Jarziz round up

Work is very busy at them moment so most birding is very local to home as this takes up less time. Jarziz farm is one of the closest sites.  I have been visiting regularly not only because it is close but also to study the Amur falcon making their way through as much as I can before they are all gone for another season. 

They have not been the only birds of prey present.

Lesser kestrel have been observed in roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the numbers of Amur falcon.

female lesser kestrel

In many ways they are similar. Both eat mostly insects and both can be seen hovering before they catch prey which is near or on the ground. Their profile in the air is not dissimilar either.

lesser kestrel hovering

Less frequent birds of prey visitors have been Bonelli's eagle and Osprey.

Bonelli's eagle

Osprey is actually more common at the site in winter. It is only one kilometre directly from the sea and is not as surprising as you might think to see them there.

osprey

Between April 28th and my last visit on May 26th, there have always been at least two Amur falcon in the field.

perched female Amur falcon #1

I have noticed quite a lot of variation presumably between immature birds and adult females.

perched female Amur falcon #2

A few do not have an all white ground colour to their underparts.  This is also accompanied with a very short or non-existent moustache. I presume these are young birds.

perched female Amur falcon #3

The immature males can be subtly different too.

flying male Amur falcon #1

One of the main variations is the amount of dark streaking in the underparts.

flying male Amur falcon #2

The other main one is the lightness or otherwise of the neck.

chestnut-bellied sandgrouse

I still chestnut-bellied sandgrouse every time I go to the farm. It's a guaranteed place to see them.

marsh warbler

Marsh warbler are a spring passage phenomenon. Some days in late April and in May there are several in the long grass. Other days there are none.

pallid swift

One day there was a big influx of Forbes Watson swift early in the morning. There were at least 60 birds. My guess is they had just returned to Dhofar for the summer and were gorging. It only happened once. Most other days there are only a handful of swifts now the main passage of other swift types has finished.


In among the Forbes Watson swift I believe have been a small number of pallid swift though they are very difficult to separate. Not the very pale forehead in the bird above which helps me think that this one was a pallid swift.

European roller

European roller have still been passing through until the last few days. I think their spring passage has just about finished now.

One thing I like about birding in Dhofar is the unexpected. This happened this evening when I snatched a little bit of birding time before dusk. Continuing to see Amur falcon this late in the month was a little unexpected but almost walking into two spotted thick-knee was more so.

first spotted thick-knee

I hadn't see one this year but every time I have seen them I have been on foot.

both spotted thick-knee

I have also been lucky enough to see them in daylight each time though they are more active at night.

second spotted thick-knee

This was the most exposed place I have observed them without a bush within 200 metres. Despite this they were very difficult to see.

It was an enjoyable moment at the end of a hard week.

Baleed Park, Salalah

On late Thursday afternoon, I made my first visit to Baleed Archaeological Park. It consists of a crescent shaped Khawr with undisturbed flat land near-by. Although part of the site is landscaped, the other part is arguably better for birds than my normal local patch at East Khawr simply because it is more private and unapproachable by cars.

Quite remarkably I saw six birds which I hadn't previously seen in my three weeks in Oman despite the superficial similarity in habitat with East Khawr.

Indian pond heron with grey heron

One of these was an Indian pond heron. I actually found it quite different to a squacco heron. It almost looked just two tone. Either the colour was white or dark brown.There didn't seem to be many intermediate shades. I understand this distinction is not so simple in winter.

closer look at Indian pond heron

The dark loral stripe, present on the pond heron but not on a squacco heron, was obvious too. In short it was easy to identify.

grey heron

The birds seem very relaxed at this site. I particularly liked the attitude of the grey heron.

Purple heron

The two juvenile purple heron which were present weren't shy either.

sooty gull bathing

I don't think that you will find as many sooty gull on fresh water in many other places lie at Baleed.

close up of sooty gull

The sand bar and near-by marsh areas that separate khawrs from the sea are often among the most interesting areas on these types of sites.

Heuglin's gull with sooty gull and greater crested tern

Some of the Heuglin's gull seen flying WSW of East Khawr a couple of days before didn't make it too far before landing. There were six seen at Baleed.

gull billed tern with Pacific golden plover and collared dove

At the end of the khawr near the sand bar were many birds including a single gull billed tern, my first in Oman.

First winter Saunders's tern

There were Saunders's tern there and also all along the Khawr. Strangely there were no adults only first winter birds. This was another first for me in Oman.

Pacific golden plover

I solved the mystery about where the big flock of Pacific golden plover went which were seen at East Khawr. It looks like they moved just 3 kilometres down the coast to Baleed.

Greater sand plover

Baleed was also the first place I saw a greater sand plover in the country. 

Moorhen

Moorhen didn't have the water to themselves. Five little grebe were seen, yet another first. 

little grebe

One bird wasn't a country first but it was still a notable bird. There was a spotted thick-knee sitting calmly under a palm tree as I walked past.

Spotted thick-knee

Elsewhere on the land was a red-backed shrike. This was final country first of the visit.

red backed shrike

This male caught itself a big fat spider.

Turkestan shrike

The only red-tailed shrike was yet another Turkestan shrike. They are clearly much more common here at least at this time of year than Daurian shrike.

Male shining sunbird

There is a rudimentary botanical garden in the park. It was here that I observed a pair of shining sunbird.

female shining sunbird

After leaving the park, I walked part way back to my home through plantations. I suspect if I were to spend some time in the banana and coconut areas I might see some different but from the side of the road it was more African silverbill, Ruepells weaver, rose ringed parakeet and house crow.

Ruepells weaver

Some (but my no means all) of the weavers look like they are starting to loose their breeding plumage as the khareef season ends.

house crow

I birded both Friday and Saturday. I'll blog about that next.