The Tropical Birding tour, led by our two guides Ken Behrens and Zac Babbit, started on Saturday 1 November and we met the three other guests after lunch at the Swiss-Belinn Hotel near Muscat airport, where we stayed for the first night.
After we’d made our introductions, we boarded the two large SUVs – a GMC Yukon and a Toyota Landcruiser – and headed off to do some birding. We first visited the Muscat river mouth where there was a good selection of waders, although most were quite distant ruling out good photographic opportunities. The two photos below give an idea of the shots that we obtained.
ofLater in the afternoon the group went to Qurum park, which we knew well from our visit a couple of days before. At this time in the day the light was very bright but we still got reasonable shots of Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Redstart, Bluethroat and Isabelline Shrike
The area around the lake proved very productive and we had Great Cormorant, Dunlin and Little Grebe. While we were there a Glossy Ibis and two Greater White-fronted Goose flew over.
On the first full day of the tour (2 November) we did some pre-breakfast birding at the Al Wansab Wetland, a short drive from our hotel. This was a very interesting site with plenty of birds on the main lake, several trails and even a hide. We started at a point overlooking the main lake where we had excellent views of birds in the early morning light. One of the first birds we saw was a Greater Spotted Eagle, a species we saw later at several locations around the site.
For photography, the most productive part of the reserve was the hide, as from there we got good photos of birds close to a small water outflow from the lake. Birds photographed included Little and Temminck’s Stint, a female Garganey showing its green speculum, Squacco Heron and a Clamorous Reed Warbler. As we walked back to the entrance from the hide we had our first sighting of a Desert Wheatear on a ridge close to the path.
After a successful session at the Al Wansab Wetland we returned to our hotel for breakfast before driving to join our small boat for the first pelagic birding trip to the island of Jazirah al Fahl just off the coast of Muscat.
The main target of this pelagic was the Sooty Falcon, which breeds on the steep cliffs around the island. We were fortunate to see four of these birds and get a good photo as one flew quickly past our boat. We also saw Slender-billed Gull, Sooty Gull, Red-billed Tropicbird, Great Crested Tern and Red-necked Phalarope.
After the pelagic, we drove north up the coast towards the port city of Sohar where we were going to spent one night. On the way, we stopped in Barka to try to see the Arabian Babbler, and after some effort, we eventually saw the bird, but the light was poor and we could only get a record shot. While in Barka we had a fly-by of a colourful Indian Roller and we got a couple of photos, despite not having time to adjust the cameras for birds in flight.
In Sohar we stayed at the Crowne Plaza, which was a very comfortable hotel with an excellent restaurant.
