Pin-tailed snipe at Khawr Rori

After Ayn Hamran on Saturday morning, David Kilmister and I moved on to Taqah before going our separate ways.

I elected to move further down the coast eastward to Mirbat and then back to Salalah stopping at Khawr Rori (Rawri) on the way back.

Despite intensive birding at varied habitat I only added one new bird to my Oman list and it was at Khawr Rori which was the best location for me all afternoon. So I'll write about Khawr Rori first.

Pin-tailed snipe

There was a large cluster of birds in a wetland fringe next to the great expanse of water. It was here I saw my first ever pin-tailed snipe. It was right next to a common snipe so comparisons were made easier. It has a uniformly thin loral stripe and its bill is relatively short. Looking a little closer and you can see its scapular pattern is quite different. It is more scalloped. Thanks are due to UAE birding which helped confirm the identification.

Garganey

The winter duck population is slowly growing in the region and near the snipes at Khawr Rori were several. All were from the three species I have seen so far and I dont expect a rush of other species for up to 8 weeks from now. Garganey arrived first.

Northern shoveller

I am seeing as many northern shoveller at most sites as garganey now and Khawr Rori was no exception.

common teal

The smallest numbers of the three are common teal.

red-necked phalarope

There were plenty of herons and ibises as well as sooty gull and a few Hueglin's gull.

Other notable birds were a single red-necked phalarope and three gull-billed tern. Once again these were in the same small area of the lagoon as the ducks and the pin-tailed snipe.

Gull-billed tern

Before reaching Khawr Rori there were relatively few highlights during the afternoon. However these did include yet another close encounter with a Bonelli's eagle at Khawr Taqah.

Bonelli's eagle at Taqah

There are always piles of heron feathers around where the Bonelli's eagle has been. Yet strangely a grey heron was perched only a few metres away from this one. I wonder if it was brave or foolish.

The same Bonelli's eagle

In the town of Taqah itself, we returned to the Forbes-Watson's  swift colony which still had plenty of activity. though my guide book says most of them don't stay the winter. Let's see. There is no sign of diminished numbers yet.

pale crag martin at Taqah

Also in the town we came across two confiding (not completely fledged?) pale crag martin perched much of the time on a ground floor ledge. I had heard that they sometimes breed at low level and this was an abandoned one-storey house.

A second pale crag martin

The continuation of my trip out east to Ras Mirbat (before turning back to Salalah via Khawr Rori) was disappointing. I didn't see any pelagics out to sea from any of the headlands.

Osprey

There were very large numbers of great crested tern, sooty gull and large white headed gulls near the Marriott Hotel, Ras Mirbat but I could'nt pick put anything exceptional among them.

Osprey and whimbrel provided a little bit of variation.

Whimbrel

At least Mirbat itself is a very attractive fishing town and worth a visit for that alone.

In my next blog, I'll write about this mid-weeks birding.