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...