari for a bit.
Been in Oman a week now and am seeing some amazing birds. Will get some of the landbirds out of the way first.

12/07/09 Started off around the muscat area with highlights being a sub adult steppe eagle at al amrat dump, Intermediate egret at al qurm park (from the beach road) with an adult terek sandpiper also here.

13/07/09 Sohar sun farms has a steppe grey shrike present at the terminus of the north west corner. White collared kingfisher, 2 sykes warbler, 2 lichtensteins and 3 chestnut bellied sandgrouse at liwa.

A desert eagle owl was at al gaftayn motel late evening.

14/07/09 hundreds upon hundreds of spotted sandgrouse present at muntasar oasis (with a few crowned sandgrouse thrown in). 2 aucheri race southern grey shrike present here also. A single dunns lark was near here also.

Qatbit motel had a single summer adult rosecolored starling. The small oasis here had more spotted sandgrouse and 2 arabian gazelle and a spotted thicknee. Araban camel everywhere (dont know if these are wild).

Houbara bustard was seen at wadi rabkut. (after a good deal of searching)

15/07/09 Wadi darbat produced both palestine and shining sunbird, African scops owl and Verraux's eagle (as well as the other dhofar specialities). The last left turn into the hills before mirbat (just after the al maha garage) leads up to a small house being built with good vegetation around it. The usual specialities are here, but it also produced both arabian and booted warbler.
Yemen serin was encountered at the atyr sinkhole.

16/07/09

7 adult brown boobies (titter titter) were off al mugsail. Top find of the trip was a female (or subadult) type shikra at the hilton hotel sallalah. A greater spotted eagle was nearby flying towards the sallalah nature reserve and a single pacific golden plover was at this reserve on the beach. 4 golden winged grosbeak were at ayn hamran (near the spring)

I have been seawatching only in mornings an evenings as the sun breaks through the mist usually by 10.30 to 11.00, and as well as then becoming truly scorchio...it makes identification that much more difficult.

Seawacthing here is a true challenge. And thats putting it mildly.
Flesh footed shearwaters are the main high number species going by on average at 6-10 thousand birds per hour all day.

There are undoubtedly plenty of dark phase wedge tailed shearwaters going by amongst these, and while I am pcking up birds that appear slimmer and having a different jizz and flight action etc...calling these is best left only to the very closest birds where the bill structure/pattern can be discerned.
So far only a handfull of wedge taileds have approached closely and given truly satisfactory views.

Persian shears go by in the hundreds daily and often give amazing views. No ID problems here and they are rather attractive.

Wilsons petrels are numerous and also give excellent views.

Joanins petrel gives excellent views also, but these are more numerous by far on the evening bouts, when they are presumably heading back to their breeding islands. Only a handfull of these are seen each morning.

A single sooty shearwater was seen off ras ranjari on the evening of the 16th.
Listed as rare, but likely a common passage migrant.

Terns are very much a factor on seawatching here. Bridled tern goes by in their hundreds each day, with Sooty tern far fewer in number. Swift tern is ubiquitous, often flying by right over head or behind me over land.
Other tern species regularly encountered include lesser crested terns, white cheeked and common tern, the odd saunders tern and the odd whiskered tern. Havent seen any white winged terns on seawatches but they are present in small numbers at the various kwhars. 2 caspian terns were at the sallalah port area on the 17th.

Small numbers of noddies are also present with 5 common noddies seen over the past few days with 2 lesser noddy seen on the 17th.

Red billed tropic birds seem to move mostly the the morning, very obvious birds, they fly more like a big white parrot than a seabird, constantly pumping their way onwards.

Boobies (titter titter) seem low in number, perhaps still occupying breeding sites? A single adult masked booby was off mirbat on the 16th. And a juvenile Brown was off ras ranjari on the 17th. All others have been brown off al mugsail.

No rarer petrels yet but i remain hopefull of at least digging out a Swinhoes.

Time to stock up on supplies and spend the next few days out at ras ranjari.
Ill do up a full trip report when I get back.

I know Gerdwicher will be spending 2 weeks out here after I leave, so hopefully this info helps some people out and we will see his observations added here.

Regards

Owen

 

[HH75]

Hi Owen,
I was wondering what the status of pallidirostris ('Steppe Grey Shrike') is in Oman, given as how you later mention seeing aucheri Southerns, which is the taxon that I would expect to be there in the breeding season. Is this an early returning winter visitor, or a 'vagrant'?
Other than that, the Sykes's Warblers must have been nice (no, I mean it!), and that Shikra must be a half decent bird out there? Know they are very rare in the 'proper' WP.
Regards,
Harry

 

[Richard Klim]

Owen,

I too found the seawatching in southern Oman to be excellent when I visited several years ago, but some of your sightings are truly phenomenal and (together with that Shikra - only the 4th record in South Oman, and the 1st since 1999) will be of great interest to the OBRC:

• 6,000-10,000 Flesh-footed Shearwaters per hour, all day [previous max accepted day count in Oman = 1,800 (Sep 2004)]
  
• plenty of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters [rare, with only a few previous July records in Oman]
  
• Sooty Shearwater [only 1 previous record in S Oman (Oct 2006)]
  
• reasonable numbers of Sooty Terns [rare in Oman, and very rarely seen from mainland]
  
• 2 Lesser Noddies [only 1 previous record away from Masirah (Aug 1983)]

Richard (envious)

 

[Jos Stratford]

I was wondering what the status of pallidirostris ('Steppe Grey Shrike') is in Oman, given as how you later mention seeing aucheri Southerns, which is the taxon that I would expect to be there in the breeding season. Is this an early returning winter visitor, or a 'vagrant'?

Southern breeds and is abundant (ie. aucheri), also passage migrant and winter visitor. Steppe is winter visitor an passage migrant, basically from Sept through to April.

In winter, when I was there, Southern outnumbered Steppe by miles.

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Hi Harry,

Steppe grey is listed as a regular passage migrant. Presumably over summering birds are rarer, but as the Birdwatching guide to oman itself states, coverage in the country is a factor and as more birding trips mount up its likely that many species considered rare may turn out to be far commoner.

Shikra is listed as having nine records for oman (total?). So quite a nice find and one I am well chuffed with. However with birds breeding in Yemen surely it must be more frequent than has been recorded.

Richard,

Im using the tried and tested seawatch method of the 10 minute count for the various shears here. i.e. counting for ten minutes and multiplying up for the hour count. This is an average count for a day...but Ive had a few days where large shear numbers have been quite quite low strangely enough in comparison to consistent petrel and persian numbers.

Wedgetaileds, based on the number coming in close (for both fleshies and wedgies) seem to be in a dramatically low ratio to the fleshies. At most 3-4 a day. Again listed by the guide as likely to be more numerous, but true status masked by confusion with other species. Again, Im seeing birds out more distant (middle to 3/4 distance) that seem different....but im not willing to call those. Only the birds within the range of 1/4 distance have been satisfactory for me personally.

Ive had 5 sightings of lesser noddy at this point, one in direct comparsion to common noddy, each time these birds have been attracted into a feeding flock which has formed just offshore, prompting me to wonder if there is just one bird present in the area which is joining a feeding frenzy whenever it forms. That said, each time the birds have moved west out of sight, as have all the common noddy seen...so who knows.

Sooty shear is a species I am readily familiar with and..typically...a good seabird species here that I dont actually need! The guide lists this as a species that is likely a common passage migrant. So again, presumably its true status masked by the fact that most of the seabird species here are big and black!

The past 2 and half days have been very good seawatching it has to be said.
Ive focused solely on the petrels and its paid off with 5 swinhoes petrels and a white faced petrel among good numbers of wilsons.
Plenty more boobies, mostly brown, a single socotra cormorant (thought that species was going to escape me) and 2 arctic skuas (the only ones ive seen off the south coast...there were reasonable numbers off al batinah). Plus the usual fare. Ive had to cut the seawatching short by a day or so, as matilda...my hire car...had a little trouble starting today....:eek!:

Not wanting to risk being stuck out there in the middle of nowhere Im going to keep her running fairly consistently now, and make my way back up through the desert to barr al hikmann in the hopes of connecting with crab plover and maybe great knot.

Regards

Owen

 

[Richard Klim]

Im using the tried and tested seawatch method of the 10 minute count for the various shears here. i.e. counting for ten minutes and multiplying up for the hour count. This is an average count for a day...but Ive had a few days where large shear numbers have been quite quite low strangely enough in comparison to consistent petrel and persian numbers.

Well, Persian Shearwater is usually the most abundant tubenose off southern Oman.

Wedgetaileds, based on the number coming in close (for both fleshies and wedgies) seem to be in a dramatically low ratio to the fleshies. At most 3-4 a day. Again listed by the guide as likely to be more numerous, but true status masked by confusion with other species.

Flesh-footed Shearwater is fairly common off Oman, but Wedge-tailed is rare (contra your comment above), usually well offshore, and mainly Aug-Nov (with only a handful of previous Jul records). eg, the Birds Oman sightings for 2008/2009 lists only 1 report (a single bird off Khawr Rawri in Oct 2008). You've witnessed something quite exceptional.

Ive had 5 sightings of lesser noddy at this point, one in direct comparsion to common noddy, each time these birds have been attracted into a feeding flock which has formed just offshore, prompting me to wonder if there is just one bird present in the area which is joining a feeding frenzy whenever it forms.

I’ve already mentioned the 1983 record of Lesser Noddy. But another bird was reported at Ras Al Hamra in Aug 2008. Yours might still be only the 3rd+ records for southern Oman – again, amazing.

Sooty shear is a species I am readily familiar with and..typically...a good seabird species here that I dont actually need! The guide lists this as a species that is likely a common passage migrant. So again, presumably its true status masked by the fact that most of the seabird species here are big and black!

Similarly, I mentioned the 2006 record of Sooty Shearwater. But another was reported in Jun 2008 (at Ras Mirbat). Yours might still be only the 3rd for southern Oman.

The past 2 and half days have been very good seawatching it has to be said.
Ive focused solely on the petrels and its paid off with 5 swinhoes petrels and a white faced petrel among good numbers of wilsons.

In your first post, you noted that you'd had no rarer petrels yet, but remained hopeful of at least digging out a Swinhoe's. I thought that sounded rather optimistic, but you obviously worked some magic.

Swinhoe’s Petrel is rarely seen off Oman: 11 records up to 2003, mainly Sep-Dec (only 2 individuals in Jul); 2 reports of single birds in Dec 2008.

And there are only 2 previous records of White-faced Petrel in Oman, both in the north (1 collected offshore 1963, 1 from shore 2001). Yours could be the 1st for southern Oman!

The luck of the Irish...

Richard

PS: Booted Warbler near Mirbat was very unseasonal and must be worth submitting - possibly 1st July record for Oman?

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Hi richard,

You should take a look at gerdwichers account for seawatching last year.
Its clearly a case of observer coverage rather than "Irish luck". Gerd in fact had a couple of white bellied/black bellied types during his stay as well as a number of dark rumped petrels confirmed as swinhoes and others which were not confirmed.

As I said, for the last few days I simply focused on the petrels close in shore, ignoring the shears and terns. The birds are there to be found.

I cant understand how counts should be so low based on the numbers of birds Im seeing here (1800 fleshies for a day seems sorely underestimated, gerd got 3000 in some days in august last year, so even thats doubled that basis). Its a seawatchers dream out there at ranjari (mirbat was a bit of a disappointment and the low elevation makes seeing into the massive swell and troughs exceptionally difficult). Luckily a new bevelled road (as good as the road out to muntasar if not better) seems to have sprung up out to ranjari, and it no longer requires a 4WD to make it out even as far as the actuall seawacthing spot (taxis seem to take the odd visitor out there!). With this in mind hopefully more birders will spend their time at ranjari as opposed to mirbat. There is certainly more to be gained from this watchpoint.

I hate to say it, but based on the birdwatching guide to oman, your conclusions about the status of some species seem possibly dated. Many of these birds are discussed as being far more regular than mere ones and two records you mention.
Gerdwicher certainly had white faced petrel last year from the same area.

Right. Crab plover beckons.
Till the final report.
Owen

 

[Richard Klim]

I hate to say it, but based on the birdwatching guide to oman, your conclusions about the status of some species seem possibly dated. Many of these birds are discussed as being far more regular than mere ones and two records you mention.

Owen,

You're probably right that some of my information is rather dated. I've got the Oman Bird List (Edition 6, 2003) and its online updates (which although regularly updated, latest 12 Jul 2009, clearly hasn't acknowledged recent seawatching reports, eg Gerd's). I've also got the 1st Edition (2001) of the Birdwatching Guide to Oman – I assume you've got the 2nd Edition, which has presumably reappraised the status of some species.

Still, it's clear that data reflecting the true situation regarding summer seabird numbers hasn't yet found its way into the official annotated checklist – so your records would provide an important update (both in terms of max counts and individual rarity records).

I suspect that there's been very little coverage during the summer until recently, with most birders visiting in the cooler months for obvious reasons. [Of 51 Oman trip reports on travellingbirder.com, there are none for May, June or July; and only one for August (in which the seawatching revealed nothing of particular interest).] From your experiences, July is obviously the time to go for seawatching – I think I'm going to have to plan a repeat visit.

Good luck with the Crab Plovers...

Richard

 

[Howard King]

I suspect that there's been very little coverage during the summer until recently, with most birders visiting in the cooler months for obvious reasons. [Of 51 Oman trip reports on travellingbirder.com, there are none for May, June or July; and only one for August (in which the seawatching revealed nothing of particular interest).]

During July including early August the monsoon moves in on the coast at Salalah an umbrella of clouds is trapped by the mountains creating one of the best kept secretes in Arabia - while the rest of us swelter in the summer heat the temperature in Salalah is often no more than 28c - murky and damp with rain included it is a micro climate that turns the hills and mountains into an oasis of green. Have been twice during this time frame - the last time the rain was exceptional and many wadiis were flowing torrential streams the waterfalls out of the mountains were amazing. Birds well best seen not described Oman is the best place in the M/E in my opinion

 

[Richard Klim]

During July including early August the monsoon moves in on the coast at Salalah an umbrella of clouds is trapped by the mountains creating one of the best kept secretes in Arabia - while the rest of us swelter in the summer heat the temperature in Salalah is often no more than 28c - murky and damp with rain included it is a micro climate that turns the hills and mountains into an oasis of green. Have been twice during this time frame - the last time the rain was exceptional and many wadiis were flowing torrential streams the waterfalls out of the mountains were amazing. Birds well best seen not described Oman is the best place in the M/E in my opinion

There's a similar tropical microclimate in w Yemen & sw Saudi Arabia, which consequently also host many excellent birds.

But typical once-only European visitors to Oman want to bird the whole country, not just Dhofar, and a full day in the field up north must be pretty gruelling in July (although probably no sweat for a seasoned local like you, Howard). November was plenty warm enough for a ruddy-faced Brit like me.

Richard

 

[Howard King]

Possibly so Richard but for people looking for 10 days at a single destination Salalah in July/Aug is certainly worthy of consideration - Good birds great weather scenery people, history and Culture

PS
weather wise you do get used to it but each time you came back you think to yourself - never again :brains:

 

[Richard Klim]

Possibly so Richard but for people looking for 10 days at a single destination Salalah in July/Aug is certainly worthy of consideration - Good birds great weather scenery people, history and Culture

PS weather wise you do get used to it but each time you came back you think to yourself - never again :brains:

Yes, I think I'll now have to return to Salalah one summer.

Actually Howard, concerning your own allegedly sun-baked patch: I've spent less than 24 hours in Bahrain (twitching Hypocolius), but the weather was absolutely appalling – torrential rain and flooding on the roads. The rental car company even tried to impose a penalty charge for returning an excessively muddy vehicle!

Richard

 

[Howard King]

Yes, I think I'll now have to return to Salalah one summer.

Actually Howard, concerning your own allegedly sun-baked patch: I've spent less than 24 hours in Bahrain (twitching Hypocolius), but the weather was absolutely appalling – torrential rain and flooding on the roads. The rental car company even tried to impose a penalty charge for returning an excessively muddy vehicle!

Richard

sadly we have lost the public Hypocolius roost at Saar to development - still got the birds but behind walls

One thing I did find with Salalah was that a 4x4 was ESSENTIAL here the local rent a wreck is fine

 

[Dermot Breen]

Never mind Oman Owen, hurry back to Ireland its really kicking off here at the moment
We did a 12 hour pelagic off West Galway yesterday, went 46 miles out to Continental Shelf and we had the following 1 Sooty Shearwater, 3 Great Skuas and max. 100 Storm Petrels. Mind blowing stuff I think you'll all agree:t:
I see there have only been 2 Wilson's from the Scilly pelagics so far this year. Hope to God it picks up shortly.

D

 

[Howard King]

When you read Owen's trip report then you will wish you had less of the B and save da few more euros on expensive trips out into the atlantic and joined him there

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Hi all,

Back in muscat now, after returning via barr al hikmann. What a place! A wader watchers dream! Only managed to see one crab plover near filim, but it didnt disappoint! I remember starting out birding and attending a talk by Eric Dempsey on birding in the UAE, Crab plover was burned in my mind as a bird high on my all time wish list. What a stunner. About 90 terek sandpiper here also as well as good numbers of sand plovers (man these are tough in grotty first summer plumages. I honestly hope when either of these turns up in Ireland its in a stonking summer adult plumage!)

Birding muscat yesterday afternoon, particularly in al qurm park, in the hopes of encountering arabian babbler....Failed miserably....the Curse of the babblers continues...thats three species in 3 trips that ive dipped on. Pretty sure im not going to get any, but im stopping into various hotel grounds (always lush) just in case.

Overdid it last night. Ran out of water hiking around the park. Pretty severe dehydration. Threw my guts up outside a cafe before i could get some fluids back into me. (nice) I WASN'T DRUNK I SWEAR!! But it was worth it for the several sooty falcons hunting over the park.

Richards right. The north coast is gruelling this time of year. Impossible levels of heat! Even in the early morning and late evening! (when I arrived in the airport at the start of the trip it was 33 degrees C at 4 in the morning (when it should have been coolest). The best tip I always give for these kind of trips is buy a few packs of cheap cheap cheap t shirts and socks etc....all you are going to do is drench them in sweat! No point ruining anything decent.

I did manage a great cormorant in the park however, which the guide states should be rare here at this time of year.

Looking back over the posts I spotted an omision that caused confusion richard. My bad for lumping all the seawatch records together rather than chronologically. The sooty terns I had were from the NORTH coast (ras as sawadi) and involved just 2 birds amongst a hundred or so bridled terns. Though this morning I did have a possible juv off al qurm beach (a tad too distant to clinch). I had no sooty terns off dhofar. Apologies for the mix up.

I do indeed have the second edition of the birdwatching guide. And its an awesome book. Quality production values! A real standard for how birding guides should be produced ( a few minor errors but nothing crippling. e.g the map for tawi atyr is slightly off. The photo of wedge tailed is mis labelled.)

The site listing at the rear is particlularly helpfull, detailing the status of species at individual sites, and not just nationally.

This is where I believe some of the information your using needs updating, e.g. Wedge tailed shear water is listed as uncommon at Ras ranjari and mirbat. Uncommon is described as not generally expected or occuring occaisionally in small numbers. Rare is the next step, with vagrant status being assigned to any species with less than ten records.

As well as being Uncommon at ranjari, its described as rare for the 3 eastern kwars, so clearly thats 10 records or more from each of these 3 sites. Thats 30 records or more (not including mirbat and ranjari). Clearly a species being encountered more often as birders visit with just seawatching in mind.

Other notes for people who might be in the area. Palestine sunbird, listed as being nomadic and occasionally difficult to come across...must be having a great year! 2 pairs at wadi darbat, several pairs at ayn hamran...and ayn razat is literally littered with them!!

There is a flowering creeping shrub over the western hillside of the car park which had dozens of these gems. I was really taken by the sunbirds I have to say. Great little birds. Would have liked to have seen nile valley sunbird in particular but it will have to wait till another time.

Sallalah reserve seems to be less birder friendly these days. I could find no one at the guard post, and when I started watching plovers at the small pool at the western side I was hastily approached by security forces who questioned me for 20 minutes and asked me to turn out my pockets in search of a camera. They were friendly, but It was made clear to me that I shouldnt be there. Im unsure if access can be formally arranged, but do be cautious here.

There are two small kwars formed at the end of the 2 wadis on the way out to ranjari. These are holding small numbers of birds (western reef herons, some waders etc). But are worth checking none the less. I had a squacco type which may possibly have been an un seasonable indian pond heron. (buff head, no streaking, brown back etc.) but Ill have to do some more research on it when i get home.

There is a reasonable sized flock of spotted sandgrouse (18 Birds) mooching around the town of Mirbat. Ive seen these opposite the shell garage, and on the road out to huni(ranjari). Worth keeping an eye out for.

I was denied access to sawnaht farm in sallalah. But there was a pair of namaqua doves in the trees by the road if you look carefully. Hundreds of doves feeding in the crop fields through the fence, so it becomes like seawatching for pigeons...but they are a cute little species and might be worth it. I was given no explanation for no access, (I got onto jahariz farm easily enough, African silverbill the best here.).

Sohar farm is doing quite well based on my visit at the start of the trip.
The settling ponds hold good numbers of collared pratincoles(mostly juveniles) and unsually, a single glossy ibis (scarce here).

There are now 2 terek sandpipers at al qurm (strange to think that I saw Irelands third, found by my brother, just a couple days before I came here and that was just my second ever at the time, now Ive seen a number of plumages!)

A juvenile night heron was present at raysut port when i visited there. Listed as a winter visitor, is this an early migrant? or was it born locally?

Ok. Thats all I can think of for now. Hope this helps, and best of luck to Gerd when he makes his way out here.

Owen

 

[Helsinki Birder]

Never mind Oman Owen, hurry back to Ireland its really kicking off here at the moment
We did a 12 hour pelagic off West Galway yesterday, went 46 miles out to Continental Shelf and we had the following 1 Sooty Shearwater, 3 Great Skuas and max. 100 Storm Petrels. Mind blowing stuff I think you'll all agree:t:
I see there have only been 2 Wilson's from the Scilly pelagics so far this year. Hope to God it picks up shortly.

D

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa....Dermot.....are you telling me you actually got on a boat????!!
Must have been some chum on the sea that day based on the waterford pelagic a few years back!

Glad to hear it sucked!!! If you had had a swinhoes or a black capped petrel whilst I was out here I would have had to dispatch a ninja death squad to deal with you!:-O

I was fairly confident that, with conor's Terek under my belt, that the "big july wader" for ireland was already in the bag. Once again another trip out of the country with nothing missed at home....maybe there is some Irish luck going on!:smoke:

Owen

 

[Jos Stratford]

I was denied access to sawnaht farm in sallalah.

I was given no explanation for no access, (I got onto jahariz farm easily enough, African silverbill the best here.).

Birdwatchers are no longer welcome at either site - the farm manager directly told me this last winter, reason (he said) being risk of visiting birders bringing on foot and mouth or other disease. I was granted access at both sites by the guards on the gate at both sites, but the (ex-pat) manager found me inside and went berserk, shouting and accused me of lying (said I had not asked permission). He then tried to get description of guards who had allowed me in, the implication being they would be punished.

Omanis are wonderful people, nothing but friendly and helpful - unfortunately ex-pat British managers aren't!

Good stuff Owen, quite a contrast to winter birding.

 

[gerdwichers8]

I am that much tensed, I even have expectations to click every individual shearwater!

 

[hjoman]

Oman Birds

Great to hear you all are having or have had a great time birding in Oman, but please - PLEASE - send me your report. With only a handful of resident birdwatchers in a country the size of Britain and still not many visitors, especially in summer, the odd rarity just might slip by unnoticed. Therefore, we really need all your sightings so we can update the database, the Oman Bird List and the Birdwatching guide to Oman. Please also supply details and/or photographs of any vagrant. For more info and a Rare Bird Report form, please visit www.BirdsOman.com

Jens