NORTHERN MEXICO - JULY 2025

Following on from our successful 2021 visit to Chihuahua where we found Eared Quetzals and Thick-billed Parrots amongst a range of exciting species such as Mexican Whip-Poor-Will, Buff-collared Nightjar, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Olive Warbler and more, we are now heading further east along the northern Mexico circuit to find more endemics. 

Eared Quetzal

So from Chihuahua and the bird-filled Madeira canyon we will fly to Monterrey where our major targets are Tawny-collared Nightjar, Tamaulipas Pygmy Owl, Maroon-fronted Parrot, Bronze-winged Woodpecker, Blue-capped Motmot, Curve-winged Sabrewing, Altamira Yellowthroat, Tamaulipas Crow, Crimson-collared Grosbeak and Worthen's Sparrow.

Hooded Grosbeak

There's a fine supporting cast of great birds and you can view the list below. We will visit Gomez Farias, the mountains of Cumbres de Monterrey, Saltillo, the awesome Sierra Madre Oriental and other areas. And then just to add a little twist and more new birds we will head into Veracruz for some very exciting species such as Bearded Wood-Partridge, Tuxtla Quail-Dove, White-faced Quail-Dove, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Blue Mockingbird, and both  Veracruz & Sumichrast's Wrens amongst others.  

Montezuma Quail

It's going to be an exciting ride and if anyone wants to continue over to Baja, California for Yellow-footed Gull, Elf Owl, Baja Pygmy Owl, Common Poorwill, Gilded Flicker, Belding's Yellowthroat, Grey Thrasher, San Lucas Robin, California Gnatcatcher and Baird's Junco then it's game on!

See here for the full tour itinerary - Northern Mexico Tour Info

OMAN DAY 14: WADI ASHAWQ NATURE RESERVE - MUGHSAYL BEACH

With most of the group having their flights put back by over 12 hours, we had a few hours this morning to chase some last birds we still needed. The Mughsayl area is always interesting, so we left the hotel at 5.30am and headed into the wadi where we hoped to see Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, a bird that had thus far eluded us. Needless to say we still drew a blank, so once the sun was up we checked out the waterway in what is now called Wadi Ashawq Nature Reserve. It was worrying to see several large diggers collecting rocks for the bridge restoration project over the khawr close to the beach, and the noise was extreme. But there had been a Malachite Kingfisher seen yesterday by a Dutch group led by Ed Opperman and he’d given me the location details. Well, as soon as we’d exited the cars a quick scan revealed the kingfisher perched on some rocks off to our right and about 100m away. Wow! 

Malachite Kingfisher - all photos phonescoped...

This was my 300^th bird species for Oman and what a great bird to reach that milestone. We slowly worked our way closer, bit by bit, and managed some stunning views and great photos as well, of course. Digiscoping with the new iPhone and the awesome Swarovski scope has been a revelation this trip!  We searched the whole length of the watercourse, seeing the usual shorebirds, as well as 2 Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, but there was no sign of the previously seen White-breasted Waterhen or a Yellow Bittern, which we would have dearly liked to find. 

So over at the beach, we had breakfast in the shade and scanned the sea for Masked Booby, a species not everyone in the group had ticked yet. No luck with that, but Common Noddy and 4 Brown Boobies were seen, along with a selection of terns and gulls. By 10.30am we had to reluctantly leave and return to the hotel, pack, and say our goodbyes. It had been an excellent trip and one which keeps on getting better and better year upon year. I for one, can’t wait to return…

OMAN DAY 13: AYN TOBRUQ – TAWI ATAYR – JABAL SAMHAN – EAST KHAWR

Our last official full day of the tour began at the Ayn Tobruq Roundabout Crake Pool (that’s a mouthful!) where we had brief views of a Little Crake, along with Clamorous Reed Warbler, Namaqua Dove etc. Then we drove up to the camel trough, along the way we found 4 superb Eastern Imperial Eagles standing in the tall grass not too far from the road. We manoeuvred the cars and tried to get some closer views and also get some pics, which we did especially when a couple of them flew up and circled overhead. 

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Another Eastern Imperial Eagle was seen from the trough but it was generally quiet and the dripping tap area was totally dry, so we drove on up into the wooded Ayn Tobruq for our field breakfast. We didn’t see much apart from Camels, so we headed up to Tawi Atayr and quickly found a single Yemen Serin perched on telegraph wires near the car park, along with numerous Cinnamon-breasted Buntings (of course), Arabian Wheatear and a few more Bruce’s Green-Pigeons. 

Arabian Wheatear (female)

At Jabal Samhan we set in for a lengthy wait and after nearly an hour here I’d jokingly set my alarm for when the Verreax’s Eagle was going to appear (12 o’clock on the dot) and stone the crows two eagles appeared just as my alarm went off! What? 

The magnificent Verreaux's Eagle

Fan-tailed Raven

Also had Arabian Wheatear and numerous Fan-tailed Ravens here. 

The obligatory Camel photo....

Not really sure what is going on here....?

Driving back along towards Wadi Darbat, I jokingly mentioned I’d like an Eurasian Griffon Vulture as I was nearing 300 for my Oman list (and forget about Lappet-faced Vulture!), when we immediately passed a carcass beside the road some 30 seconds later with…… a flipping Eurasian Griffon on it! Wow! Get me a lottery ticket will you???

Eurasian Griffon Vulture

Lunch at Wadi Darbat with camel and cow friends was followed by coffee at the Sharq Café, which was notable for a Grey-bellied Cuckoo seen by a few of my group….!!! Then we drove to East Khawr, seeing a Little Bittern of all things, along with Purple Heron, a big flock of Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, a group of 12 bathing White-winged Terns was quite a sight, a Red-knobbed Coot (at last – found by Malcolm), and some Gull-billed, Lesser Crested & Caspian Terns amongst others. 

White-winged (left) and Whiskered Tern

We stayed until 5.30pm just enjoying the site when the glorious evening light began to lose its glow and returned to the hotel, where we celebrated with a buffet dinner prepared by Lynzi and some cold beers….. non-alcoholic of course. 

Dinner time....

And that was the official end of the tour, although….

OMAN DAY 12: WADI KHEESH – KAWR JANUF – RAYSUT SEWAGE POOLS – KHAWR RAYSUT

Left the hotel at 6:15am and drove around 25 minutes to Wadi Kheesh, which is the first wadi west of Ayn Hamran. The drive is fine until turning off the tarmac road and then you go along a horrible undulating, rocky road but it’s worth the effort as the camel drinking trough entices numerous birds down to drink when it is hot. This site has attracted Arabian Grosbeak in the past but not lately, so the plan is usually just to see if anything is coming down to drink at the trough, with a little explore of the surrounding area. It’s usually a good spot for Black-crowned Tchagra and Arabian Warbler, both of which we saw pretty well here. 

Black-crowned Tchagra

At the drinking trough, there wasn’t anything weird coming in, so we just enjoyed seeing a multitude of Laughing Doves, White-spectacled Bulbuls, Ruppell’s Weavers, and Cinnamon-breasted Buntings. An African Paradise-Flycatcher was loitering in the shade of the trees behind the trough, as was a Common (Ehrenberg’s) Redstart. So we had breakfast here but didn’t dally and waste time as we had quite a few spots to check today (as always). 

 

First up was the Kawr Januf and we checked out the area for any lingering Caspian Plovers but to no avail, so explored the area to the west for a few kilometres where we located the reported Lesser Whistling-Duck. Poor views into the sun for us but it’s a bit of a boring bird, although being reidentified as a Fulvous Whistling-Duck later made it a bit better, as it was a 3^rd for Oman! Steve spotted a Masked Booby out to sea and some of us managed to get on it – our only one of the tour!  With most of us a little more sunburnt than usual we decided to return to the hotel for lunch and a siesta today! Wow!  But it was a short rest as to be honest and we were soon on our way to Raysut Sewage Pools where we were denied entry so had to view from the road outside seeing 60+ Abdim’s Storks, Marsh Sandpiper and plenty of common species. Next up was Raysut Khawr and beach, which was phenomenal as always despite a little confrontation with the army here. Apparently they deem this a military area and don’t like people with cameras, but scopes are ok! Anyway, we encountered 9 species of tern including our first White-cheeked Terns, making it a 10 tern day with our earlier sighting of Whiskered Tern. 

We had a very close Broad-billed Sandpiper and a Baltic Gull was also new here but there was a fantastic selection of other species and great fun to sift through everything in the scope. 

The wonderful late afternoon sunshine made the whole experience simply amazing and it was very interesting watching all the shorebirds, gulls, terns, flamingo’s etc interacting and feeding out on the mudflats.  

Spotted Thick-knee

But we weren't done yet and a short drive away found us at a scrubby field close to the beach where we found 5 Spotted Thick-knees at dusk and followed this with a celebratory meal at a Lebanese Restaurant.

What a fabulous meal tonight...

OMAN DAY 11: MIRBAT PELAGIC – WADI DARBAT – JABAL SAMHAN – TAWI ATAYR

This was the day of our pelagic out of Mirbat Harbour with Hatem. It’s always exciting and unpredictable, but somehow over these past couple of years our expectations have risen from simply wanting to see Persian Shearwater and Jouanin’s Petrel to hoping for something rarer and there have been some awesome birds seen here the years. We had our breakfast overlooking the ocean with several Western Yellow Wagtails and at least 3 Red-throated Pipits feeding on the grass in front of us. So it was with high expectations that we boarded the boat at a little after 7.30am and yet again we had a deep blue sky, warm weather and hardly any breeze – every day is pretty much the same in Oman! 

We hadn’t sailed out far when a Persian Shearwater appeared somehow behind us and whizzed right past. And for the next half an hour we had a few more shearwaters, whilst further out and just below the horizon we could see larger birds that Hatem was calling as Jouanin’s Petrels and with the odd Flesh-footed Shearwater thrown in for good measure. It was a little frustrating for a time until a Jouanin’s Petrel flew right beside us, followed moments later by another and another. Everyone was getting good photos of the main two targets and all was good. Then what followed can only be described as the stuff of dreams as the amazing Hatem suddenly called “Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrel”!!!! Hasty directions and some expletives followed until everyone was on the bird. How could he call that without looking through binoculars…? We watched it flying in front of us and heading east along the coast, a heavily moulting bird with long wings, quite a heavy laborious flight, much smaller than Jouanin’s and very similar to the Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrels I’d seen here last year. The combination of features just described and a deeply notched tail all looked good for MSP. After posting my poor photos on Facebook later, some birders questioned the identification. Well, a short while later we had the double-whammy as an obvious Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel flew behind us also heading east and what was obvious to all onboard was how slimer it looked, with slimmer shorter wings and faster flight. Again, this bird was in heavy moult but the differences in jizz were obvious and I know that both storm-petrels were claimed on several dates over the next week….. So what did we see? 

It's only a flipping Matsudaira's Storm-petrel

From my photos there’s not much to go on regarding plumage features as both birds were in heavy moult (as they should be this time of the year). This would be the 2^nd record of MSP, whilst SSP is still rare but becoming far more frequent these days. Interestingly, Hatem commented that he’s seen Matsudaira’s several times whilst he’s been out here fishing but no-one has ever photographed one before and he knows the birds here very well. 

Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel

What I do know is that we saw two different species, and I know our identification is correct regardless of what other birders have said on social media. Regardless of moult, that would not have affected the size difference, longer wings of MSP, slower flight etc. To reinforce this we had the same or another Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrel flying west about half an hour later and again, it looked a little bigger and heavier than SSP. And don’t get me wrong, Swinhoe’s Strom-Petrel is a great sighting here in Oman but Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrel is on another level and also a lifer for yours truly! Anyway, we eventually got tickable views of Flesh-footed Shearwater although none came in very close, yet more Jouanin’s Petrels and Persian Shearwaters with a supporting cast of a single Socotra Cormorant, many Bridled Terns and Red-necked Phalaropes. But no Masked Booby today for us. We also had a large feeding group of Bottle-nosed and Spinner Dolphins to entertain us for a while before we returned to shore a little sunburnt but exceedingly happy with our Mirbat pelagic! 

Bridled Tern

Red-necked Phalarope 

Spinner Dolphin

A celebratory coffee followed before we drove up to Wadi Darbat where we’d have our picnic lunch in the shade, being joined by the odd camel and cow! We’d calmed down by now and whilst Lynzi prepared lunch we checked out the river and surrounding area finding our only Wood Warblers of the tip – well there were three of them. We had all the usual common Dhofar birds and had nice views of them but more excitement followed with a brief appearance above the ridge of a Lappet-faced Vulture! Only a couple of us saw it but with eyes to the skies we picked out Short-toed, Booted,Steppe and Eastern Imperial Eagles! Our next stop was about half an hour away at Jabal Samhan, the regular haunt of Verreaux’s Eagle. 

We spent an hour in company with several other birders from the UK and Holland, with all of us drawing a blank on the eagle. There was a pair of Arabian Wheatears present, Tristram’s Starlings and Fan-tailed Ravens but not a lot else. 

So we retraced our steps across the plateau and called into Tawi Atayr, the regular site for Yemen Serin. Well, we did the serin briefly but not everyone was present at the time but did get several Bruce’s Green-Pigeons, Bonelli’s Eagle, another Arabian Wheatear, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Palestine Sunbird, African Paradise-Flycatcher and some great scope views of a family of Arabian Partridges. 

Bruce's Green-Pigeon

Palestine Sunbird

African Paradise-Flycatcher

And that was our day in epic Oman!

OMAN DAY 10: AYN HAMRAN – EAST KHAWR – JARZIZ FARM – WEST KHAWR – KHAWR MUGHSAYL

As I’m writing this at 10:20pm I’m utterly and totally shattered after a typically amazing day’s birding in and around Salalah. We began at Ayn Hamran, departing the hotel at 6.15am, finding a superb Grey-headed Kingfisher, followed by good views of Eastern Imperial Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Steppe Eagle and a European Roller.

European Roller

Down at East Khawr we saw the second recorded sighting of Knob-billed Duck for Oman. Wow! The water level was higher here than I’ve seen previously so there were less birds than I would have expected. 

Knob-billed Duck - 2nd for Oman

However, luck was on our side as we did find a Small Pratincole on the beach side of the khawr and fortunately it was about 20m away from our parked cars. You just never know what you’ll see down here!  

Small Pratincole

A large flock of Glossy Ibis just kept getting bigger and bigger with birds arriving all of the time and further scrutiny revealed a Temminck’s Stint, several Ruff, a cracking Citrine Wagtail and plenty of commoner species. We then drove to Jarziz Farm where Singing Bushlark was our main target, which we eventually found along with another Grey-headed Kingfisher, Isabelline and Great Grey Shrikes.

 

My Spotted Thick-knee site has been trashed, so we quickly moved on to West Khawr where the water level was again high. However, we did have this fantastic Crested Honey Buzzard flying low overhead.

Crested Honey Buzzard

But a huge gathering of gulls congregating around the fishermen at West Khawr was quite a site and everyone enjoyed the spectacle, getting some great photos. I especially liked getting some shots of Sooty Gulls flying towards us as they headed onto the khawr to bathe.  

Sooty Gull

After our picnic lunch we drove to Khawr Mughsayl and got really lucky with some close Persian Shearwaters flying past just offshore, and it was apparent that there were more birds out there….. So we set up scopes and found 7 Brown Noddies milling around, with one or two alighting on the buoys, and we estimated at least 40 Bridled Terns, 200+ Socotra Cormorants loafing ion a large raft, several Lesser Crested Terns and many Great Crested Terns. 

Driving around to the khawr we scoped a Pheasant-tailed Jacana before other birders began to congregate across the road at the newly described Wadi Ashawq Nature Reserve. Inevitably something good was found here and we were told about a White-breasted Waterhen skulking on the far side, which we duly scoped and we saw another jacana. A Yellow Bittern was also found here the following day, so it just goes to show that with more birders around there’s plenty of good birds being found!

 

So tonight we were attempting a stab at Desert Owl, but with 3 cars of Belgian birders, a French crew and a British crew potentially all heading to the end of the wadi and doing the same individual pair of owls that everyone does, well let’s just say I didn’t fancy it. Fortunately after so many visits to Oman, this being my 9^th, I had a trick or two up my sleeve. I’ve discovered another two sites so we headed to one of them and waited. Shortly after the light fully went a bird began calling and in under 5 minutes we were eye-balling a superb Desert Owl. 

Desert Owl

In fact it kept getting closer and closer, literally filling the Swarovski’s field of view and everyone filled their photographic boots. I’m aware how sensitive owls’ eyes are and we didn’t take the mickey, so after a few minutes we turned the spotlight off and left as quietly as possible. What an incredible end to a brilliant day.