I know it's a bit last-minute but i'm currently in Southern Oman at Salalah and I have to tell you the birding is fantastic. I really think it is worth doing a full 7 days birding in January, staying at one hotel arriving on 13th January. There's a Qatar flight for just over £500 and it gets you into Salalah via Doha at around 4.15am, so you get a full day's birding on the first day! I have done 4 trips here over the past year and found the 1st Banded Martin, the 1st Grey-tailed Tattler, 7th Blyth's Reed Warbler, 4th Dalmatian Pelican and tomorrow i'm hoping to see the 2nd Buff-breasted Sandpiper for Oman. Oh and this evening we found a very rare Black Stork and saw a Pheasant-tailed Jacana that was literally surrounded by a load of Citrine Wagtails. And yesterday we found a Small Pratincole 15 minutes from our hotel.....
So there you have it. I will be posting the full info on my website very soon, but in the meantime please email if you want to reserve your spot. It is going to cost £1925 per person for 8 nights full-board, travelling in 2 SUV's. There's not too much driving involved as most sites are within an easy 30-40 minutes from our hotel, but we will do a longer journey of just under 2 hours to visit our site for Hypocolius & Nile Valley Sunbird, and to view the sandgrouse drinking pools where hundreds of Chestnut-bellied and a few Crowned Sandgrouse visit. A little further away there is an agricultural area where 6 Sociable Lapwings are currently over-wintering.
So, we stay at a nice hotel where we have breakfast and dinner, with picnic lunches out in the field every day. It is going to be pleasantly hot (around 30 degrees centigrade) so bring your shorts!
And on to the birding. It's truly fantastic! We target the Arabian specialities: Arabian Partridge, Arabian Wheatear, Arabian Scops-Owl, Arabian Eagle-Owl, Desert Owl, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak and Yemen Serin. But there's so much more to our birding here. We should also see Socotra Cormorant, Sand Partridge, Abdim's Stork, Red-knobbed Coot, Verreaux's, Eastern Imperial, Bonelli's & Steppe Eagles, White-cheeked, Gull-billed, Lesser Crested, Greater Crested, Whiskered, Caspian and White-winged Terns, Caspian, Heuglin's, Steppe & Slender-billed Gulls, Masked & Brown Booby, Bruce's Green-Pigeon, Isabelline & Desert Wheatears, Blackstart, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Abyssinian White-eye, Tristram's Starling, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and so much more.
It's a crazy mix of Asian, African and Western Palearctic species that all meet up here in Southern Oman. So why not see what the buzz is about and join us for some good, old-fashioned birding in the Middle East?
If anyone wants to join me after this in Saudi Arabia for a quick-fire visit to look for Arabian Lark, Philby's Partridge, Arabian Woodpecker, Asir Magpie, Yemen Warbler, Yemen Thrush, Buff-breasted Wheatear, Arabian Golden Sparrow, Arabian Waxbill, Arabian Serin & Yemen Linnet then please let me know.
Here's a link to the full tour info: Southern Oman Birders Special
Here's a few photos from my current Oman tour in Nov 2022:
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| Eastern Imperial Eagles |
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| African Paradise Flycatcher |
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| Arabian Partridge |
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| Arabian Warbler |
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| Abdim's Stork |
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| Arabian Eagle Owl |
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Arabian Scops Owl
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| Blue-cheeked Bee-eater |
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| Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse |
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| Greater Spotted Eagle |
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| Rosy Starlings |
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| Short-toed Eagle |
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| Small Pratincole |
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| Spotted Thick-Knee |
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| Turkestan Shrike |
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| Desert Owl could well be the icing on the cake |
You just never know what you will find here. So let's go birding!
