Birding in Oman, Nov -15 Khawr Rawri, Khawr Taqah, East Khawr

This is the second time I write this blog post... When I had just about finished it the first time my anti virus program flashed a popup promting me to restart the computer. As I was writing when this happened, one of the keys I pressed restarted the computer without me having any time to do anything about it. About 5-6 hours of work was gone... even though I had pressed save many times. I hope I can manage to write everything again.

Well, in any case. This blog post takes us back to the first day (the 16th) of the birding trip in Oman again. After a long night's flight, an early morning birding tour of the hotel garden and its proximity and an hour and a half of sleep, the group got together by the cars. The plan was to drive to the large Khawr, in the eastern part of the Salalah area, called Khawr Rawri. 

We headed off for the Khawr but stopped for supplies. We bought bananas and other fruit at some fruit stands by the road. By the way, the bananas are something different than what we have in sweeden. The short, sweet ones were very nice. Also they were grown just beside the stands. We also filled up with water, bread and some nuts. But a tip here is to bring salty nuts from home. I didn't find any in the small shops and as you sweat a lot it's a good thing to have while away from the hotel.

Some 30-40 minutes drive to the Khawr and as it lies within the area of a world heritage site, there was an entrance fee. Not expensive though. The hole Khawr Rawri (or Khor Rori or Khawr Ruri or whatever it is called) used to be an ancient port, important in the trading of the frankincense and the ruins of the town Sumhuram are still left and used as tourist attractions.

We drove down the eastern side of the Khawr, almost all the way down to the beach. Here we got our scopes out of the car and started birding for real. Though we had already seen both Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and Eastern Imperial Eagle on the way down.

We soon saw Isabelline Wheatear, Squacco Heron, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Pacific Golden Plover etc. when going to the edge of the Khawr. I think this was a good place to start as it allowed for some easy birding and quite a lot of species. The trip list grew at a fast pace...

Map showing Khawr Rawri

View of Khawr Rawri

The photo shows Khawr Rawri, in the distance, and part of the plane land between the Dhofar mountains and the Indian Ocean. The photo is taken from the road to Wade Darbat. The Khawr lies with only a thin strip of sandy beach separating it from the ocean. It can be seen between the two "mountains" (for lack of better word) just by the ocean.

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (zebrasparv, Emberiza tahapisi)

While our tour guide payed the entrance fee on of the group (I think it was my dad, in fact) found the first Cinnamon-breasted Bunting for the trip. As always, the first bird of a species is always special and at this point we didn't know that it was very common in the Dhofar mountains.

Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca)

The first raptor lifer for the trip turned out to be this Eastern Imperial Eagle, which showed itself on the way down to the beach.

Even though there was a lot of birds down at the Khawr, the photo opportunities were few. The sun was not in our favour and many of the birds were quite some distance away from us. But is was really nice anyway. Slender-billed gulls flew back and forth between the Khawr and the ocean, as did the Saunders's Terns. Some in the group saw an Intermediate Egret, which I missed. Or... I might have seen it but I couldn't really say that it was an Intermedieat. With no other birds to tell the relative size and never having seen it before, well... I'll see it some other time. Though I think it was the only species seen by the group, that I missed, which would have been a new lifer for me. No, there were probably a few more... I think I wrote about a Jouanin's Petrel in the first post of the trip to Oman.

Never mind. It was a very nice afternoon down by the Khawr.

Slender-billed Gull (långnäbbad mås, Chroicocephalus genei)

A quite common species along the coast. This was the first sighting for me though.

After some time in the sun we went down to the beach for a swim. Warm water, nice waves and a deserted paradise beach. It couldn't get much better than this. Also perfect timing after the flight, lack of sleep and the heat while birding. Really nice!! If one would go to Oman with the family, I cannot think of a better place to go to. 

The beach by Khawr Rawri

About 500 meters of perfect, pristine beach, which goes even further in the other direction compared to the photo. Not a single person to be seen.

After cooling ourselves in the Indian ocean for a while it was time go move a short distans. We drove back up to the ruins of Sumhuram where we wanted to look for Blackstart, in particular. Well, it turned out to be easy to find the Blackstart and took a walk around the ruins to check them out a little bit further. A very nice featuri in birding trips like this one, to also be able to visit a world heritage site. 

The ruins of the city Sumhuram

A nice walkway is going around the ruins of this city. Not only the Blackstart but also Desert Wheatear, Isabelline Shrike and a couple of other species could be seen. If you want to know more about Sumhuram follow this link.

Khawr Rawri

The view over the southernmost part of Khawr Rawri, from the ruins of Sumhuram

Back at the parking lot, I was one of the first and while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up, one of the others in the group and I went a little closer to small busher close by. A few birds could be seen feeding there. A nice male Shining sunbird, which didn't seem too bothered by our precence, and a couple of African Silverbills found something to eat on the ground.

Shining Sunbird (abessinsk solfågel, Cinnyris habessinicus)

I chose to include two photos of this beautiful, male Shining sunbird as they show how different it can look just a couple of seconds apart. In this photo, it looks almost completely black with a greenish tinge from the ear coverts, down the neck towards the lesser coverts on the wing. Check out the next photo for comparison

Shining Sunbird (abessinsk solfågel, Cinnyris habessinicus)

In this photo, the green tinge is still there but now accompanied by both red and blue on the throat and neck. Quite different appearance...

African Silverbill (afrikansk silvernäbb, Euodice cantans)

House Sparrow (gråsparv, Passer domesticus)

The first House Sparrow of the trip was also found at Sumhuram. I was a little bit surprised to find it here, in the middle of the desert but then again this was a tourist spot so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised at all...

As the sun started its descent towards the horizon, we left the world heritage site and drove a short distance to the northernmost part of the Khawr. It is a different kind of biotope here with a decent sized reed area and a more marshland type than open water. Then just beside the reed it is quite dry with a lot of lower bushes. Immediately on arrival, the first Red-backed Shrike was found and a few in the group saw a Little Bittern. The Bittern was another species which I have never seen, I remember now...

The main target species in this part of the Khawr was the Clamorous Reed Warbler, which could be heard here and there in the reed. A Baillon's Crake was a nice addition to the list and the first Chiffchaffs of the trip were seen. Some of the group flushed a Pin-tailed Snipe but at least, this was one species I had already seen in UAE.

Baillon's Crake (dvärgsumphöna, Porzana pusilla)

The little crake in the picture showed itself during a long time but it was quite dark and getting decent photos proved difficult. In the end we could at least use the photos to tell that it wasn't a Little Crake but rather a Baillon's

African Monarch (afrikansk monark, Danaus chrysippus)

The first African Monarch was also a nice find. It turned out to be relatively common, in particular in Ayn Razat, where we saw several dozen. Beautiful butterfly!

That was it for Khawr Rawri and we didn't go back to this place again during the trip. At least not while I was in Oman. As we were flying from two locations, Copenhagen and Stockholm, we didn't go home on the same day. I was flying to Copenhagen and we had to leave a day earlier than the ones going to Stockholm. These guys went back to Khawr Rawri on the extra day they had. I heard that they had seen Scrub Warbler during this visit. It would have been nice to see but at least a bird I have seen before (link to blog post in which I have photos of Scrub Warbler) in the UAE.

Next Khawr i want to write about here is East Khawr, or Khawr ad Dahariz as it says on google maps. We went to this site three times (at least the car I was riding in), on the 18th, the 22nd and the 24th. 

East Khawr is easily accessed by the road going between the ocean and the Khawr itself. This is also the best place to put your scopes up as the edge of the Khawr to the road is good for shorebirds, herons and ibisis etc. Another part of this site which should not be missed is the beach over at the ocean. It is only a short walk to the ocean. 

The reason for three stops at this site was partly due to the easy access but also partly because we had been told that there was a Long-toed Stint there. We thought we saw the stint for a short while during the last visit but it wasn't a good view and then the hole group of stints was flushed and we couldn't find it again. That one will have to wait for another time.

Even though there were quite a lot of species at East Khawr, Garganay, Reef Heron, Cattle Egrett etc. only one new lifer was seen here during the first visit. This was a Pheasant-taile Jacana, which I managed to spot myself. A Broad-billed Sandpiper made up, to some extent, for the non existing Long-toed Stint (it wasn't until the last visit we had that short sighting of what could have been it), Temmink's Stint, Saunders's Tern and Lesser Sand Plover were other species seen there.

 Link to map showing East Khawr. 

Greater Flamingo (större flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus)

Squacco Heron was common but distiguishing it from Indian Pond is not very easy. We believe that most of the Squacco/Pond Herons we saw were in fact Squacco and we only had one individual which we was certain was an Indian Pond.

Squacco Heron (rallhäger, Ardeola ralloides)

Fishin' pose!

Sooty Gull (sotmås, Ichthyaetus hemprichii)

There were Sooty gulls all along the watchtower... I mean shoreline.

Both on the first and the last visit, we went down to the beach. A few Lesser Sand Plovers could be seen here and Eurasian Oystercatcher in winter plumage, but it wasn't until the last visit that we saw the two Greater Sand Plovers. 

One thing you should always do when you are close to the shore is to watch the ocean. During our last visit to the Khawr, I kept a special lookout over the open water. I was a bit annoyed that I had missed the Masked Booby some of us saw while having lunch in the hotel beach restaurant one of the first days. It was just lazyness on my part, I could have got up to see it but I just thought it was a sure bet when we would go to Al Mughsayl. Turned out to be not quite that easy... Anyway, I suddenly spotted one, not quite adult but not a 1cy either. Some of the others thought I wanted too see the Masked Booby to much and had in fact seen a Brown Booby... That's because suddenly there were both a Masked and a Brown in the same place, almost. Well, everyone got to see the Masked in the end. :-)

Kentish Plover (svartbent strandpipare, Charadrius alexandrinus)

Kentish Plovers were common on the ocean beach and by the Khawrs. If you take your time, I sure you could have managed to get real closeups but I never took the time to do that.

Greater Sand Plover (ökenpipare, Charadrius leschenaultii)

In the end, there it was, the Greater Sand Plover. I had seen it a couple of times in the UAE but it's still a nice bird.

Beach birding

Part of the group of Swedish birders who was on this trip. By this time I imagine that many where quite tired after almost ten days of birding and many early mornings.

Eurasian Oystercatcher (strandskata, Haematopus ostralegus)

Another try with digiscoping. An Oystercatcher of what used to think was a different sub species but rather is the winter plumage... I have not really studied longipes or osculans or whatever one might expect to see.

The last visit to East Khawr was also one of the last sites we visited while we were in Oman (except for the ones flying from Stockholm of course) and we were trying to get the last few species to reach 200 for the trip. Not that we took it very seriously but it seemed a nice number to reach and one none in the group thought we would reach. So, as we searched through the birds, we found a Pied Avocet, first for the trip and just when it was time to leave, Magnus called out and said he saw a new species for the trip. A Pallas's Gull. This also became the last lifer for me on this trip.

Pallas's Gull (svarthuvad trut, Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus)

Not that it is particularly beautiful - at least not compared to the Verreaux' Eagles we saw - (in another blog post...) but still really cool. If I'm not mistaken, this must be a 1cy bird.

The third Khawr we visited - or perhaps tried to visit is a better sentence - was Khawr Taqah. This was on the 20th. Unfortunately is was very exploited and the entire nort shore was made into some kind of park, which was closed. The southern side was almost completely blocked by reed which made the spots with open water both few and small. We soon gave up and drove on towards Wadi Darbat instead. We did see the first definite Southern Grey Shrike here though. We had seen a grey Shrike before but I'm actually believing that it was a Steppe. But as that is a subspecies of Southern Gray, at least according to some lists, well I think I'll just let that one go.

Wood Sandpiper (grönbena, Tringa glareola)

Photo taken from the car

Pheasant-tailed Jacana (fasanjaçana, Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

In one of the few open waters in Khawr Taqah we saw at least five Pheasant-tailed Jacanas. A Common Moorhen behind the Jacana

It's time to wrap this blog post up. The two large Khawrs, East and Rawri are really worth a visit. If the park at Khawr Taqah opens up it might be a bit easier to go birding there compared to when we tried. There are also quite a few more Khawrs which probably are good as well. Many seem to be quite exploited with a lot of the natural water front (reed etc. ) being concrete or whatever. Too bad. 

Next post will cover the Ayns we visited. Stay tuned :-)

New lifers for me are marked with * in the species lists below.

Species list for Khawr Rawri (in more or less chronological order)

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (zebrasparv, Emberiza tahapisi) *
Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca) *
Common Redshank (rödbena, Tringa totanus)
Glossy Ibis (bronsibis, Plegadis falcinellus)
Squacco Heron (rallhäger, Ardeola ralloides)
Common Moorhen (rörhöna, Gallinula chloropus)
Isabelline Wheatear (isabellastenskvätta, Oenanthe isabellina)
Kentish Plover (svartbent strandpipare, Charadrius alexandrinus)
Northern Shoveler (skedand, Anas clypeata)
Greater Flamingo (större flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus)
Slender-billed Gull (långnäbbad mås, Chroicocephalus genei)
Citrine Wagtail (citronärla, Motacilla citreola)
Cotton Pygmy Goose (bomullsdvärgand, Nettapus coromandelianus) *
Western Reef Heron (revhäger, Egretta gularis)
Pacific Golden Plover (sibirisk tundrapipare, Pluvialis fulva) *
Rock Dove (klippduva, Columba livia)
Little Grebe (smådopping, Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Common Ringed Plover (större strandpipare, Charadrius hiaticula)
Sandwich Tern (kentsk tärna, Thalasseus sandvicensis)
Eurasian Spoonbill (skedstork, Platalea leucorodia)
Marsh Sandpiper (dammsnäppa, Tringa stagnatilis)
Black-tailed Godwit (rödspov, Limosa limosa)
Ruff (brushane, Philomachus pugnax)
Eurasian Teal (kricka, Anas crecca)
Black-winged Stilt (styltlöpare, Himantopus himantopus)
Northern Pintail (stjärtand, Anas acuta)
Dunlin (kärrsnäppa, Calidris alpina)
Little Stint (småsnäppa, Calidris minuta)
Indian Pond Heron (rishäger, Ardeola grayii)
Western Marsh Harrier (brun kärrhök, Circus aeruginosus)
Saunders's Tern (Saunders småtärna, Sternula saundersi) *
Common Snipe (enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago)
Eurasian Wigeon (bläsand, Anas penelope)
Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn, Clanga clanga)
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (grön biätare, Merops persicus)
Isabelline Shrike (isabellatörnskata, Lanius isabellinus)
Blackstart (svartstjärt, Oenanthe melanura) *
Crested Lark (tofslärka, Galerida cristata)
African Silverbill (afrikansk silvernäbb, Euodice cantans)
House Sparrow (gråsparv, Passer domesticus)
Bluethroat (blåhake, Luscinia svecica)
Shining Sunbird (abessinsk solfågel, Cinnyris habessinicus)
Green Bee-eater (grön dvärgbiätare, Merops orientalis)
Red-backed Shrike (törnskata, Lanius collurio)
Green Sandpiper (skogssnäppa, Tringa ochropus)
Wood Sandpiper (grönbena, Tringa glareola)
Clamorous Reed Warbler (papyrussångare, Acrocephalus stentoreus) * Though I very probably saw one at Dubai Pivot Fields last year.
Baillon's Crake (dvärgsumphöna, Porzana pusilla) *
Sand Martin (backsvala, Riparia riparia)
Common Chiffchaff (gransångare, Phylloscopus collybita)
African Paradise Flycatcher (afrikansk paradismonark, Terpsiphone viridis)
African Monarch (afrikansk monark, Danaus chrysippus), Butterfly

Species list for East Khawr (including the beach south of the Khawr. Some of the more common species are not in the list):
Pheasant-tailed Jacana (fasanjaçana, Hydrophasianus chirurgus) *
Western Reef Heron (revhäger, Egretta gularis)
Great Egret (ägretthäger, Ardea alba)
Glossy Ibis (bronsibis, Plegadis falcinellus)
Garganey (årta, Anas querquedula)
Little Egret (silkeshäger, Egretta garzetta)
Eurasian Coot (sothöna, Fulica atra)
Northern Pintail (stjärtand, Anas acuta)
Greater Flamingo (större flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus)
Eurasian Spoonbill (skedstork, Platalea leucorodia)
Squacco Heron (rallhäger, Ardeola ralloides)
Western Cattle Egret (kohäger, Bubulcus ibis)
Citrine Wagtail (citronärla, Motacilla citreola)
Western Marsh Harrier (brun kärrhök, Circus aeruginosus)
Common Moorhen (rörhöna, Gallinula chloropus)
Grey Plover (kustpipare, Pluvialis squatarola)
Sooty Gull (sotmås, Ichthyaetus hemprichii)
Common Ringed Plover (större strandpipare, Charadrius hiaticula)
Lesser Sand Plover (mongolpipare, Charadrius mongolus)
Kentish Plover (svartbent strandpipare, Charadrius alexandrinus)
Common Snipe (enkelbeckasin, Gallinago gallinago)
Common Redshank (rödbena, Tringa totanus)
Common Greenshank (gluttsnäppa, Tringa nebularia)
Wood Sandpiper (grönbena, Tringa glareola)
Sanderling (sandlöpare, Calidris alba)
Little Stint (småsnäppa, Calidris minuta)
Temminck's Stint (mosnäppa, Calidris temminckii)
Dunlin (kärrsnäppa, Calidris alpina)
Broad-billed Sandpiper (myrsnäppa, Limicola falcinellus)
Ruff (brushane, Philomachus pugnax)
Saunders's Tern (Saunders småtärna, Sternula saundersi)
Pied Avocet (skärfläcka, Recurvirostra avosetta)
Greater Sand Plover (ökenpipare, Charadrius leschenaultii)
Eurasian Oystercatcher (strandskata, Haematopus ostralegus)
Masked Booby (masksula, Sula dactylatra) *
Pallas's Gull (svarthuvad trut, Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus) *

Species list for Khawr Taqah (many of the more common species were seen here as well but I will not type them here):
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (grön biätare, Merops persicus)
Southern Grey Shrike (iberisk varfågel/ökenvarfågel (44), Lanius meridionalis)
Bluethroat (blåhake, Luscinia svecica)
Pheasant-tailed Jacana (fasanjaçana, Hydrophasianus chirurgus)