Khatmat Milahah - Shinas Al Qurm Reserve - Liwa - Sun Farms
We were up with the lark or should I say the local Imam who
called us to prayer at 5:20am. How nice! It was a beautiful morning clear sky
and about 15C. We packed away our tents ate some breakfast and drove to the
scrubland just outside the village of Khatmat Milahah.
The place was full of
birds, many Laughing Doves, House Crows and Common Mynahs. Soon we found a small
group of Arabian Babblers, some beautiful White-cheeked Bubuls and
Yellow-vented Bubuls. Next came one of our main target species the Plain Leaf
Warbler, this Goldcrest sized little 'plain-bird' showed very well, in fact we saw
another 3 or 4 of them during the next hour. Several parties of Rose-ringed
Parakeets flew over as we continued our walk, we then found a couple of Eastern
Black Redstarts, ‘semirufus’ subspecies also Desert Whitethroat Sylvia minula, Little Green Bee-eater, Indian Roller and several
other species.
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| view at Khatmat Milahah |
We then drove back to the beach area a little further south
at Shinas, we were heading for another nature reserve called Al Qurm. Along the
way we stopped at large open heathland which is a known place for Sandgrouse
and sure we saw many. At least 50 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse came down to
drink at a couple of shallow puddles, they were a great sighting. In and around
the area we also found Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Crested Lark, Graceful
Prinia, Desert Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear and Tawny Pipit.
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| record shots of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse |
The reserve near the beach consists of a semi-circular
stretch of mangroves, with pools of tidal water and a large expanse of sandy scrub,
dunes and beach. it was quite quiet at
the mangroves, but we did find Common Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper, White-cheeked
Bubul, another Plain Leaf Warbler and a Striated Heron. The beach area held the
usual array of gulls, terns, herons, egrets and waders. We were hoping for a sighting
of Great Stone Curlew but we never found one. A drive through the heath
produced our first sighting of Asian Desert Warbler but not the Stone Curlew.
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| Desert Wheatear |
Next was a visit to Liwa a very similar reserve but with
a much smaller Mangrove swamp, we were hoping for a Collared Kingfisher but
only got the Common Kingfisher again. Other species seen included Daurian Shrike, Oriental
Skylark, India Silverbill and more Common Sandpipers. The beach area was more
productive, we added Kentish, Grey and Ringed Plovers, Lesser Sand Plover,
Sanderling, Whimbrel and quite a few Gulls were present, Heuglin’s, Sooty,
Slender-billed, Caspian and the star find a Great Black-headed Gull (formerly
Pallas’s Gull).
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| Heuglin's Gull |
For the afternoon we drove back southward towards Muscat
and stopped at well-known birding area called Sun Farms. You have to be signed
in and out of the area but it is well worth the hassle. This huge
semi-cultivated area has extensive areas of dry scrub and open grassland and
the place was hootching with birds. We spent two hours there and hardly
scratched the surface, raptor sighting were excellent, we found Pallid Harrier
(my first ever adult male), Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Common Kestrel, also 3
individual Imperial Eagles and 2 Bonelli’s Eagles. All of these sightings were
excellent, good close views of all of them.
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| Indian Silverbills |
Larks and pipits were all over we added the Bimaculated Lark
to our list and I have never seen so many doves there must have been over 500
Laughing Doves and at least twice that amount of Collared Doves, a few Namaqua
Doves were with them. We also found Striolated Bunting, Eurasian Hoopoe, Indian
Roller, more Oriental Skylarks, lots of Indian Silverbills, Grey Francolins,
Arabian Babblers and many more species. It was wonderful there, but we were
losing the light and it was time to go.
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| another shot of the Little Green Bee-eater |
That concluded our birding for the day as we needed to be on
the road heading to the southern tip of the country, a distance of some 1200
km. We intended to drive about 250 before we pitched tents around at around 8pm.
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