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UAE - January 2023 (1 Viewer)

I had same issues with a manic road system that didn't allow for easy access to the hides, etc . Not very far apart, but no way to walk between them, thus requiring a maze of multi-lane highways.
 
You were brave to visit Qarn Nazwa at the weekend! Some disturbance mid week but much reduced compared to Thursdsy evening through to Saturday.

Makes sense, didn't even occur to me at the time. I tend to switch off a bit from time keeping / worrying about what day of the week it is when I'm away on a trip ... not always to my benefit.
 
Enjoying reading this, Pete. Oriental Turtle Dove is a pretty good bird in the UAE. Intermediate Egret is also pretty rare - there have been a few in recent years but there can't be more than 10-12 records. Beware modesta individuals, which can be noticeably smaller than nominate alba. Do you have any pics?
 
Thanks Andy. Sorry, no photos of birds as I don't carry a camera, only on my smartphone.

I realised Rufous Turtle Dove wasn't common but I was still at the point of checking every Dove/Pigeon that moved in the park that morning and was frankly a bit more surprised by the Wood Pigeons.

As for the Egrets, I didn't realise their scarcity. I first noticed the two with Spoonbills, where the dark legs and yellow bill were noted, and was a bit uncertain. They flew and joined a Grey Heron, Great Egrets, a Little Egret and a Western Reef Heron in the same patch of water/creek in front of the mangroves - all distant but at the same range and seen next to and crossing in front of each other so directly comparable; they were between Little and Great in size but nearer to the former. They were all too far for the gape-line factor to be ascertained. I could of course be completely mistaken but I was certain at the time!
 
Thanks Andy. Sorry, no photos of birds as I don't carry a camera, only on my smartphone.

I realised Rufous Turtle Dove wasn't common but I was still at the point of checking every Dove/Pigeon that moved in the park that morning and was frankly a bit more surprised by the Wood Pigeons.

As for the Egrets, I didn't realise their scarcity. I first noticed the two with Spoonbills, where the dark legs and yellow bill were noted, and was a bit uncertain. They flew and joined a Grey Heron, Great Egrets, a Little Egret and a Western Reef Heron in the same patch of water/creek in front of the mangroves - all distant but at the same range and seen next to and crossing in front of each other so directly comparable; they were between Little and Great in size but nearer to the former. They were all too far for the gape-line factor to be ascertained. I could of course be completely mistaken but I was certain at the time!
The Woodpigeons are introduced.

I'm not saying they weren't Intermediate, as there have been a number of sightings from Ras al Khor in the last few years. The gapeline feature is only useful at close range in my opinion and you're better off looking at bill shape, the shape of the neck and general proportions. Modesta individuals are noticeably smaller than nominate and have caused a lot of confusion.
 
Sorry about the lack of updates. I was back to working from Monday (to make up for some of the money I spent on the trip), ushing at a wedding on Wednesday, dealing with the aftermath of a break-in at home on Thursday morning (still ongoing) and then this morning tested positive for Covid! I've had a better few days! Will get back to it once I feel more like it.
 
Saturday 28th January:

Thanks for the comments/emojis guys.

Stayed fairly local to Abu Dhabi today as I had hopefully organised an early-ish check-in to another hotel to be within walking distance of this evening's venue. So I started early at the Eastern Lagoon Mangroves, parking at the free public parking just west of the Anantara Eastern Mangroves Resort and firstly walking east in front of the buildings before backtracking & hopping the car from parking area to parking area just off the main road and walking a bit in each direction and viewing from the platforms. Almost the first bird was a Striated Heron on the rocks that make up the man-made banks of the creek with a Common Sandpiper near-by. It was a little quiet but the edges of the mangroves and the wooden pilings held a few each of Great Cormorants, Great, Little & Reef Egrets, Black-headed & Slender-billed Gulls, Redshank, Greenshank and Whimbrel; a Pacific Golden Plover on a small area of exposed mud; a Marsh Harrier flew over the mangroves disturbing flocks of Common Myna; the resort and the small park at the eastern end had the usual selection of Collared & Laughing Doves, Feral Pigeon, Hoopoe, House Crow, House Sparrow, Sunbirds and White Wagtails.

I then headed inland to Al Wathba Wetland Reserve - an impressive sight / site in the desert as it is a large area of water and a scope is certainly required. I first set up under the shelter near the visitor area and then slowly wandered the longer path circuit stopping off for further scanning at the blinds/hides/viewpoints. It was the hottest day of my trip so far (more like what I had expected) so I thought it may be a bit quiet but there was definitely plenty around. In the water there were hundreds, if not thousands, of Flamingos, with hundreds of waders on the edge of the mud and on the sandbanks, including: Red-wattled Lapwing, Kentish Plover, Little Stint, Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank and Black-winged Stilt - new for the trip were a few each of Common Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper plus a small, distant flock of Avocet. There were also significant number of ducks: a large flock of Teal on a sandbank, a few Mallard, a group of feeding Northern Shoveler and four Common Shelduck.

It was not all waders and waterfowl - on the path away from the water I flushed 2 Grey Francolin, there were Common Swift overhead and some low-flying Barn Swallows, a Green Bee-eater sallied out from the boundary fence and noisy White-eared Bulbuls called from the scrub A Black-winged Kite flew in low and forced another, previously unseen one, out of a tree on the neighbouring land and they flew around interacting together for a while before disappearing behind the trees. At the end of the site furthest from the entrance, I had a brief golden period which started with a tiny Namaqua Dove flitting low along the path in front of me and a Graceful Prinia calling from the top of bamboo stems. Then a small warbler few out of a bush and dived deep into the lower canopy of some dense scrub but with patience I got good views of a Desert Lesser Whitethroat *. On the walk back toward where the car was parked a shrike sat up obligingly and showed the warmer brown tones on the head of a Turkestan Shrike *.

With that it was time to head to my accommodation on Yas Island and this evening's highlight at Etihad Park. A much better class of hotel than I usually use and certainly beyond my normal price bracket - I've never experienced valet parking before and it was a little unnerving seeing someone drive off in my hire car!

Photo: The Eastern Mangroves with Abu Dhabi beyond.
 

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Sunday 29th January:

Still an early-ish start, despite a slightly late finish last evening, and another fine looking day. I began by going through the scrub to the coastline adjacent to the Abu Dhabi Officer's Club. The usual urban/roadside/farmland species were common again here and on the journey. There were a number of fishermen on the shore so nothing was close in, apart from a Common Sandpiper, and a quick scan did not produce much new either with just distant Flamingos, Grey & Reef Herons and Great Egrets and a few Gull-billed Tern overhead keeping an eye on what the anglers were bringing in. So I drove to the Corniche to see what was about - again not much apart from more of the Terns and a small group of gulls on the beach close to the parking area that allowed for good, close comparison views of mixed Black-headed & Slender-billed Gulls plus a small group of adult Heuglin's with a single Steppe Gull. A Marsh Harrier looked a bit incongruous flying across this urban area.

I had been based on the western Arabian Gulf coast so far but today it was time to relocate to the eastern Gulf of Oman side so I set off inland toward Al Ain. My destination was Green Mubazzarah which turned out to be a slightly odd combination of oasis/pic-nic area/manicured park/holiday camp type place but was not as busy as it looked like it might get sometimes. I pulled up in the first parking spot I came to and ate a bit of lunch - on the mown and irrigated grass below some specimen trees a small flock of Cattle Egret were feeding with a couple of African Sacred Ibis and scattered Red-wattled Lapwing and with Bee-eaters over, Hoopoe probing the wet ground, a Roller on a lamp standard and Parakeets squawking, it all seemed quite exotic. A number of House Martin feeding close to the ground and some White Wagtails trotting around gave a bit more of a UK feel.

I had noticed a road sign for an historic dam so set off thinking the water behind might hold some interest. However I soon came to a barrier and the gateman informed me the road was closed to visitors as the lake was empty. There was another small lake back beyond where I first parked but it was more a sort of a boating lake affair with some people out on it so not much in the way of birdlife. After a slow drive around the more managed parts of the area I decided to look for something a bit more natural so returned to the area I had parked at earlier and walked across the bridge over the dry stream-bed and up an interesting looking dry valley. I had not gone too far when a movement ahead attracted my attention and a Sand Partridge * hurried away up a rocky path. Further up the wadi I had a Desert Lesser Whitethroat in a scrubby tree, a Kestrel hovering over one side slope and a Red-tailed Wheatear * flew up and away from me into a side wadi but I couldn't re-find it. It was hot by now so I wasn't too surprised by the lack of activity. Returning to the car I saw what was presumably the same Partridge again with another.

Next up was a drive along the twisting road up Jebel Hafrit stopping off at the various car parks to admire the slightly hazy but impressive views. At the upper parking area the altitude had brought a new suite of species: Brown-necked Raven overhead; Pale Crag Martin around the buildings; 3 Egyptian Vultures circling the highest crag and a Hume's Wheatear perched on the barrier fence. A bird on the ground around the edges of the car park and the rocks/scree had me going for a while (as had one at another parking area a little further back down the road) as at different times and with differing poses it seemed to have the jizz of a sparrow/wheatear/pipit combined but I finally nailed it down as a Long-billed Pipit*.

With a bit of travelling to do it was time to head north and then east to tonight's accommodation in Fujairah, passing through the Hajar Mountains at dusk.

Photo: Wadi at Green Mubazzarah (taken for a rock climbing friend).
 

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Monday 30th January:

The plan for this morning had been Khor Kalba but literally as I was leaving the hotel room I checked online for access details and opening times to find out the site is closed on Mondays. So a rapid change of plan and I headed north to Wamm Farms. A bit of an odd birding experience. I arrived at the National Dairy Farm to find the gate closed and it looking somewhat abandoned but the gateman emerged and let me in once I told him why I was there. I handed him a photocopy of my passport as recommended on the uaebirding site, due to the farm being alongside the Omani border, and asked where to park to which he said no problem and waved his hand in the direction of the farmyard. I found a spot that looked to be out of the way of any farming operations and set off with scope on my back and bins in hand but trying to remember not to point any optics in the direction of the border.

The farmyard held House Sparrows and the usual Pigeons/Doves and there were Mynas in the shelterbelt trees. As I reached the irrigated forage fields there was a small flock of Cattle Egret and scattered Red-wattled Lapwings and Hooded Crows. Walking down a track in the direction of the border fence I flushed some Crested Lark from the drier land. Once I was as close as I deemed wise I turned round and took a different track back toward the farm buildings but it seemed quiet. This changed however when I followed a track parallel to the road where the scrubby hedge held White-eared Bulbul, Purple Sunbird, a sallying Green Bee-eater and, as I moved to get a view of an Indian Roller perched in the top, a couple of more skulking birds low down caught my attention - Arabian Babblers *. Out on the fields a few Hoopoe probed the harvested patches and a couple of Shrikes sat up on the irrigation heads; once I repositioned so as not to point the scope at the border fence I had good enough views of both to call them Daurian. Heading back again I passed between the cattle barns where there were flocks of Common Myna in the rafters and a number of White Wagtails poking about in the fodder/muck piles - one of which was a smart Masked Wagtail *.

I headed to the coast around Ras Dibba and drove out to the end of the narrow promontory where there is a small shellfish industry and mast. I had just come to a halt when a chap emerged from the antenna compound to politely tell me I couldn't stay there as it was a military installation. So I turned round and first parked overlooking the bay to see a Sandwich Tern pass close by following the edge of the shore, as I grabbed a bit of food. Turning in the direction of the small harbour was even better as I was able to study a group of 4 or 5 orange-billed terns - I was just coming to the conclusion that due to the orangey-yellow bill they were probably Lesser Crested Terns * when another much larger, darker mantled and greeny-yellow billed one confirmed these thoughts - a Greater Crested (Swift) Tern *. Whilst I watched them circling and diving, a small group of White-cheeked Terns * appeared over the breakwater and joined in feeding in the small harbour. Great timing for my visit!

Turning back south I set off for Masafi Wadi but without high expectations as the uaebirding website warned in an update from some time ago that a new road may be planned for the area. This proved to be the case and I pulled off the now opened road onto a flat, gravelly area to decide upon my next move. I decided on a wander around the area but it appeared to have been much disturbed by the roadbuilding with parts graded and piles of rubble. But there were a few retained scrubby bushes, into one of which dived a pair of squabbling warblers that after some time I could not turn into anything else but Chiffchaff. A stalk of a Wheatear flitting from rock pile to rock pile sorted it out as another Red-tailed. To the sound of a covey of bulldozers working on a quarry behind me I went back towards the car a bit disappointed. But seeing the seemingly more natural landscape beyond I crossed the road and, channelling my inner Jos, set off up a random wadi. I then spent the afternoon wandering up and down the more accessible side wadis or crossing the ridges and returning down another or just sitting up high admiring the views in this interesting habitat. A surprise to me, there were numerous butterflies (both numbers and species) and a few Odonata, I guess because the weather was fine. It was good for birds as well: Kestrel and Brown-necked Raven overhead; Pale Crag Martins around the rocky peaks; White-spectacled Bulbuls calling from the shrubs; Striolated Buntings poking around on the ground; a Desert Lesser Whitethroat in some scrub; a couple of Long-billed Pipits at the highest point I reached. But the highlights were a Scrub Warbler * that took some patient tracking down; a patch of contrasting black and red in a bush that turned in to a fine Black Redstart and an elusive female Hooded Wheatear * that led me on a bit of a chase.

I eventually slowly returned to the car after a great afternoon - shame the other parts of this fascinating natural habitat had been trashed for the road but I guess an existing valley is the obvious route for a new road. I drove back to Fujairah and sat on the Corniche for a while, just a few terns and gulls about but a nice way to finish the day as dusk descended.

Photo:
1. View over an untouched part of Masafi Wadi;
2. Blue Pansy - the only butterfly that cooperated for a phone photo - thanks to Jos for the ID. (Edited to correct my mislabelling).
 

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