December round up at Ayn Hamran

I now have a clear idea what my Nemesis birds are in Dhofar having been here for four months. Nemesis birds are those you should have seen given the effort but it just hasn't happened. 

My two are Arabian golden winged grosbeck and Verreaux's eagle. 

Ayn Hamran is one of the best places to see the former and the latter has been seen flying over there too.

I visit Ayn Hamran about three times a week mostly in the early morning but have had no success with these birds.

Ironically black-crowned tchagra was a Nemesis bird for me in Saudi Arabia but I see it regularly at Ayn Hamran without difficulty.

black crowned tchagra yesterday

Yesterday I saw three groups including one out in the open in a tree.

Turkestan shrike

Another highlight from yesterday morning was a smart male Turkestan shrike. This is more evidence that some Turkestan shrike stay the winter (and not just Daurian shrike).

Arabian warbler from December 12th

Ayn Hamran is a good place to see Arabian warbler. I did so on every visit in December.

masked shrike

In early November I saw a masked shrike there and I saw it again on December 12th. Others have reported it in between times. This species occasionally winters in south west Arabia presumably including southern Oman.

African silverbill on December 12th

Of course the main birds at Ayn Hamran are none of the above. They include Ruepell's weaver, African silverbill, blackstart and Abyssinian white-eye.

spotted flycatcher

Going back earlier in the month, I observed a spotted flycatcher on December 5th. This was a seriously late passage. It was over two weeks later than the previous one.

second view of spotted flycatcher

I will keep visiting Ayn Hamran. One day I will see the grosbeck even if I have to wait to the Khareef season when there are records of high numbers there. 

Griffon vulture at Raysut

Yesterday I returned to birding for a second session after breakfast. I decided to head to Raysut settling pools on the western edge of the city. I have seen reports of good observations there of birds I haven't seen.

When I arrived and parked up I met a German birder who had just come from the rubbish dump where he had seen a griffon vulture.

griffon vulture at Raysut

I thanked him for the information and I made the instant decision to head back to the dump which I had passed on the way. However it is a very large place and I was uncertain of the exact location of the bird.

I had a mixture of luck and intelligence. As I drove towards the dump which is well over 1 kilometre from the pools I kept looking up in the sky to see if it had flown. 

Within 250 metres of the pools I saw the griffon vulture in the air. I immediately stopped the car and got out to view and photograph. 

another view of a griffon vulture at Raysut

I was just in time as it heading off towards the mountains.

This was another new bird for me in Oman although they were regular in winter in the Riyadh area of Saudi Arabia.

This makes species 226 on my country list.

many tens of Abdim's stork at Raysut settling pools

The pools were a bit of an anti-climax. The Abdim's stork were there again in big numbers. The strong winds had pushed them all together for shelter.

flamingo walking at Raysut settling pools

I looked for Eurasian stone curlew which had been reported two weeks before but I had no success. I walked all round the site in this search. Some flamingo were walking around too.

Wadi Darbat below from Tawi Atair plateau

It was ironic to find griffon vulture at Raysut on a day that I wasn't looking for it.

The day before on Friday I had been to the Tawi Atair area to look for it and Verreaux's eagle since this is where these two species are more regularly seen.

steppe eagle at Tawi Atair

I was hampered by very strong winds which made birding difficult and birds of prey were most grounded that usual too. Steppe eagle were the best I managed on the plateau.

fan-tailed raven mobbing a booted eagle

You can overlook Wadi Darbat from the edge of the plateau. Since there are often good birds of prey on the Wadi Darbat skyline I went there as part of my visit to the Tawi Atair plateau generally. I have no doubt this is a good vantage spot in good weather. However there were few birds of prey while I was there on Friday. One was booted eagle which was immediately mobbed by two fan-tailed raven.

booted eagle in Wadi Darbat

I am pretty confident it was the same booted eagle I observed in the Wadi Darbat itself on Thursday afternoon.

All in all Saturday turned out to be a much better birding day than the two days before and with a lot less effort.

Eleven red avadavat at Wadi Salalah

Early on Saturday morning I visited Wadi Salalah which is a mini-wetland that feeds into the more well known Salalah bird sanctuary on the coast. It is about 400 metres inland.

I have found very few records of birders going there even though it is so close to the sanctuary. However I have found the reeds, water and bushes to be very good birding.

Saturday's birding was surprising too. This was almost entirely because I came across a flock of eleven red avadavat. 

first bird seen

It took me some time to realise what the birds were. I knew they were estrildid finches by general look and behaviour.

second picture of the first bird

However I didn't realise they were red avadavat at first because all the birds were juveniles. The first bird seen was particularly immature and almost entirely shades of brown, creams and buffs. Yet even this bird has red eyes and the bill just starting to turn pink. These should have been clues.

bird number two

With the second bird on the ground, I noticed a chestnut rump but this diverted me away from thinking about red avadavat as both adult males and females in all plumages have red rumps. Of course juveniles don't.

bird number two showing a rear view

The two next birds had red colouring of the bill so suddenly I realised what they all were.

bird number 3

I hadn't expected to see this bird on leaving Riyadh which there is a healthy population along the Riyadh river.

bird number 4

The prefered habitat of this bird is reeds and damp scrub. The picture below shows the habitat in which I saw them. Furthermore the plantations near-by have plenty of damp scrub and grassland.

reeds at Wadi Salalah

There have been 9 accepted records of this species in Oman and I believe all have been singles and all have definitely been treated as escapes.

I am told these will be treated as escapes too when I submit the rarity report. 

I must say it seems more like a mass break out but I understand the caution.

They may be breeding in the plantations and we just don't know. This is one I will definitely watch out for. 

common redshank

Last time I visited the site I saw first two spotted redshank in Oman. This time there was only a single common redshank.

Temminck's stint

There were plenty of dunlin and Temminck's stint among the waders.

citrine wagtail

Yellow wagtail, white wagtail and citrine wagtail were all present and citrine wagtail was the most common once again.

Even on a good birding trip there are often regrets about a bird missed. This time it was a pratincole which flew straight towards me at speed and then over me. I didn't see it well enough to know which one it was and I hadn't seen any in Oman until then.

Since the pratincole flew towards the bird sanctuary I followed. However its a big place and I couldn't find it. In the end I decided breakfast was more important.

purple heron at the bird sanctuary

After breakfast I went out again, this time to Raysut and it turned out well. i will blog about that next.

Sociable lapwing and two types of turtle dove at the farm

I have a little bit more time on Wednesday afternoons to go birding than on other weekdays. I chose to stay local and go to Sawnout farm.

On my drive out as I was travelling down the main road which cuts the farm in two, I saw a large flock of sociable lapwing fly directly over my car. This was an auspicious start. There was no chance to stop and for some reason they had flown from the arable and beef section of the farm to the smaller plantation and marketing gardening section.  This southern section has no easy lines of sight.

Nevertheless I decided I ought to go looking for them. Indeed I spent all the next 3 hours looking for them.

Oriental turtle dove

Early on in the search as I was scanning I came across three turtle doves on adjacent wires. One was an Oriental turtle dove but the other two were European turtle dove.

First European turtle dove

The European turtle dove is noticeably lighter, This is mostly caused by the much broader orange scapulars. There are other major differences too which I wont go into as the identification is clear. However I did check on birdforum where the verdict was unanimous. I did this because others have only reported oriental turtle dove at the farm this year.  Both species are known but rare winterers to the Dhofar region.

Second European turtle dove

Returning to the search for the sociable lapwing: I first took a quick look at the southern perimeter of the cereal farm where I could see interesting species such as chestnut-bellied sandgrouse and cream-coloured courser but no lapwings.

male chestnut bellied sandgouse on the farm

I then decided to drive to the coastal side of the southern section of the farm to see if there was line of sight and to pick up the sociable lapwing, This is a two kilometre drive past east Khawr.

This proved fruitless. The best birds I saw were more chestnut bellied sandgrouse near the coast.

chestnut bellied sandgrouse near the coast

I then decided it was best to go to the western perimeter of the northern (main section) of the farm and wait. It was on the way to that point that I saw the turtle doves.

European roller

So it was on the western perimeter than I spent over two hours waiting and watching. On a near-by pivot bar was a dark European roller and on near-by dead palms were both rose ringed parakeet and on another was kestrel.

rose ringed parakeet

However for the most part I was looking into the farm.

kestrel

There was the odd distraction for example when eight greater white fronted geese flew over.

greater white fronted geese

As I watched I could see there were two main areas of large scale bird activity. One was next to me  where part of a field had been very recently cut. The other was over 500 metre away where a pivot bar was spraying water on some high crops. The white winged black tern were mostly over there. The cattle egret went from one to the other.

common myna

Large numbers of common myna and yellow wagtail were also seen on the cut field near me.

cattle egret

I had no sign of the sociable lapwing until a pallid harrier went to the spraying area about an hour before sunset. Suddenly the cattle egret and white winged black tern bolted 500 metres to field next to me. However there was third flock and as it took to the air I realised it was sociable lapwing. They had probably been in among that high crop being sprayed for some time.

yellow wagtail

Unfortunately for me they moved off to another field of high crops almost as far way. 

black crowned sparrow lark

With a few minor distractions such as the sight of a black-crowned sparrow lark on the edge of my field, I kept my eye on the lapwings at great distance.

sociable lapwing on the move

Fifteen minutes before dusk they suddenly and at great speed left the farm westward presumably to roost. They came a little closer for moments as they left. I managed one distant shot in the gloom of the leading group. 

I should get better views this winter as they are likely to stay here on past record.

I have now seen them in three countries: Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia and Oman. 

List and numbers of species seen at the farm

Greater white fronted geese 8
Cattle Egret 110
Squacco Heron 4
Greater Spotted Eagle 1
Eastern Imperial Eagle 1
Eurasian Marsh-Harrier 1
Pallid Harrier 2
Sociable Lapwing 32
Cream-coloured Courser 2
White-winged Tern 40
Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse 6
Feral Pigeon 20
European Turtle-Dove 2
Oriental Turtle-Dove 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 260
Laughing Dove 120
Namaqua Dove 5
European Roller 1
Common Kestrel
Ring-necked Parakeet 22
Daurian Shrike 2
Asian Grey Shrike 1
House Crow 6
Crested Lark 5

Black-Crowned Sparrow-Lark 1
Sand Martin 6
Barn Swallow 25
Graceful Prinia 2
Desert Wheatear 5
Isabelline Wheatear 2
Common Myna 35
Yellow Wagtail 90
White Wagtail 8
House Sparrow 6
Ruppell's Weaver 14
African Silverbill 38