Friday afternoon in UAE

After leaving Wamm farm we headed to the coast at Dibba Port and then south to Fujairah Beach. In an incident at the beach we saw fishermen delivering fish to shore and up to 8 species of tern trying to take part of the catch. I am waiting on better identifications until I post about this. Meanwhile this post is about what happened after.

We moved on south down the coast to the Khor Kalba area. Unfortunately we drew a blank on both the collared kingfisher in the khor and yellow-throated sparrow directly inland from there.

It was not surprising we failed on the collared kingfisher because the protected area is out of bounds and viewing is from afar. You would have to very lucky for the kingfisher to be seen.

The lack of yellow-throated sparrow was a little bit more disappointing. Nevertheless the birding inland from the khor hled some fascination.

European bee-eater

One interesting feature was the number of bee-eaters seen. There were a couple of waves of European bee-eater. These were the first I had seen this spring since they aren't common in Dhofar, Oman and I have struggled to see any there.

five European bee-eater

There were also a lesser number of blue-cheeked bee-eater making there way through.

Blue-cheeked bee-eater

Both migrant species out numbered the resident little green bee-eater. According the maps in the main regional guide some may stay to breed in the area. 

little green bee-eater

Andrew Bailey and I looked very hard for the sparrow but house sparrow were the only type we could find.

house sparrow

In our search we came across two Upcher's warbler, rufous bush robin and spotted flycatcher. All are on passage.

spotted flycatcher

By midday it was scorchingly hot and we had to give up the search. We chose the early afternoon when it was hotest to travel back west in this case towards Sharjah first.

white-eared bulbul

We did make brief stops on the way at places the yellow-throated sparrow has been seen in the past or could potentially be present but again we had no success. The white-eared bulbul above was seen at one of these stops. When we got back in the car the outside temperature read as 43C.

By the time we reached Sharjah, temperatures had started to fall. We spent our time there in the gardens of the American University and near-by. Sadly the pallid scops owl which often roosts in one particular place was not around. This was the third miss of the day.


Nevertheless, I was not disheartened. It was my first birding vist to UAE and everything was new. 

I was amazed by how many exotic bird species from both Africa and India could be seen in the gardens.

red vented bulbul

Red-vented bulbul was one of the least exotic. I have seen it in both Riyadh and Muscat before even though it is an Asian native.

Common myna were everywhere.

pied myna

However pied myna (also known as Asian pied starling) was a surprise.

grey francolin

I finally caught up with grey francolin which I have yet to see in Oman because it is in the north and the large majority of my birding has been in Dhofar.

superb starling

Returning to the theme of exotic birds, almost the last bird of the day was superb starling. This East African native was seen near the gatehouse leaving university city.

This sighting just added to the impression of strangeness in these highly manicured and watered areas of which UAE has many.

The next day Andrew Bailey took me to some sites around Al Ain. I will blog about these next.

Bahrain on Friday

On Friday, I split my birding into two parts. In the morning, I birded an area in the Budaiya district and in the afternoon I went to the area around Bahrain fort. 

In Budaiya I found an area of untended fields with some wetland. Around the fort was a small stretch of coast and some farms.

black headed gull and curlew sandpiper

At the small wetland were a mix of  birds I would normally associate with the coast but also inland ones too. And a large proportion of them are listed as wintering rather than summer birds even though it was well into May. Both black headed gull and curlew sandpiper would be expected to move off north pretty soon.

 Little tern and little stint

The same goes for the little stint at the same place. 

There were two adult  little tern present and two unfledged terns too which didn't fly during my time watching there. I assume they were the young of the two adults. This was pretty much confirmed when I saw the two adults attempt at one stage to clear all other birds way.

They succeeded with all except the black headed gull which ironically were probably the only birds that could threaten their young.

 young little tern and a kentish plover

Two other waders were present. There was a single green sandpiper and lots of kentish plover. The former is a migrant whereas the latter were probably resident.

green sandpiper

The wetland was large enough to attract members of the heron family. I also noticed that the wetland had small fish which must have helped.

little egret

I saw two little egret and both a squacco heron and purple heron.

squacco heron

Elsewhere near the wetland in the fields were a different set of species.

Upcher's warbler

Like Thursday elsewhere on the island, I came across Upcher's warbler, common whitethroat and willow warbler though there wasn't quite the same diversity of warblers as at the day before's coastal tamarisk.

willow warbler

Rufous bush robin seem to be everywhere with greenery on the island. I was following one which was deep under a tree when I flushed a grey francolin. This was a lifer for me and the target bird for me on the trip.

I revisited the same tree 3 hours later, just before I left the area for lunch. This time I was tracking a common redstart under the same tree. Unbelievably I flushed the same grey francolin from what must have been the same spot. I never even considered he would have returned.

This time he flushed to somewhere in the same field. I followed where he went and I must have got close without seeing him in the same spot before he flushed over and away. Sadly I didn't get a photo but i did  get good if short views.

Rufous bush robin

After lunch, I journeyed out to Bahrain fort and near-by farms on the coast there.

The Bahrain fort (plus wasps)

The coastal sands had ruddy turnstone, kentish plover and western reef heron.

ruddy turnstone

Indeed I saw a very small barely fledged kentish plover among them.

However, the main excitement was in the farms. Here I came across a group of about  eight or nine grey francolin. This time I managed to get a record shot of one of them.

grey francolin

Grey francolin (my lifer on the trip) seem common in Bahrain, present in Qatar and is recognised as expanding in UAE. Yet there seems to be some ambiguity about it's status in the near-by parts of Saudi Arabia.

The Helms guide map shows it present in Saudi Arabia but as far as I know it hasn't been recorded in recent years. Surely it must be around the farms or compounds in the Khobar area?

common redstart

The farms had a very pleasant smell of pepper in places. I assume that is what the workers were harvesting as I walked past one area. Elsewhere there was much market gardening rather than arable.

The farms were rich in migrants and I wish I had been in this place during the main part of the passage season. Some birds which I had finished seeing in central Arabia seem to be lingering longer in the cooler coastal environment of Bahrain. These included common redstart and whinchat.

whinchat

I often get the feeling that whinchat look at me as much as I do them.

spotted flycatcher

The late migrant shrikes (lesser grey shrike and red backed shrike) were easy to see as were spotted flycatcher.

 

graceful prinia

Once again graceful prinia were abundant. This bird is resilient and expanding its range throughout the Middle East. I wonder if increased water management and associated farms in new areas are the main reasons (though in this case the farms are natural enough).

collared dove

Two very other abundant birds were collared dove and common myna.

common myna

The latter bird was flying menacingly over the sands on the coast. I don't think they take small birds though I couldn't relocate the small fledgling kentish plover on my way back to the car park.

My Bahraini list began with this weekend since it was my first ever visit. The full list is below.

Grey francolin	Red backed shrike
Squacco heron	Lesser grey shrike
Grey heron	House crow
Purple heron	White eared bulbul
Little egret	Hypocolius
Western reef heron	Crested lark
Moorhen	Sand martin
Black winged stilt	Barn swallow
Kentish plover	Graceful prinia
Green sandpiper	European reed warbler
Little stint	Marsh warbler
Curlew sandpiper	Upcher’s warbler
Ruddy turnstone	Eastern olivaceous warbler
Black headed gull	Willow warbler
Common tern	Chiffchaff
Little tern	Common whitethroat
Saunder’s tern	Common myna
Rock dove	Rufous bush robin
Collared dove	Common redstart
Laughing dove	Whinchat
Hoopoe	Spotted flycatcher
Masked shrike	House sparrow