Outer Farasan islands boat trip

On Saturday morning, Bernard Bracken and I took a four hour boat trip out of the small harbour next to our hotel. Indeed it was organised through the hotel and cost 250 riyals per hour (125 riyals per person per hour). However in my view it was worth every penny.

The boatman not only spoke English well and piloted the boat well but knew where to take us for many of our requested birds. These included close ups (but not too close to force evacuation) for example of brown noddy which we had only glimpsed through the ferry window the day before.  

brown noddy

The first place of interest the boatman took us was a platform some way off an island. Here we had good views of greater crested tern which Bernard photographed well.

greater crested tern (swift tern) by Bernard Bracken

The first island which the boatman took us close to had mini cliffs two or three metres tall. On ledges all along the north facing mini-cliffs were brown booby.

brown booby

We soon realised there were a couple of sooty falcon menacing the area.

sooty falcon

One perched for a moment but the swell on the boat made photography almost impossible. However I finally got a distant shot when we landed on a very small beach.

After this, we asked to go to a low-lying island with potential for terns, knowing, by the way, that surveys show that breeding doesn't start quite yet but that extreme care was needed.

However as we headed to a likely island where we could see terns on the beach, the boatman deviated toward a very small rocky outcrop of an island. As we got closer we realised the outcrop was covered in birds. 

white eyed gull courtesy of Bernard Bracken

Most were brown noddy. There were over 45. However there were also a few white eyed gull and brown booby. 

plenty of brown noddy

We were conscious of the need not to force them off and asked that the boat be pulled away. 

We had similar issues, trying to minimise disturbance, when we finally headed to the large low-lying sandy island. 

white cheeked tern

We landed on a beach with little activity except 3 or 4 white cheeked tern preening.

bridled tern landing

On another beach further round the island there was much more activity and we decided not to approach it. From a distance we could see many of the birds were bridled tern. However, one came in from the sea and obliged by posing on a bush inland.

Bridled tern was not only a lifer but also proved to last addition to my Saudi list on the trip.

bridled tern

We headed back to the boat after about 10 minutes. We started the homeward journey. However we had plenty of time to visit one last island.

greater flamingo and crab plover

We stopped off at an island with a sand bar in front of a shallow lagoon. This beautiful setting had four crab plover hard at work seeking out food.

At the back of the lagoon were two shy over-summering whimbrel.

greater flamingo in flight

A single young greater flamingo was also present. On the mounds near-by were yet more osprey.

dolphins

Before making the stretch of the journey which would take us back to the main island, Farasan Kabir, we sailed further round the island with the lagoon.

We came across a pod of dolphins. 

common tern (left)

On some rocks near-by we saw another type of tern: common tern.  It was then time to sail directly to Farasan Kabir.

Black crowned night heron

We hit Farasan Kabir about two kilometres west of the harbour and so had a chance to look out for birds as we moved along the shoreline. It was here that we added one final species to the trip list as two black crowned night heron were seen resting on some rocks. 

List of 33 species seen on the Farasan islands.

L = lifer. S = addition to Saudi list

Brown booby	Sooty gull
Greater flamingo	Baltic gull
Black crowned night heron	Lesser crested tern
Striated heron	Swift tern
Goliath heron  L,S	Bridled tern  L,S
Western reef heron	White-cheeked tern
Pink backed pelican	Common tern
Osprey	Brown noddy   S
Egyptian vulture	Laughing dove
Sooty falcon  L,S	African collared dove
Crab plover	House crow
Grey plover	White spectacled bulbul
Kentish plover	Black crowned sparrow lark
Whimbrel	Hoopoe lark
Common redshank	Crested lark
Ruddy turnstone	Mangrove reed warbler
White eyed gull

In addition, three species were seen at Jizan ferry terminal which weren't seen on the Farasans. These were feral pigeon, house sparrow and African palm swift.

Some notes on the logistics of the trip

Ferries

The ferry has a very large capacity for passengers and I imagine rarely gets full. However car space looks more limited.

Jizan to Farasan ferry: Ferry terminal gate opens at 5.30 am. Boarding starts at 6.30 am. Ferry officially departs at 7.00 am and arrives at 8.00 am

Farasan to Jizan ferry: Ferry terminal gate officially opens at 3 pm but was open when we arrived at 2.45pm. Boarding starts at 4.00 pm. Ferry departs at 4.30 pm and arrives in Jizan at 5.30 pm.

Tickets are free and can be bought at an office next to the ferry terminal gate in Jizan from 6.00 am onward. I didn't see where the booking office was on the Farasan side.

However we bought our passenger only tickets on-line via https://www.mot.gov.sa/ar/Pages/home.aspx  Be warned the site is in Arabic. Furthermore, to buy a ticket you need to register and the only people who can register are Saudis. Once you have a Saudi willing to register for you, he can reserve and print your tickets but only if you give him your passport number (an iqama number is not sufficient).

I understand that car tickets can also be bought this way but need more advance booking as spaces are limited. 

Travel around Farasan Kabir

There are no taxis on Farasan however many locals use their cars as private taxis. It is quite easy to see a local at the ferry terminal who will give you a ride to your hotel. Our hotel had a list of several drivers they could approach to give us lifts to wherever we wanted during our stay. Prices are reasonable. If the journey is short a hotel staff member will take you to your venue free.

Farasan Coral Hotel

We each paid 450 riyals per night for double rooms with single occupancy but it was worth it. The staff were friendly and efficient. The restaurant was better than average. Indeed most Saudi hotels don't have a restaurant! It is also the only hotel on Farasan that you can book on-line through booking.com

Beach and mangroves on Farasan

Friday afternoon's birding on Farasan kabir was split into two distinct halves. In the first I headed south along the coast from the hotel in the fierce heat. In the second, Bernard Bracken and I visited the mangrove area near the port towards dusk.

The second session provided the better birding including prolonged views of a second goliath heron. 

Goliath heron towards dusk in mangroves

However the afternoon started with the walk south down the coast starting with beach. In this area sooty gull were numerous but in among the was one large black headed gull which turned out to be an over-summering Baltic gull.

Baltic gull

Over summering is not uncommon among immature gulls and this is a second calendar year.

Baltic gull takes off

Further south along the coast the sandy beach turned to a muddy area which had more potential for waders and so it proved.

common redshank

Crab plover was expected but summering common redshank was less so.

crab plover

Ruddy turnstone is one of the most widespread birds in the world.

ruddy turnstone

Kentish plover was the most common wader on this stretch.

Kentish plover

In contrast there was sole grey plover in non-breeding plumage.

grey plover

Over the weekend, Bernard and I found osprey to be ridiculous common.

two osprey

As the temperatures rose, all the land bird activity stopped. Even this hoopoe lark was seen under the shade of a rocky outcrop before moving on.

hoopoe lark

Indeed it got so hot, I needed a 3 hour break from birding, two cold showers, lots of water and rest before I ventured out again with Bernard in the relative cool of the late afternoon.

We chose to visit the extensive mangroves next to the main harbour. This proved to be a good choice.

goliath heron

We almost immediately saw another goliath heron which was actually still in the same place when we doubled back to finish our walk an hour and a half later.

second view of goliath heron

In the meantime, we first heard and then saw several mangrove reed warbler.

African collared dove

I had wondered whether African collared dove were on the islands. It soon became apparent that they were common in and around the mangroves.

young Egyptian vulture

In the distance Bernard spotted four birds of prey which turned out to be Egyptian vulture. The Farasans are a known stronghold of this species. Two of them slowly got closer and closer to us.

While we were watching them I was suddenly aware that flying with them were two sooty falcon. This was a lifer for me and the third addition to my Saudi list over the weekend. They were travelling at such great speed and with frequent changes in direction I only got a poor photograph. 

Nevertheless we saw more sooty falcon the next day and I'll post a picture in the next blog which reports on Saturday.

Almost at sunset, a single young Egyptian vulture came very close to us seeming looking for roost.

Egyptian vulture in flight

In the end we had to leave it for our lift home.

On Saturday we took a four hour boat trip around some of the smaller islands to the west of the main island. This resulted in the fourth and final Saudi list addition and much more.

Farasan on Friday morning

Bernard Bracken and I spent the weekend based on Farasan Kabir island off the Jizan coast in the far south west of Saudi Arabia. 

It was a highly successful trip. I added four species to my Saudi list which I haven't done for over 18 months and didn't expect to do again especially over a weekend. 

Thanks are due to Jem Babbington ( www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com ) who made the trip last year and gave some useful tips on how to get there and how to organise boat trips once there.

I will divide the report on the trip into three blogs. This one looks at the ferry trip over and the rest of the birding on Friday morning. The second will look at the afternoon's birding on the main (kabir) island while the third will report on a boat trip round some of the outer islands.  

Jizan to Farasan ferry

The ferry leaves Jizan at 7 am everyday and passengers are confined to a sealed sitting area.  Bernard and I sat next to a window but it was obscured and I had not expected any birding chances on the sea journey.

Yet despite the dirty windows and the fast speed, I managed to add brown noddy to my saudi list just by taking a careful look at some of the buoys en route. The large brown booby were more obvious but brown noddy were often present perched at the bottom.

buoy en route

Photography was almost impossible through a dirty window on the moving ship but you may just be able to see a brown noddy above the F2 sign. Excellent photos of brown noddy were taken later during the weekend and will be in one of the later blogs.

Goliath heron

As the ferry arrived in the harbour on Farasan, I spotted a large bird standing on a small naked island in front of the large mangrove area adjacent to the port. 

We rushed off the ferry and instead of following the passengers through the terminal building we veered right along a side path to the coast line. The large bird was still in view from there and hadn't moved though it was still 100 metres way.  I couldn't believe our luck. It was a goliath heron. I had two additions to my Saudi list before 9 am and before we had even left the ferry terminal.

As with the brown noddy, we had another chance to see this species but at closer quarters with better photos later.

sooty gull

When we finally got out of the ferry terminal we had a wait of about half an hour before our hastily arranged lift to the hotel was due.

Sooty gull were very much in evidence along with house crow. 

brown booby

Looking out to sea, another brown booby was seen on a buoy.

black crowned sparrow lark

Both crested lark and black crowned sparrow lark were easily seen on the paths and near-by waste land. The crown of the sparrow lark is not black on Farasan, it is chestnut. I understand this variant has been reported in East Africa too.  

Our lift arrived to take us to the Farasan Coral Hotel soon after seeing the sparrow lark.

black crowned sparrow lark

Crested lark and black crowned sparrow lark proved to be the garden birds on the hotel lawns. As far as I know there are no house sparrow on the Farasans.

house crow

House crow were also present.

laughing dove

For the record, laughing dove is on the island and seen near the hotel.

After wandering around the gardens for a few minutes we chose to head north up the coast a couple of hundred metres to a small harbour with fishing and other boats. As it turned out to be the place we started our island hopping boat trip from on Saturday.

However on Friday morning we were content to see what birds used this small harbour.

western reef heron

There was a lone fisherman on working one of the small boats. To our surprise a western reef heron hopped on board within a metre of him. Moments later two pink backed pelican moved towards the same boat and one climbed in. I can only presume that the man sometimes gives them small fish as they were completely unfazed by him.

pink backed pelican in the small harbour

Further round the harbour a striated heron was spotted on another boat. All the time sooty gull were flying all around.

striated heron

On the way back to the hotel we came across a white spectacled bulbul.

white spectacled bulbul

After this short walk out, there were two more birding sessions on Friday. First I headed out walking south down the coast. Second in the late afternoon we visited the mangroves near Farasan port.

Some good birds were seen especially near the mangroves and one was the third addition of the weekend to my Saudi list. I'll blog about the afternoon next.

Collared pratincole at East Salbukh

This blog continues my report on Friday morning's visit to East Salbukh. All the birds reported on here were seen on the north and east sides of the wetland following on from my start down the west side. 

collared pratincole

As I approached the north east corner of the wetland, I could see a camel herder and his herd in the distance heading straight for me. It was a pity as this corner has streams and is more like a marsh land than a wetland with reed beds. I have had some luck in seeing different birds there.

With a few minutes before the camels could arrive I scanned the area and picked up a collared pratincole.

second view of collared pratincole

This was the first time I had seen one at East Salbukh though of course I have only been birding there since February. 

A second collared pratincole was later seen further round the wetland.

Another late migrant was only two metres away from the site of the first collared pratincole. This was a wood sandpiper.

wood sandpiper with crested lark

To my mind it looks thin and has been lucky to finally find such a good stopping off point. 

wood sandpiper

It was so thin and slender I explored other possibilities for its identity including vagrants. However in doing so I came across the fact that those small black spots surrounding the vent area are a summer diagnostic for wood sandpiper. 

Little ringed plover

Near- by was the first of several sightings of little ringed plover. I had seen them on earlier visits to the wetland but not the last twice. I suppose I could have over-looked them in favour of Kentish plover. Judging by the number of young birds among the little ringed plover, they have bred here too.

They prefer marginally better drained land than Kentish plover and with some stones or pebbles. At East Salbukh this means a few places on the north and east side for little ringed plover.

back of rufous bush robin

Another bird I hadn't seen in the past two visits was rufous bush robin. A quick flash of its rufous tail in the distance alerted me to it. In bright sunlight this is very distinctive.

rufous bush robin

It wouldn't pose for me so I'm afraid the photos aren't ideal.

Overall the visit was worthwhile even though the number of species was limited. I coped with the heat better than last time by packing more water and not having to give some away.

List of species seen at East Salbukh on Friday

Little bittern	Namaqua dove
Grey heron	Eurasian collared dove
Common moorhen	Crested lark
Water rail	Barn swallow
Black winged stilt	Eurasian reed warbler
Collared pratincole	Sedge warbler
Little ringed plover	Graceful prinia
Kentish plover	Rufous bush robin
Wood sandpiper	House sparrow
Feral pigeon