Recent highlights in the city

This blog is a round robin of some birding I carried out just before Christmas around the city. 

On Tuesday at Sawnaut farm, eleven cream-coloured courser were present on a newly ploughed field.

cream-coloured courser

It's not often you see them in the city but Sawnaut is certainly a city farm.

A booted eagle was another highlight but an obvious feature as is often the case was the sheer number of doves.  For once I looked at the laughing dove quite closely.

two sub-species of laughing dove

In the north of Oman, the sub species is cambayensis which is the same as in India. It is plainer and daintier than the nominate sub species.

The birdlife international monograph on the species say the nominate reaches Mukhalla in Yemen from Africa. However there is no doubt it goes further west as nominate is more common than cambayensis in Salalah. Both are shown in a picture from Sawnaut farm (see above).

After visiting Sawnaut farm, Dahariz park (also called East Khawr park) was next. 

forest wagtail

This time I easily relocated the vagrant forest wagtail which has been present for well over a month now.

citrine wagtail

A citrine wagtail has been there even longer. It is unusual to see them in parks.

Bruce's green pigeon

Like cream-coloured courser, Bruce's green pigeon can be seen in the city though it can be seen more frequently. The best places are parks. However they often go overlooked in the canopy of larger trees.

two Bruce's green pigeon

After Dahariz park, I made a short call to the near-by Khawr Dahariz (East Khawr). I was not doing general birding, I was looking out for exceptional ducks. I couldn't help noticing the presence of two pheasant-tailed jacana though.

pheasant-tailed jacana

A large majority of wintering ducks here are either: garganey, pintail, shoveller or teal. Mallard, gadwell, ferruginous duck and tufted duck are less frequent and all other ducks less frequent still.

ferruginous duck (left)

The diving ducks appear later than the dabbling ducks. A female ferruginous duck was the only one out of the ordinary at East Khawr when I visited.

My remaining targets for Oman among the rarer ducks (but which are not vagrants) are common shelduck and red-crested pochard.

ferruginous duck

A visit to West Khawr was partly made for the same reason i.e looking for rarer ducks. It's relatively deep waters are often attracted to diving ducks. However on first pass, more than half of the ducks were shoveller and there were only two ferruginous duck representing all possible diving ducks.

male cotton teal

Observing a male cotton teal was good compensation. I can't remember seeing a male in Dhofar before. I can only remember seeing female-types.

cotton teal (left)

Also at West Khawr was a wintering purple heron which is not so common.

purple heron

Continuing with the less ordinary sightings was a close view of a broad-billed sandpiper.

broad-billed sandpiper

It was much more confiding than the common redshank and little ringed plover near-by.

broad-billed sandpiper 2

In the fresh water sites in the city, Indian pond heron is at the moment almost as common as squacco heron so it hardly rates a mention among the highlights. The highlight here is not so much the sighting of one but instead how many there are here in mid-winter.

Indian pond heron at West Khawr

Just before I left West Khawr I noticed I almost missed a wigeon. Not many come down here.

wigeon

I will continue looking for rare ducks in January. The wintering species are mostly settled now unless there is a major cold snap up north. Late ducks are one of the few predictable changes without it.

Quick stops at three sites

Last Tuesday, I made some whistle stops to East Khawr, Ayn Hamran and Jarziz farm. The first was in the morning while the other two were in late afternoon.

Plenty of common moorhen and squacco heron were on the water. However most of my attention was directed towards the grassy part of the sandbar which separates the lagoon from the sea.

broad-billed sandpiper (right)

Here is where there can be interesting waders passing through in autumn. A large number of ruff have arrived just like last year. Last year they stayed for 2-3 months before moving on. However there were other waders too including three broad-billed sandpiper.

This species passes through Oman and other Middle East coasts in early autumn but usually only as a stop over before finishing their journey near-by in East Africa and/or Pakistan and southern India.

broad-billed sandpiper (left)

They are easy to identify at this time of year with their double supercilium, darkish overall colour and drooping bill.

broad-billed sandpiper

The picture above shows the split supercilium well.

curlew sandpiper

As the autumn progresses they are less easily separated from curlew sandpiper which incidentally were also present at East Khawr on Tuesday. Most of these birds still had some red blotches on their undersides from their summer plumage.

lesser sand plover

Another wader present in fair numbers was lesser sandplover. The bird above is one of those which has quite a strong bill but is still probably a lesser sandplover (rather than greater sandplover).

lesser sandplover

The second bird is more obviously a lesser sandplover. Indeed it was so dainty I had to look twice to rule out Caspian plover.

adult grey-headed kingfisher

In the after I made a quick stop at Ayn Hamran which was obviously very green from the Khareef rains. However the stream has nowhere near as much water as it had last year.

Highlights included seeing two Dideric cuckoo chasing each other. Both adult and juvenile grey-headed kingfisher were present showing there had been a successful breeding season.

juvenile grey-headed kingfisher

Ruppell's weaver were still making new nests showing their breeding season was not yet over though there was plenty signs of used nests.

Ruppell's weaver

Here, I glimpsed my first Arabian warbler and Arabian partridge since my return to Oman after the summer.

singing bush lark

After Ayn Hamran I had just enough time to call into Jarziz farm before dusk.

This site was relatively quiet. Singing bush lark, cinnamon-breasted bunting and African silverbill were plentiful but no passage passerines were seen. I will not give up on this site during the autumn though.

crested lark

The last bird observed before I left caused me some thought but it turned out to be a crested lark without a crest. 

I birded again the next day which was Wednesday. This birding turned out to be very special. I sighted a bird last seen in Oman 17 years before. I will blog about that next.

Central Salalah

Saturday was overall one of my best days birding in Oman. In part it was because the terrain was new to me but also because it was so varied.

I visited three different places all within very easy walking distance of each other. I started out at Wadi Salalah which has water, moved on to Khawr Salalah which I believe is fed by wadi Salalah's water and then on to the city's main park.

A full list of birds seen is at the bottom of the blog. 

glossy ibis and others

Wadi Salalah was an excellent start. Once again glossy ibis, ruff and garganey were present as seems common on coastal fresh waters at the moment. However there was a much wider cast than that.

Wadi Salalah

Garganey was not the only duck.

garganey

There were two northern shoveller too.

northern shoveller

In among a group of black winged stilt were two of their relatives: pied avocet.

pied avocet

The waders were varied. Most notable was a group of five broad-billed sandpiper still partly in summer plumage.

broad billed sandpiper

The split supercilium on this bird was pleasingly captured in the picture below.

broad billed sandpiper feeding

Near-by in an even shallower area were two citrine wagtail.

citrine wagtail profile

These first year birds have no trace of yellow.

citrine wagtail

I moved on from the wadi to the Khawr which is a designated bird sanctuary. However although I didn't visit all the Khawr, the part I saw was arguably not as exciting as the rest of the day.

grey headed kingfisher

A grey headed kingfisher en route was interesting enough. The end of the Khawr next to the sea had an average cross section of waders and gulls.

whimbrel

A whimbrel on the sand bar separating the Khawr from the sea was the most eventful bird there.

Salalah Park

The park was my last stop-off and in contrast to the Khawr it exceeded any expectations I might have. The lawns were scattered with yellow wagtail which had evaded me until then in Oman.

yellow wagtail

Two golden oriole, one male and one female kept tantalising me with their fleeting appearances out of the tall trees. They refused to stay still long enough to photograph.

hoopoe

Hoopoe seem very comfortable in the park.

common sandpiper

Once again I found a gardened area with flocks of common sandpiper. I am getting use to it as a parkland bird.

shining sunbird

A single male shining sunbird attracted my attention. He was in serious moult.

scaly breasted munia

Two very good birds were observed just before I left the park. Two flocks of scaly-breasted munia were seen. This is a lifer bird for me.

Daurian shrike

Almost the last bird in the park was a Daurian shrike. Until Saturday all my red-tailed shrike had been Turkestan shrike and I was beginning to wonder if Daurian shrike came to this part of the Arabian peninsula.

bonelli's eagle

Finally as I walked into the city centre I looked up at two birds of prey right over the main shopping centre. One was a kestrel and the other a Bonelli's eagle.

Birds seen in central Salalah 20 Sept 2014

W= at Wadi Salalah, K= Khawr Salalah, P= in the park, C= while walking in the city. Bold means it is an addition to my Oman list

Northern shoveller W

Garganey W

Glossy ibis W

Squacco heron W, K

Grey heron K

Little egret W

Kestrel C

Moorhen W

Black winged stilt W,K

Pied avocet W

Pacific golden plover K

Common ringed plover W

Kentish plover K

Common snipe W

Black tailed godwit W

Whimbrel K

Common redshank W,K

Common sandpiper W,K,P

Temminck's stint W

Broad billed sandpiper W

Ruff W,K

Ruddy turnstone K

Sooty gull K

Gull billed tern W

White winged tern W

Whiskered tern W

White cheeked tern W, K

Collared dove P

Laughing dove K,P

Rose ringed parakeet P

Hoopoe P

Grey headed kingfisher K,P

Golden Oriole P

Daurian shrike P

House crow P

White spectacled bulbul P

Crested lark K

Graceful prinia P

Abyssinian white eye P

Common myna P

Tristram's starling P

Rufous bush robin P

Shining sunbird P

Ruepells weaver P

Scaly breasted munia P

Citrine wagtail W

Yellow wagtail P