Mudhai and Mutahafah in the heat

Yesterday  I made the long trip to Mazyunah on the Yemen border. Unlike Sarfait which is also on this border, Mazyunah is well inland and is in a desert area.

I stopped off at a couple of places on the way out and a different one on the way back. This blog is about the two nearest to Salalah: Mudhai seen on the way out and Mutahafah on the way back.

Not every bird is attracted to camel pens in the desert but most are. I started in Mudhai with my regular inspection of camel pens immediately on arrival to the village from the Thumrait road.

striolated bunting

Striolated bunting were tucking into camel feed pellets and then flying off to rest.

sand partridge

Sand partridge were shuffling around the site.

desert lark

Desert lark were everywhere.

The numbers of doves of various kinds were well down since my visits in the spring. I failed to see a European turtle dove here this time and only rock dove, laughing dove and one or two European collared dove were around. 

Nile valley sunbird

Mudhai is known for the guarantee or near guarantee of Nile Valley sunbird all year round. Once again they were easily seen as I moved into the village proper.

They are well distributed and not just in the area around the permanent oasis where many birders go to look for them. At the oasis I accidentally flushed several chestnut-bellied sandgrouse as I arrived.

Arabian grey shrike

I looked hard in the village for African collared dove on the wires and on the ground. It's tricky looking for them in palms especially as you don't normally have to work that hard to find them. An Arabian grey shrike was seen on a wire along with several European collared dove. In the end I saw one briefly.

European collared dove

Checking the collared doves on the ground didn't yield any more.

hoopoe lark

A hoopoe lark was a little surprising within a village.

On the way back from Mazyunah I stopped off at Mutahafah for the first time. Mudhai and Mutahafah are equidistant but on either side of the road's police check point.

little green bee-eater

Mutahafah was new for me. It turned out to be a small camel and goat farming village on the edge of a wide wadi. A search on the wadi sides for a target bird: trumpeter finch was fruitless though little green bee-eater was seen.

So I turned back to my faithful regime of inspecting the camel and goat pens.

mountain gazelle

Two mountain gazelle also seem to like what the pens have to offer and were rather tame. I presume this is because they come to the village for the pens and are used to people.

African collared dove

Rather strangely African collared dove out numbered European collared  dove both at the pens and on the wires in the hamlet. This was in contrast to Mudhai which is only 40 kilometres away. Yet at times Mudhai can have many African collared dove too but not yesterday.

Two African collared dove

I would love to know what movements are going on.

In the next blog I will write about Tudho and Mazyunah which were the two furthest places way on Friday. I was pleased with the variety of birds.

Drinking and singing

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went out birding in the late afternoon to Ayn Hamran and on Wednesday I also finished off at Sawnout farm which is on the way home. I still had intentions then to look out particularly for any March passerine passage.

Well I can tell you what I had suspected for some while, there is hardly any such thing. In the autumn I saw at least 60 rufous bush robin and they lingered too. So far I have seen 3 in spring and that's my best passerine (equal with common redstart) in the Salalah area excluding yellow wagtail. Of course further north in the desert farms I got two wheatears but things have been thin even there too so far. 

In Salalah, there has not been a single bee-eater yet of either blue-cheeked or European variety.

In the autumn birds meander and Salalah is green and worth the diversion. However in spring they move directly and Salalah is not on a direct route for many.

Odd birds such as Amur falcon and pied cuckoo come this way but they aren't heading to the western palearctic or even Iran.

So at Ayn Hamran, having looked so hard again in bushes and trees, I resorted to watching a watering place to see good birds.

One good bird was striolated bunting which likes rocky slopes. However it does come down to drink.

striolated bunting

I find it is best separated from cinnamon-breasted bunting by the colour of its wings which are deep rufous.

striolated bunting facing me

Cinnamon-breasted bunting were also drinking to ease the comparison.

cinnamon-breasted bunting

Indeed the spot I chose saw many species visiting to drink. Any stray warbler could be picked up.

Abyssinian white-eye (with cinnamon-breasted bunting)

I had to make do with Abyssinian white eye.

Namaqua dove

The rarest of the four locally breeding doves is Namaqua dove. Three visited the stream while I was watching.

White spectacled bulbul

The much more common white spectacled bulbul and laughing dove also made appearances.

laughing dove

Ruepell's weaver are busily making or visiting nests depending on gender. It must be thirsty work.

Ruepell's weaver (left)

Still without moving from the same spot, a common sandpiper joined in.

common sandpiper

Other birds seen near-by were common greenshank and two common snipe.

common greenshank

On Wednesday, I also stopped off at Sawnout farm. I need to check there regularly so as not to miss any Amur falcon passing through. This is a well-known place for them. There is also a small chance of passage ortolan bunting which from my experience in Saudi Arabia likes farms. It's still early for either.

I did get lucky with one bird. A very confiding singing busk lark was on the perimeter fence on the west side. It allowed excellent views.

singing busk lark 1

Singing bush lark were numerous at both Sawnout farm and Jarziz farm over the winter. They still are. 

singing bush lark

Though they are very noisy they can be difficult to see except when they launch into their aerial display.

singing bush lark 3

Seeing one so close and on a fence was a real treat.

singing bush lark

Other notable observations at the farm were that the wintering birds of prey are thinning out. I saw just one marsh harrier and a lingering greater spotted eagle.

marsh harrier at Sawnout farm

I will continue to monitor the passage. Who knows? It may be strong in April. In the meantime I went to the Mughsail area today without the focus any focus on passage. I don't know weather it was the more relaxed approach but I did add to my Oman list and the birding was very satisfying indeed. My next two blogs will cover this.

Hypocolius at Mudayy

I have been to Mudayy oasis once before as it is one of the best places to see Nile valley sunbird. However I have seen them much closer to home since.

On Saturday I made the long trip again because of the high possibility of seeing a difficult bird. This time the bird was hypocolius.

Thanks are due to Jens Eriksen who told me some time ago that it winters there.

female hypocolius

Indeed it was found quite easily near the main pool. I counted 14 in all. 

male hypocolius

I know this bird well as up to 200 winter every year in the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh but it is much common in Oman. I have seen it in three countries now. The third is Bahrain.

white spectacled bulbul with hypocolius

These birds were mostly keeping to the shade as it was a hotter day than average for this time of year.

male house sparrow

In the shade with them were a large number of house sparrow. These are the local type which shun houses and are overall paler.

Nile valley sunbird

It was so warm I even saw a Nile Valley sunbird in the same shady place though the dappled sunlight made viewing difficult.

second view of Nile Valley sunbird

My one regret about this area was getting two fleeting glimpses of a thrush which may well have been a song thrush. However the bush is so thick there I never got a clear view. I won't count it.

Laughing dove

Last time I came to the village there were tens of laughing dove and I only observed one European collared dove.

first European collared dove

This time I found about 10 European collared dove after a very short search. I suspect this is some sort of winter dispersal. Like wadi Rabkoot, Mudayy is another place where African collared dove has been reported. Nevertheless once again all my birds were European collared dove but the bright sunlight plays tricks.

second European collared dove

I left the village by noon when it getting very warm. I made a long stop off at the very top of the mountains on the way back. Here there is an abrupt change from green seawards facing places to the arid inland facing side. I chose to bird right on the cusp behind the police check point at the top on the observatory road.

There was lightly vegetated wadi which I birded thoroughly. I was looking for hooded wheatear and scrub warbler but failed with both.

another Nile Valley sunbird

Quite surprisingly, one of the first birds I saw was a Nile Valley sunbird and indeed got much better views than at Mudayy.

Rock dove

Less surprisingly there were several rock dove seen.

Arabian wheatear

No bird was present in large numbers but Arabian wheatear was seen more than any other. 

Striolated bunting

The last bird observed before I continued the journey home was a striolated bunting.

The next time i went out birding was mid-week at the start of a two day national holiday. I will blog on that next.

Rush round the city

On Tuesday afternoon, I rushed around some birding sites near the city. It's not my usual method of birding. I usually bird in one place intensely before moving on. 

However I  know some good birders who use this technique very well.

In this case it served me well. The last place I visited as the sun was waning give me another addition to my Oman list.

This last place was the rocky but smooth coast just east of the port.

lesser crested tern showing big crest

Here among a cluster of terns and a few gulls I came across a lesser crested tern.

lesser crested tern

It was good to be able to compare it with the three greater crested tern which were a few metres away.

It is noticeably a little bit smaller. The bill is orange as opposed to yellow and the overall mantle and wing colours are lighter.

greater crested tern (foreground)

There were also four Caspian tern present.

Caspian tern (foreground)

The two smallest terns in the group were adult common tern.

common tern

The only gulls in with the terns were slender-billed gull although there were large numbers of sooty gull and Heuglin's gull elsewhere on the shore.

slender-billed gull

One of the gulls was a very smart looking adult.

The main reason for this change in my birding technique was the weather. October is a hotter month than September in Dhofar. Indeed it is the second hottest month on average after May. Birding from the car can be sustained longer than on foot during the afternoons.

Hopefully November will be cooler as normal.

curlew

My dash sites began at East Khawr which has not provided much change in birds over the past two weeks. The curlew was seen there. The site has a very high number of glossy ibis and ruff at the moment but nothing remarkable.

striolated bunting

Next stop was Ayn Razat where the best sighting was an adult striolated bunting coming to drink in the heat. This is by far the best and prolonged view I have had of this bird.

striolated bunting about to drink

The rufous wings, almost unmarked mantle and black speckled chest distinguish adult striolated bunting from cinnamon-breasted bunting. I find the juveniles much more difficult.

citrine wagtail

My last stop before the rocky coast was Ayn Sahalnout. The ducks and terns have gone and the water level is a little lower but there of now several common snipe. However the citrine wagtail are one of the most attractive features.

citrine wagtail looking ahead

This weekend looks set to be a little cooler and there is some evidence that the migration is heavier. Let's see what the weekend brings.