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!
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| Malachite Kingfisher - all photos phonescoped... |
This was my 300th 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…
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