MUHUT – SHANNAH BAY – QURIYAT – MUSCAT
Our final day began in the usual manner, waking at 6am
decamping and driving off to the nearest birding spot. In this case we drove
50km eastward back to the coast at Shannah Bay.
As we arrived the tide was just beginning to turn and from
the pier that leads to the ferry terminal we were astonished by the sheer
number of birds present. It was truly a spectacular sight and one I have never
experienced before, we stood mesmerised looking out along the shoreline that
stretched for miles, it was absolutely covered in birds, a conservative
estimate was 25,000.
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| view from the beach into Shannah Bay |
They were mainly waders but also huge numbers of herons,
egrets, flamingos and cormorants, in fact at one point the sky darkened as 2-3
thousand Great Cormorants flew over us. We drove alone the sand flats behind
the beach to get a closer look at the hoards of waders and after some searching
we finally caught up with our most wanted bird, the CRAB PLOVER!! We saw about 30 of them but all were distant
views so no photographs I’m afraid.
this is the wader list for Shannah Bay:
1.
Eurasian Curlew
2.
Whimbrel
3.
Black-tailed Godwit
4.
Bar-tailed Godwit
5.
Eurasian Oystercatcher
6.
Common Redshank
7.
Common Greenshank
8.
Terek Sandpiper
9.
Ruddy Turnstone
10.
Curlew Sandpiper
11.
Dunlin
12.
Sanderling
13.
Greater Sand Plover
14.
Lesser Sand Plover
15.
Grey Plover
16.
Kentish Plover
17.
Ringed Plover
18.
Little Stint
19.
Temminck’s Stint
20.
Crab Plover
21.
Common Sandpiper
Other sightings included Osprey, Marsh Harrier, Short-toed
Lark, Desert Wheatear and all the usual gulls and terns. What a fantastic
place! We spent a couple of hours in the area trying to find tracks that would
get us closer to other parts of the bay, without success, so, reluctantly we
set off on our final leg of the journey back to Muscat. We had about 300km to
travel and we had all day to do it in.
 |
| Desert Wheatear |
A late afternoon stop at a river estuary in the town of
Quriyat produced a huge number of Great Black-headed Gulls as well as Sandwich,
Leaser-crested and Swift Terns. Later we made a road-side stop to look at
raptors, we found two magnificent Lappet-faced Vultures, 4 Egyptian Vultures
and a Common Kestrel.
 |
| Blackstart - my final picture |
Our last stopped was look at a Hume’s Wheatear, we had seen
a couple perched along the road and now we had one in the scope, my final lifer
of the trip! Furthermore a falcon circled above us, we identified it as a
Barbary Falcon, our final bird of the trip, not bad.
Well the trip was over, we spent the evening in Muscat, where we had a nice meal on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking the sea before driving to the airport for the flight home.
What a surprisingly excellent birding location Oman really is, all preconceptions of dry dusty desert conditions are quickly forgotten when you are confronted by lakes, lagoons, streams and marshes, especially in the south where mountains, picturesque rivers, verdant woodland and river estuaries are abundant with vibrant wild-life.
Birds, Butterflies, mammals and reptiles are all waiting in good numbers for you to discover. There is also the possibility of discovering a 'first' for this under-watched region as we discovered the Lesser Whistling Ducks which are only the fourth record for Oman.
WATCH OUT FOR DETAILS ON OUR NEW WEBSITE FOR FUTURE TOURS TO OMAN.
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