OMAN AGAIN...!! CYPRUS HIGHLIGHTS & A BIT MORE!

Been a busy couple of months following on from the Epic Cape Horn Cruise way back in February/early March, with another Oman trip fitted in and a recent Zoothera House Party in Cyprus. Migration was in full swing everywhere and I was really buzzing to return to Oman and visit Musandam in the far north to see if I could catch up with any lingering migrants. I've already scouted out a fair few new sites over my past couple of visits and Musandam would be the final piece in the jigsaw for putting on the ultimate Oman tour. 

For those of you who don't know about Musandam (and why would you?) its the very far northern tip of Oman, cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE. Musandam is like no other region in Oman or Arabia. The spectacular coastal cliffs plunging straight into the sea create fjords that are more reminiscent of western Norway than the desert landscapes most people associate with Arabia. A quick look at a map of Arabia will show Musandam as forming part of a land bridge between Arabia and central Asia and indeed, parts of mainland Musandam is less than 60 km from Iran. On rare, clear days the mountains of Iran are clearly visible. So the potential for rarities is outstanding and I visited in late April.... 

My personal highlights were adding 5 new Oman ticks - Barred Warbler, Black-headed Bunting, Chukar, Variable Wheatear and White-throated Robin, bringing my Oman list up to 323. Although finding a flock of 140 Ortolan Buntings on 26th April on the Sayh Plateau, along with 17 Turkestan Shrikes, 12 Isabelline Shrikes, 25 Common Rock Thrushes, 32 Isabelline Wheatears, 80 Yellow-throated Sparrows and a whole bunch of other migrants. 

There's huge potential here for finding rarities and I will return later this year, as Eversmann's Redstart is meant to winter here. 

Al Waym Fields

Sayh Plateau

Sall Ala

Pied Wheatears were everywhere

Rufous Bushchat is a common spring migrant

I saw several Upcher's Warblers

White-cheeked Terns were common at this time of the year

White-cheeked Terns

Socotra Cormorants breed around Musandam

This is the only place to see Chukar in Oman

Anyway, back to Cyprus and the undoubted highlight was the mega rare Western Palearctic tick of Lesser Moorhen - around the 10th record for the WP region...

Lesser Moorhen

 

 Everyone knows how good Cyprus in the Spring is, so here's a few highlights from our week:

We enjoyed awesome views of Alpine Swift

Found this Baillon's Crake at Agia Varvara

Cyprus Scops Owl was very obliging

Great Spotted Cuckoo was seen in numerous places

Little & Baillon's Crakes were also at Agia Varvara

Oh, the Oman Birding website is up and running but still more work is required. But for now it is filling a gap in the market: See the Oman Birding website here

OMAN SUMMER SEABIRDS TOUR 2025

 

Well, the new site is up and running and i've tried to upload as much information as possible but there's still plenty of work to do. But for now it's looking ok! I think? So take a look at it and see what you think.... I would still like other contributors to add some more depth to the site, with relevant articles on Oman birds, identification etc and i'm hoping that will come in time. 

See: www.oman-birding.com

Lesser Noddy © Eduard Opperman

To spice things up a little we are offering a 10-day summer seabirds trip (28th July to 6th August), visiting Masirah Island for Lesser Noddy & Saunders's Tern, as well as doing some land-based seawatching from the very south of the island. Oh and we should also see a few Crab-Plovers as well. ONLY 2 SPACES REMAINING.

The one and only.... Crab-Plover

Then, we will spend the next 6 nights at a nice hotel in Mirbat doing more land-based seawatching from a headland, as well as going on 3 pelagics out into the Arabian Sea. As this is the peak seabird season we expect to see 1000's of birds passing not too far offshore, and amongst the numerous Persian & Flesh-footed Shearwaters and Jouanin's Petrels, other species present will include Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Masked & Brown Booby, Red-billed Tropicbird, Common Noddy, Sooty Shearwater, Arctic & Pomarine Skuas, and both Bridled & White-cheeked Terns. 

Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel

The potential for finding something rarer is huge and we can hope for a few of the following that have been recorded from this coastline over the past number of years: Matsudaira's, Swinhoe's, Black-bellied & White-faced Storm-Petrel, Wedge-tailed & Streaked Shearwaters, Sooty Tern, South Polar & Brown Skuas, and even Tahiti Petrel has been recorded twice. Who knows what else we could find? I really can't wait for this! 

White-faced Storm-Petrel

Finding a Mega on Masirah Island, Oman!

 Today the birding gods have been ultra good to me as I had the morning to look for something rare on Masirah Island in Oman. Headed into Al Shamkaiah Park shortly after sunrise and bumped into 2 Forest Wagtails - still a rare bird in Oman. They'd been previously reported, so I was half-expecting them to still be here. Then a Red-breasted Flycatcher appeared, and as I walked around the edge of the park, 2 Pin-tailed Snipe flew up and away. Not too shabby so far, but I was wondering if i'd lost my rarity-finding mojo here in Oman. After several minutes of self-doubt a bird flew away, low across the floor of the park, looking for all the world like a small accipiter with a white spot on the lower back. It was kind of reminiscent to an immature Shikra, so I thought in that moment but surely was too thin...? I crept closer to where I saw the bird in question swoop up into one of the densest trees in the park (of course) and thought I could see it through a tangle of bare branches. What I saw left me totally shaken to be honest and I had to get a better position as what I thought it was, surely couldn't be. It was a cuckoo, an immature at that, but not just any cuckoo. I was adamant it was a flipping Common Hawk-Cuckoo, something of a mega bird in the Middle East. The stuff of dreams you might say. But it couldn't be?! i tried taking some photos but my hands were shaking and the light was poor anyway. Damn! 

Anyway, I spent several minutes trying to compose myself, keeping one eye on the bird and one on my phone, looking for its status in Oman. Wow! With only 4 previous records this was indeed a mega bird and I had to be sure. The bird then disappeared and I cursed my luck, as I hadn't any decent photos to record the event and surely no-one would believe me without photos. So I searched the park and eventually saw it flying again. This was like, maybe another half an hour since my initial discovery and all the while I was doubting what i'd seen! Ah the joys of ADHD and overthinking! Anyway, I tracked the bird down to another tree, took some photos from a distance and BAM! It's a Common Hawk-Cuckoo! Mega! You just can't beat that buzz from finding a rarity.

Common Hawk-Cuckoo

Forest Wagtail

New Oman Birding Website

 Well, i've finally taken the plunge and committed to building a new Oman Birding website. My love for this country has come to the point where it's time to put something back into the birding community and it's turning into a much bigger job than I realised!! I have so much information on birding in Oman stored in my brain that putting it into words on a website has been quite a challenge!!! Still, i've made a start and published the website on 1st January 2025, despite much more work needed and it will be ongoing for many months - and that's in-between my 'day job' of course... 

But it's been a fun exercise over the Christmas & New Year holidays and one i'm looking to improve on. I'm hoping other birders will contribute with better photos than mine and even write some better site info, write articles on the rare birds they have found in Oman, or anything else relevant to Oman birding. Already my two Dutch birding friends Eduard Opperman and Eduard Sangster have provided some amazing photos for me to include - much better than mine! And Joachim Bertrands, David Astins & Ray O'Reilly will be doing the same....  

There has already been a huge amount of information gathered by Jens Eriksen & Dave Sergeant in the superb Birdwatching Guide to Oman. It's a little dated but still has much to offer anyone considering a visit to Oman. You can get a PDF copy for EUR 15 by emailing Jens at: hjoman@gmail.com   Jens is the Chairman of the Oman Birds Record Committee (OBRC) and has let me post the latest (Nov 24) Oman Birdlist. 

It is my aim to do justice to the work previously carried out by the two authors, and have up-to-date site information readily available to everyone with GPS co-ordinates etc. But there are many sites i've never been to, but will hopefully begin to rectify that with a couple visits over the next few months....

There are many others who have a lot of experience of birding in Oman and I want to get as many contributors as possible to make this website as authoritative & helpful as possible. 

So, if you wish to contribute anything to the website please email us at: birders@oman-birding.com

You can find the website here: www.oman-birding.com

And if you didn't know...

OMAN ROCKS!

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...