A cool afternoon at the lake

The weekend before this one was very cool for late May. I normally don't bird on Friday afternoons except during mid-winter but the cool weather was too good an opportunity to pass.

So I walked out to North Nouakchott Lake where I birded in comfort for over two hours.

The birding was good. It started well with the sighting of a very late northern pintail. It has been a month since I last saw a duck at the lake.

northern pintail

I look very hard at all gulls and terns these days and have had some success with rarities. In the summer months there are less around but spotting an odd one is that much easier.

black-headed gull

However, all the gulls I identified at the lake were black-headed gull. Most looked in under average condition.

spur-winged lapwing

I spent two hours making just one circle round the lake. The weather was a rare opportunity to bird intensively. I caught the attention of the resident spur-winged lapwing on a number of occasions. They are territorial at the moment though I saw no nests.

Sudanese golden sparrow

Sudanese golden sparrow are not always present but when they are they often mix with house sparrow and other finches or weavers. It is the possibility of small numbers of these finches and weavers that makes me look at these groups intently. Last time there were a few yellow-crowned bishop which was a real surprise so far north.

barn swallow

I have little doubt that hirundine migration is late this year. It reached its maximum though Nouakchott last weekend. At the lake there were ten or so barn swallow but twice that number of sand martin.

sand martin

In the reeds I spotted a European reed warbler and in near-by bushes, two melodious warbler.

European reed warbler

There is a large dump of rubbish near one bank of reeds. I suspect the flies in the rubbish and the cover afforded by the close-by reeds is a good combination for certain types of warbler as this spot has given me several good warblers this season.

black-headed gull

As I moved round the lake I came upon one black-headed gull which is attaining some degree of summer plumage unlike the others. However its tail feathers were still not in good condition. No fully fit black-headed gull appear to stay in Nouakchott over the summer.

red-billed quelea

My care with observing the sparrow flocks paid dividends again. This time the minorty member was a red-billed quelea.

African swamphen

I wasn't particularly looking to photograph the resident African swamphen as I have done so many times in the past but when one walks out in front of me I thought I might as well do it.

We rarely get birds of prey at the lake so a marsh harrier was a big surprise. It's entrance was announced by some very loud spur-winged lapwing. They then proceeded to mob it.

arrival of marsh harrier

It was not only the first I had seen one at the lake but also the first time anywhere near the city.

marsh harrier

It didn't stay long. I presume it was migrating.

squacco heron

With my session near finished, I spotted a squacco heron. I have seen one on and off for several omnths though I have no idea whether it is the same bird. Only once have I seen two there.

Melodious warbler

On one of the last bushes on the edge of the lake I finally managed to photograph a melodious warbler at the site. It was good end to a good session.

The next day, Saturday May 20th was also a very cool day for the time of year. I took the opportunity to walk all the way out to the coast. This time, unlike the weekend before, there were many birds and the mix was different from that which I have encountered before.

List of species seen at North Nouakchott Lake on 19th May
Northern Pintail  

Little Grebe  

Cattle Egret 

Squacco Heron  

Western Marsh Harrier 

African Swamphen  

Common Moorhen  

Eurasian Coot  

Spur-winged Lapwing  

Black-headed Gull  

Speckled Pigeon  

Laughing Dove  

Little Swift  

Blue-naped Mousebird  

Woodchat Shrike  

Crested Lark  

Sand Martin  

Barn Swallow  

Red-rumped Swallow  

Common House Martin  

Melodious Warbler  

Eurasian Reed Warbler  

Spotted Flycatcher  

Western Yellow Wagtail  

House Sparrow  

Sudan Golden Sparrow  

Red-billed Quelea  

Oliva north side

I am in Oliva, Valencia, Spain at the moment house hunting for a winter home. This is not a birding trip but I have managed to snatch two sessions of birding over the past week.

As usual for me I start birding by walking directly out of my hotel before attempting any known birding hotspots. 

My hotel is on the north side of the town. There is a water channel a little further north I can walk along which goes virtually all the way to the sea before petering out 30 metres from the it. 

The heron family obviously likes the water channel. 

little bittern

The prize member was an adult little bittern which stayed exposed for a couple of minutes.

grey heron

At least three grey heron were accidentally flushed as I walked along. A single little egret was sighted briefly before disappearing down a side channel.

In that same side channel I glimpsed a common kingfisher.

mallard

In the main channel were several mallard which I presume were domesticated being very tame. In contrast both adult and young moorhen would rapidly take cover as I approached.

House martin are undoubtedly the most common hirundine in the town and over the near-by countryside. Yet I have yet to see one perched on a wire and ironically it was three sand martin which were perched on one alongside the water channel close to the beach. 

sand martin

They were indeed the only sand martin I have seen so far in Oliva.  Near the sand martin and close to the beach I saw two immature yellow-legged gull fly over.

young barn swallow

Barn swallow are more common than sand martin though much less so than house martin. However a trio of young ones sat on a branch over the channel allowing close approach.

distant kestrel

The water channel is along side a road which veers off another which runs through some orange groves towards the near-by village of Piles. Over the junction of these two narrow roads was where I saw the only bird of prey so far, a humble kestrel.

kestrel hovering

The orange groves mostly hold a different set of birds.

an orange in a grove

If you listen and then look carefully there are sardinian warbler about but they are very shy.

goldfinch

In much great numbers are goldfinch and greenfinch.

greenfinch looking left

Blackbird are surprisingly numerous in the groves too though not at all tame. House sparrow are everywhere and I also saw a single serin.

greenfinch looking right

On one of the two walks I reached the edge of Piles which is a village just north of Oliva. There are  collared dove there (also seen in Oliva).

collared dove

White wagtail were seen best there too.

white wagtail

It was the only place I have observed a spotted flycatcher so far.

spotted flycatcher

Back in Oliva there are plenty of hoopoe on the manicured lawns and the screams of common swift flying through the upper parts of the old town cannot be missed even by the most casual observer.

I hope to do some serious birding (as opposed to these informal walks) in the Oliva area over the years if my house search comes off.

East Salalah in mid April

East Khawr as birders call it or Khawr Dahariz as the locals call it and Sawnout farm are both on the eastern edge of the city. Indeed they are only 1 kilometre away from each other at their nearest points.

Some birds can be conspicuously commuting between the two places. These are notably glossy ibis and cattle egret but other birds move between them.

The weather is so hot now I can only visit low land places early in the morning or late afternoon.

Yesterday I visited them both before 8.30 am.

I started with Khawr Dahariz.

terek sandpiper

A few species waders I hadn't seen all winter were present. These included two terek sandpiper.

greater white fronted goose

There was also a single late greater white fronted goose.

ruddy turnstone

I commented on ruddy turnstone passage last weekend. The numbers turning up Khawr Dahariz have increased from the one seen last week to seven. Some are shown above.

close up of two ruddy turnstone

Curlew sandpiper is another bird that has been rare all winter but is now turning up more frequently.

two curlew sandpiper

They are showing the whole array of plumages from pure winter to almost full breeding.

four curlew sandpiper

Friday morning is by far the best morning of the week to go to Khawr Dahariz to avoid disturbance.

three types of heron

The variety of water birds at the sand bar end of the Khawr is usually greater because of this. For example there were four types of heron family member there: grey heron, squacco heron, western reef heron (both morphs) and an intermediate egret.

steppe gull 1

An odd bird to see was an adult steppe gull. Virtually all large white headed gulls left at least 10 days ago. The coast now has only resident sooty gull. Then suddenly I see an adult steppe gull at the khawr. It looks healthy too so I can't understand why it is still here.

steppe gull 2

Other water birds near the sand bar were black-winged stilt, kentish plover, greenshank, redshank and black-tailed godwit. Most of these are now showing varying degrees of breeding plumage.

black tailed godwit

As I mentioned before, glossy ibis commuted between Sawnaut farm and Khawr Dahariz. On a little before I left for the farm, a large number of glossy ibis arrived at the Khawr from the direction of the farm.

glossy ibis

Before I left I headed towards the deeper part of the Khawr where the adult flamingo are fond. As I walked towards them I flushed the first yellow bittern I had seen since the autumn. They must be back or at least one of them is.

flamingo

After seeing the flamingo I headed off to Sawnaut farm which takes 5 minutes to get to.

singing bush lark

 The singing bush lark are particularly noisy early in the day. There is always some sort of bird of prey activity. This time it was just kestrel and a pallid harrier. The hundreds of collared dove were already scattered around the fields. However one sight which seems particular to early and mid April is the large numbers of hirundines and swifts flying over.

Once again there were swifts flying high and on the move. This time they were most pallid swift but included at least one little swift. It was noticeably smaller than the others and when it banked I could see the white rump. This was species 270 on my Oman list.

I am beginning to wonder if I turned up at dawn whether these swifts would be feeding lower on the fields. I have now seen 4 species of swift over the farm and I don't think it is coincidence I have only seen them there this spring.

sand martin and barn swallow

It was not just swifts. Among the hirundines yesterday morning there were actually more sand martin than barn swallow.

sand martin 1

I believe this farm is an important feeding place for some easterly hirundines on migration.

sand martin 2

As they rested on the wires, occasionally another bird would join them. These have included crested lark and shining sunbird.

shining sunbird

Even at 8.30 am it was getting warm. I went up into the hills to prolong my birding day. Coastal birding at this time of year is draining. I will blog about the hills next.

Khawr Mughsail

Yesterday afternoon marked the start of the Eid holiday here. I have a week off work and hope to go plenty of birding. Yesterday, I took a trip out west to Mughsail.

Here is the most western Khawr in Oman and it sometimes has vagrant African species not found anywhere else.

I wasn't that lucky but still added five birds to my ever increasing Oman list.

First up was a juvenile red-necked phalarope.

red-necked phalarope

There are thousands in the sea near-by where they winter. Luckily for me, this juvenile chose the coast presumably just before meeting up with the others.

red-necked phalarope

The scalloping on the mantle is one of the easiest ways of separating it out from the much rarer red phalarope.

note mantle of red-necked phalarope

This bird is moulting from its juvenile summer plumage into winter plumage.

oiled greater flamingo

There was a single greater flamingo in the Khawr which was another first for me in Oman. It is holding its wing down not because it is broken but because it is heavy with oil. The same was true of the other wing. It could still fly though and I hope it recovers.

dark morph western reef heron

Other birds of interest in the khawr alongside 40 or so sooty gull was a dark morph western reef heron.

Pacific golden plover

A very tame juvenile Pacific golden plover kept my attention for some time. It made me realise that the flock I have been seeing in the Salalah area doesn't contain any juveniles or if it does their plumage has already changed.

other side of Pacific golden plover

Next to the juvenile Pacific golden plover were three tame juvenile dunlin too.

Dunlin

The khawr is divided by the coast road. After finishing with the coastal wetland, I walked over the road to the more inland part. There are plenty of reeds, a few mangrove stands and two lakes.

Over head a small group of barn swallow were hawking for insects. However with them were two sand martin. These are the first I have seen in Oman.

Barn swallow

Luckily for me members of both species stopped to rest on reeds steams.

Sand martin

The wetland has attracted a female Siberian stonechat. This is a again a first for me here. The migrants are being to arrive in numbers now.

Siberian stonechat

In one of the mangroves, I glimpsed an eastern olivaceous warbler which was my final first for the day.

Eastern olivaceous warbler

Other notable birds on the inland side of the khawr was a European roller, a large flock of Tristram's startling and a kestrel. In or near the water were plenty of moorhen and at least one common snipe.

European Roller

There is a second smaller water body on the eastern edge (Salalah side) of the settlement.There is much less cover there and bird life was more limited. The best bird here was arguably a juvenile European spoonbill.

European spoonbill

Otherwise there were four grey heron and a sprinkling of waders such as common redshank.

common redshank

So the holiday begins today. I am hoping of lots of good birding.