Oman Summer Seawatching

Well, Oman was a blast once again. My 13th visit so far and fourth in 2025 already! I really wanted to experience the summer monsoon season, or Khareef as it is known, and experience the change in bird diversity for myself. 

Persian Shearwater taking off.....

Everywhere is so green in the south....

I was fortunate to have some truly dedicated sea-watchers from the UK with me and we managed to find a couple of Black-bellied Storm-Petrels (5th & 6th records for Oman if accepted by OBRC), Lesser Noddy, and a couple of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters as well. Personally, I was hoping for more and a longer stint would undoubtedly produce some other rare seabirds - of that I have no doubt. But what was mind-blowing for everyone was the sheer numbers of seabirds passing the Dhofar coast. I mean, during the regular Mirbat pelagics during November, when most birders visit you'd be lucky to reach double figures of Jouanin's Petrel and Persian Shearwater, with one or two Flesh-footed Shearwaters and now and again a Wilson's Storm-Petrel or Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel. But boy, I was not prepared for what we had....

Our first pelagic on 1st August was relatively sedate, with a SW wind speed up to 45kmh meaning we couldn't get out too far and ended up sailing just a few kilometres west, running parallel to the coastline. We had counts of: 45 Wilson's Storm-Petrels 2 Jouanin's Petrels 6 Flesh-footed Shearwaters 14 Persian Shearwaters

Wilson's Storm-Petrels were present in far larger numbers than I expected....

Our second pelagic on 3rd August was in similar weather conditions, yet we sailed slightly further out and recorded the same species but with slightly higher numbers. This would be fantastic during the regular November tours, but a little underwhelming for August and we were getting phenomenally higher counts from our land-based sea-watching (more of that on another post).

Flesh-footed Shearwater was also very common...

It wasn't until our third pelagic on 5th August that things really kicked off:

75 Wilson's Storm-Petrels

8 Jouanin's Petrels

160 Flesh-footed Shearwaters

600+ Persian Shearwaters......!

Persian Shearwaters.... Over 600 on our last pelagic...!!!

3 Swinhoe's Storm-Petrels, of which 2 might be Matsudaira's Storm-Petrels. I will do a separate post about these species once i've collected everyone's photo's. My confidence identifying these two species was dented after last November's fiasco, when we had a heavily moulting Swinhoe's along with a larger-looking, heavier winged all-dark stormy that I thought must be MSP but better birders than I contradicted that i.d. 

Jouanin's Petrel - our highest count was 101 from one of the headlands near Mirbat...

Here's what we called as a Swinhoe's SP but has been queried as a poss Matsudaira's © Mark Newsome

And again... a possible MSP and not SSP as we originally thought... © Nick Lessof

I'm going to do a separate post on these Swinhoe's/Matsudaira's Storm Petrel sightings once i've collated everyone's photo's. Mine were blurry and i'm relying on others in the group with mirrorless cameras!!

Anyway, can you imagine seeing raft upon raft of Persian Shearwaters...? It was utterly exceptionally mind-blowing and although I do not know for sure, must be one of the highest counts ever for my beloved Oman!

Apologies for the long post but i'm still buzzing! And I picked up 3 new Oman ticks along the way!

Oman rocks!!

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Egypt Tour April 2026

Well i've finally done it and organised a tour to Egypt for 9th to18th April 2026. This one is birding along the Nile, from Cairo (Senegal Coucal), and then flying down to Aswan and birding our way down to Abu Simbel targeting the Western Palearctic specialities. So its a relatively short 10 day trip with plenty of time available to get these special birds, as well as having the option of some culture to see the Pyramids, Sphinx and Abu Simbel Great Temple for those who want. Me not so much but I will have 'done' these later this year! 

The plan is to do the full tour in September 2026 that will include the coast as well, but more on that later. But one of the concerns about tours to Egypt is having optics confiscated upon arrival, and I seem to have made inroads with the authorities to ensure this won't happen. Good news!

Anyway, you can read the full tour info here: EGYPT - THE NILE VALLEY BIRDING TOUR

Personally I can't wait to get over there and see what all the fuss is about..!

Kittlitz's Plover is a key target

Egypt Plans...... Western Palearctic Birding Really Sphinx!

 With a bit of time in between trips, it has been good to re-evaluate our schedule for next year and take a look at different options. One thing that has come to light is the number of comments we've had this year about arranging a tour to Egypt. Looking at it, there's not many tours out there apart from an incredibly expensive Rockjumper trip and one by Naturetrek. That's more or less it. So i've been doing some research and the main thing that puts off birders from visiting is the very real risk of having your optics confiscated upon arrival in Cairo, Hurghada or any other airport over there. Well, what if I could change all that? I have contacts with the authorities over there and everything is progressing quite well - so far. So much so that i've taken the plunge and am heading to Cairo in September to check everything out. 

Greater Painted Snipe can be found all the way along the Nile from Cairo to Abu Simbel

So what's the draw? Well, Egypt must rank as one of the top Western Palearctic birding destinations there is and a must-visit for all those WP listers out there. As far as I can see there's up to 30 prized WP species to be had there:

1. African Swamphen

2. Reed Cormorant

3. Pink-backed Pelican - erratic these days

4. Yellow-billed Stork

5. Lappet-faced Vulture

6. Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

7. Greater Painted Snipe

8. Three-banded Plover

9. Kittlitz's Plover

10. Senegal Thick-knee

11. Crab-Plover

12. African Collared Dove - probably extinct in Egypt?

13. Senegal Coucal

14: White-eyed Gull

15. Sooty Gull

16. Saunders's Tern

17. White-cheeked Tern

18. Great Crested Tern

19. White-cheeked Tern

20. Bridled Tern

21. Brown Booby

22. Sooty Falcon

23. African Green Bee-eater

24. Brown-throated/Plain Martin

25. Nile Valley Sunbird

26. Streaked Weaver

27. Village Weaver

28. Red Avadavat

29. Indian Silverbill

30. African Pied Wagtail

The tricky Senegal Coucal can be seen at several sites around Cairo

Not a bad haul then?! Even if you've done Kuwait there's still a bunch of birds you've still got to get in Egypt. I will know more after my visit during late September and I will post updates each day here on the blog. I'm planning on a short tour in April 2026 doing the lower Nile from Luxor to Abu Simbel, with a longer 14/16 day trip in September 2026. 

We've already started a waiting list, so if you want to register your interest please email us - info@zootherabirding.com   

As soon as we have finalised the tours we will let you know, before they reach the Zoothera website.