Well, the day got off to a great start with 3 Arabian Gazelles beside the road as we drove to Mudday this morning. This small desert town is home to a tiny wintering population of Hypocolius and this year we were treated to our best views ever, as a male gave prolonged views amongst the date palms.
 |
| The one and only.... Hypocolius |
It was spotted by Les before I’d killed the engine on arrival at our usual spot, and then we watched it feeding in a low bush, then on the floor and again in some other bushes before flying off. We relocated it again, thanks to Brian, in a different palm grove where the male sat almost motionless at head height in the shade. Wow!
We also had nice views of Blackstart, Pale Crag Martin, and then staked out a small drinking pool where a few Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse came in to drink and we saw one bird soaking its belly feathers before flying off. We then drove around the camel pens and got pretty great views of a group of Sand Partridge. Our last target was Nile Valley Sunbird and it took a little while until Neil spotted one which eventually flew into a bush right in front of us. And by now it was after 11am so we drove 50 minutes back to our hotel in Thumrayt, loaded our luggage into the cars and drove another 50 minutes to our final hotel in Salalah, where we stay for the last 6 nights of the trip.
 |
| Turkestan Shrike |
After beans on toast prepared by Lynzi, we drove just 25 minutes away to Ayn Hamran and this is a great place for an introduction into the regular birds of the Dhofar. region We enjoyed a not-so-common Turkestan Shrike posing on top of an acacia (our first one), followed by several African Paradise-Flycatchers, Arabian Sunbird, African Silverbills, some flyby Ruppell’s Weavers, and an Arabian Warbler. So not a bad day so far, but there was more to come and as dusk settled we went to my spot for Arabian Scops-Owl. It’s not usually a hard bird to see but I’d heard from some other birders that they’ve been proving rather tricky this year, so I was a little apprehensive this evening. Yet I needn’t have worried as within 5 minutes of trying we were all watching one in the spotlight as it glared at us from overhead.
 |
| Arabian Scops-Owl |
And what a great way to end the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment