A little expedition to check out the recently discovered crake pools at the bottom of Ayn Tobruq Plains gave the briefest views of a Baillon’s Crake, as well as Namaqua Dove, close Little Stint and Citrine Wagtail, a flyby adult Steppe Eagle and a few Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters called as they flew around the stunningly deep blue sky. From here we went in search of the previously reported Caspian Plovers at the beach near Khawr Januf but amazingly there were some tourists walking along the shoreline even though it was only 7am!!!
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| Pied Cuckoos near here... |
But we did find a Pied Cuckoo’s a few kilometres further along the beach at another little inlet. Or rather there were 5 birds present that was a bit mindblowing to be honest!
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| Who doesn't love an Osprey...? |
Whenever you’re along the coast there’s loads of gulls and we saw multiples of the usual three species but our one and only Steppe Grey Shrike of the trip was much more exciting. We also had Graceful Prinia, Osprey and a sprinkling of other species during our exploration of an area I’m not totally familiar with but has huge rarity potential. The small khawr where the cuckoos were had held a reported Lesser Whistling-Duck (more on that later) but we couldn’t locate that, but did see a few Garganey, Tufted Duck, at least 2 Gull-billed Terns, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern and some shorebirds. It’s a nice little spot that could well hold other things and we will be back!
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| That's the cave where grosbeaks came to drink... |
So after breakfast back at the hotel we set off on what proved to be quite the adventure, with gps leading us to the far side of Wadi Darbat and an area that had been producing the only sightings of Arabian Grosbeak this season. I’m not sure why they haven’t been appearing at their usual stake-outs but nobody have been seeing them. That was until some Dutch birders found a few birds using drips of water from stalactites to drink from in a remote area well off the beaten track and yesterday a British crew got them and today it was our turn. Well, it wasn’t easy and we endured a tortuous drive with many wrong turns until we found a very steep (an understatement), bumpy track down into the wadi, but a route that gave us our first Arabian Wheatear and Tree Pipit of the tour. It was hell but we made it before walking across some treacherous rocky areas trying to locate the correct cave that took a while. We did stake-out the wrong cave for a while until getting our brains in gear and sorting it out. By now it was 12:30pm and time was ticking away fast as I was afraid the grosbeaks would not hang around long enough for us to find them. But they did! We had at least 3 birds and enjoyed fantastic scope views of one particular male coming in repeatedly to drink. And boy it was hot, hot, hot here! We also enjoyed flyover Bonelli’s Eagles and numerous Tristram’s Starling’s here as well. With our vehicles being low on petrol we had to go to the nearest gas station and thankfully we made it without mishap. As we drove back across the rocky plateau we passed a feeding flock of 250+ White Storks feeding beside the road.
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| The view from Taqah Cliffs |
The impressive Taqah cliffs were next up, a breeding site for Forbes-Watson’s Swift and we eventually had a pair coming in to the cliffs to feed their young. Out to see we saw Brown Booby, Bridled Terns and some Gull-billed Terns. It’s a lovely spot and we also saw a few Green Turtles and a Manta Ray in the clear waters below. Our final destination and just 10 minutes away from here is Khawr Rawri, a delightful spot and one that always turns up some good species. Our visit proved the case with an Eurasian Wryneck perched in a dead bush just as we arrived and an Ortolan Bunting found by Neil. We also scoped a flock of 15+ Arabian Partridges as they scrambled up a rock face, a few Daurian Shrikes were also around, as well as Citrine Wagtail, Ruppell’s Weaver, more Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, some nice Wood Sands etc. What a day!
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