Rahab

Late morning on Friday I birded the Rahab area. This was my first time here. It's on the Thumrait to Marmul road north of the Dhofar mountains and it's desert area.

A word of caution to birders. Rahab is just west of the main oil producing area of Oman where photography is not advised. Birding and photography directly on the main road including near Rahab is also prohibited. Nevertheless I judged Rahab farm, the surrounding area and Rabab village to be acceptable locations.

My reason for birding the area was based on intelligent guesswork. Pharaoh eagle owl is a rare but widespread resident in Oman. Furthermore there are more records in the north of the country than in the south. However the official Oman bird list shows a picture of one in Rahab farm albeit 13 years ago. The area was worth a look.

One obvious drawback is that Rahab farm used to be a fodder farm with more open access. Now it is a palm plantation and is closed. Looking over the fences produced no good sightings of birds.

400 metres away and south of the main road is a hill ridge which looked promising for owls. 

Sure enough while clambering around the ridge I came across an owl. However it wasn't a pharaoh eagle owl but it was a little owl.

little owl

It was a very light bird and well camouflaged.

little owl at first sight

It was so light both in absolute terms and relative to the birds I have seen south of the mountains that it must be a candidate for the lilith sub species. This is called lilith owlet by some. Most little owl in Oman are assumed to be of the saharae sub-species. In a personal communication with Jnes Eriksen who is the Oman bird recorder this is the lightest little owl he has been presented with in the country.

little owl sideways

The rock formations in the hillside ridge where ideal for small indentations and I found three obvious breeding places in one small area.

a large indent

In the first one there was a very large pile of guano built up be large birds or over several years or both. I even think this is a candidate for a pharaoh eagle owl in the breeding season just past.

kestrels' nest

A second indeed also had guano and two kestrel constantly flying in and out. There was no doubt about this one.

one of the visiting kestrel

The third nest was also on the same side of the ridge.

nest site

My best guess for this one is for brown-necked raven.

mixed doves at Rahab

A little earlier I had birded in Rahab village itself. The area around the camel pens and at a watering point held almost all the birds.  A significant proportion of the collared doves were African collared dove. For example in the picture above from the left numbers 1,4,5,6 are African collared dove, 2 is European collared dove and 3 is European turtle dove.

African collared dove

I understand Rahab is the furthest east than African collared dove has been observed in Oman though the original sightings were at a wadi between Thumrait and Marmul i.e not far away.

European turtle dove

This was also another desert village where European turtle dove is thriving.

brown-necked raven

A peculiarity of the village was the number of brown-necked raven. I don't usually associate this species with human habitation. Though they were mostly next to the camel pens rather than the houses.

brown-necked raven

Other birds included house sparrow and Arabian grey shrike.

Arabian grey shrike

The next day Saturday was the "global big day" for birding. I don't normally bird on Saturdays but an invitation to join a pelagic on this important day was too good to turn down. The trip was very successful too. I will blog about that next. 

Mirbat and Taqah

When birders go to the Mirbat and Taqah areas east of Salalah, they usually go for the sea birds or other water birds. There is good sea watching off the coast such as at Ras Janjari. There are also good sea birds on Taqah beach and a wide variety of water birds at Khawr Taqah.

Khawr Rori is also situated between Taqah and Mirbat and is arguably the best place for diversity of water birds in Dhofar.

On Tuesday evening I went to Mirbat for a different reason. I went with local wildlife enthusiast Saeed Shanfari in search of little owl.

Thanks to Saeed I saw one north of Mirbat and also observed several roosts that the species clearly uses as proved by the droppings left behind. The inland location is almost inaccessible except with a 4x4 with high clearance but Saeed knew where to go.

little owl

Little owl became bird 282 on my Oman list and indeed it was the first one I have seen in the Gulf. The bird was not particularly pale. It didn't look like the standard lilith owl as the main desert sub species is often called. It had a gingery hue.

a mountain gazelle

Near-by we twice came across two mountain gazelle. Indeed the Mirbat area was the place I had previously seen this species.

Birds other than little owl were very few except for a flock of sand partridge and two blackstart.

a second mountain gazelle

In a more usual visit to the area, I had gone to Taqah three days before. The beach is good for terns and gulls all year round.

The most abundant residents are sooty gull and great crested tern.

sooty gull, great crested tern and marsh tern

At different times of year there are always other terns and gulls which vary with the month. Marsh terns are most common in winter though the bird behind the great crested tern is probably one. White winged tern looks a good fit.

little tern

Both Saunders's tern and little tern are found. despite the above birds dull legs and bill, it's head pattern is a much better fit for little tern.

Sandwich tern

Neither sandwich tern or lesser crested tern breed this far south but a significant number over-summer here.

lesser crested tern

A short detour to Khawr Taqah provided me with views of European spoonbill. Western reef heron are normally found next to the sea but seem to be equally at home with coastal freshwater sites such as the Khawr.

western reef heron with European spoonbill

The two most common resident waders in Dhofar are black-winged stilt and Kentish plover.

Kentish plover chick

There are plenty of Kentish plover chicks running around the Dhofar coast at the moment.

Terek sandpiper

Very few passage waders are still present although Terek sandpiper is often among the last as I used to find when I birded out of Riyadh.

It is a very busy week at work and birding apart from the trip to Mirbat has been restricted to very local sites within the city. Jarziz farm is one of closest and is being visited as frequently as time permits. I will give a round up of those visits in the next blog.

Summer at home

I have been at my home north of Varna, Bulgaria on several occasions during the last month. While there, I haven't had much time for birding. However I have seen some good birds even from my own garden and have managed some light birding on a couple of walks to the neighbouring village.

One of the highlights, was from my door step when I saw 200 white stork fly over four days ago. This was one of several waves of white stork  last week seemingly heading south already.

some of 200 white stork over my house

The next evening, I was looking out at dusk from the front when I noticed a little owl on  a neighbour's house. I used to see them there in previous summers but last year I couldn't find them. It's good to know they have been seen again.

little owl from my house

The walks to the neighbouring village were quite interesting too. There are several fields of sun flower. If I look hard, I often find well camouflaged male black-headed bunting on the flower heads.

female black headed bunting

This time, I managed a duller female black headed bunting.

corn bunting

Corn bunting is more common and much more easily seen. Other very common local birds include skylark in the fields and golden oriole along the avenue of trees following the road.

European turtle dove

Around my village is a stronghold of the diminishing European turtle dove. In summer they are readily spotted on wires near-by but they are extremely skittish.

lesser grey shrike

Lesser grey shrike is the less common of two shrikes in the area. Red-backed shrike is around in greater numbers. 

young red backed shrike

These include both juvenile and adult birds.

male red backed shrike

Seen on my walks, spotted flycatcher was no surprise although they prefer more shaded areas than most of the route.

spotted flycatcher

Blackbird may be abundant in the area but it is quite difficult to see. It is shy around people here. 

young blackbird

House martin is extremely abundant especially near my house. The wires heave with them at dawn and dusk. Barn swallow are numerous too and, unlike house martin, frequently land on the avenues of trees between the villages. Here, at the moment, you can see young swallows on these trees still being fed by their parents.

young barn swallow waiting to be fed

I have observed only two birds of prey in the area over the month. One was a short toed eagle, seen last month, which is is a known summer breeder in the area. The other was more recent. It was a hobby seemingly flying with some of the barn swallow high in the sky.

hare

There is much more other wildlife too including hare.

More news from Sirt

Les Edwards has sent me some more pictures of birds in the Sirt area. I am very grateful to all those who contribute to this blog and Les is proving how much can be done.


Here are four pictures Les took on December 20th and December 21st.

kentish plover

Les tells me that the best place to find birds is on the local farms. His observation is mirrored by me in all the drier parts of the country. In fact birding is often easier in the drier places because you know exactly where to go!

little owl

I am amazed how widespread in Libya that little owl is. It almost looks camouflaged. 

desert grey shrike

Les' picture proves that the grey shrike in Sirt is desert grey shrike algeriensis. This a great picture to see how much white there is in the wing.

crested lark

No gallery of Libyan birds would be complete without a crested lark.

I am always looking for contributions to the blog. if you have a story and pictures I'll happily post them. I want this to become a communal blog celebrating Libyan birds from all quarters.

Birding a rubbish tip at Gamines

Rubbish tips can be surprising rich with birds. Many people know cattle egret and some gulls relish them.  Actually many more birds find them useful especially if they are near water. There are a good source of food - such as vegetable matter and insects for a wide variety of birds.

I know there is probably a downside of rubbish tips too but am not going to argue the pros and cons of land and water pollution here. I will only report on the bird life!  

Last Saturday afternoon I visited a small tip near Gamines Sebkhet (saltmarsh). This was a short stop towards dusk on a diverted way back to Benghazi having visited Wadi Al Bab.


The tip had some surface water so it had all the ingredients for some decent birding.

Little Owl , Gamines tip

My prize sighting was a little owl. I used to see them regularly in Tripolitania and I knew that the guide books say they are in Cyrenaica but this was my first sighting since coming here in May.  I often see them on the corners of buildings so seeing one on a rock in a tip took me by surprise.

hoopoe, Gamines tip

Hoopoe are a more normal observation for me around tips. I wonder if anyone else in other countries has noticed they like this habitat? Sure enough there were obviously a few at Gamines.

Sardinian warbler, Gamines tip

In the way of some Libyan tips the land is not cleared and bushes often pop up in places. This one housed a Sardinian warbler. This bird is more common in Libya in winter than in summer. I suspect this isn't a breeding site.

cattle egret, gamines tip

As I wrote at the beginning cattle egret are very happy with this habitat and I saw four here.

spanish sparrow

Spanish sparrow roam during the winter months. I haven't seen many in the northern part of Cyrenaica until the past two or three weeks. The bushes here held a flock.

white wagtail

Finally once again I found white wagtail in numbers. Is there any habitat in Libya in winter other than pure desert they don't like?