tisdag 28 mars 2017

Birding in Oman - Raysut and Sahlnout Farm

Next up in this blog series of my trip with Avi Fauna to Oman is the dump. A quite regular place to go for us birders to go as there is often plenty of food for birds on these sites. The smell is what it is though... Another good birding site in Salalah is the Sahlnout farm (or Sahnawt, there are different spellings in different places.) where a lot of birds can be seen. Difficult to get in, though, so distances can be quite a challange. 

The Raysut area just outside of Salalah, see map here, is a large industrial area with, among other things, the main port of Salalah.

There were two places in Raysut we were going to visit; the landfill area (something you don't really see in Sweden anymore) and the waste water treatment area with ponds attracting lots of birds. First stop was the landfill. I hope it is possible to read the map here to get an idea of where it is. We placed ourselves along the road in the centre of the map. You can also see the waste water treatment area to the left, I think. It works on my computer.

Any way, the landfill is virtually covered in birds of prey. Mainly Steppe Eagles but also a couple of Greater Spotted Eagles and Eastern Imperial Eagles. Now, when I write this post, it is actually almost exactly a year since we visited so, of course, my memory has becomed a bit blurred... And this is the main purpose of the posts, to remind me of what it was like during my travels. Apart from at least two more posts about locations in Oman, I have a trip to Gran Canaria and a trip to Croatia to cover. I hope I can manage this before I leave for Australia in four weeks... That trip will give a lot of new lifers and perhaps some photos to.


Those last two sentences, well I didn't quite live up to that. Now it is March in 2017 and I have been away from this blog for several months. I will give this blog another go but if I cannot catch up, I might as well stop writing.

Anyway, back to Oman. 
Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca)
Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca)
Steppe Eagle (stäppörn, Aquila nipalensis)
Steppe Eagle (stäppörn, Aquila nipalensis)
Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn, Clanga clanga)
We drove on to the waste water treatment park or rather just outside of it. Again a lot of birds of prey here, one of them this stunning 1cy Greater Spotted Eagle. There was some water from the wwtp here and a bit of greenery. This attracted some smaller birds and again we had the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and I managed to see the first Namaqua Dove of the trip here.
Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn, Clanga clanga)
Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn, Clanga clanga)
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (grön biätare, Merops persicus)
Bonelli's Eagle (hökörn, Aquila fasciata)
We went into the wwtp and took a look around. The photos below show some of the birds we saw. The Abdim's stork was plentiful and I counted to 626 individuals. From what I heard, this was a new record at this point. 
Abdim's Stork (abdimstork, Ciconia abdimii)
Abdim's Stork (abdimstork, Ciconia abdimii)
Abdim's Stork (abdimstork, Ciconia abdimii)
Abdim's Stork (abdimstork, Ciconia abdimii)
Spur-winged Lapwing (sporrvipa, Vanellus spinosus)
In the Raysut area, there are a few other places to check out. Just beside the highway we found a wetland/lake with a lot of birds. There were lots of constructionwork going on and I would not be surprised if this wetland is totally ruined by now...
Greater Flamingo (större flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus)
Variegated Green Skimmer (Orthetrum sabina)
Scarlet Darter (karmintrollslända, Crocothemis erythraea)
Another spot in the area, just by the sea gave us some Caspian Terns and yet another Deser Wheatear. But the Wheatears can be seen pretty much everywhere... A Shrike caught my attention. It was far away and we just took it for a Southern Grey at the time. But I've been checking my photos in more detail after we got back to Sweden and this could be a Steppe Grey Shrike. Hard call though...
Grey Shrike... Southern or Steppe.
Desert Wheatear (ökenstenskvätta, Oenanthe deserti)
That was it from Raysut. Though we did see Terek Sandpiper and Pacific Golden Plover in another place close to the port. But no photos from that place. It is called Raysut mudflats in the list below.

On to Sahnawt farm just outside (or rather in the outskirts) of Salalah. This is a great place for birds, really good actually, but difficult to do some decent birding in. We did not get access to the farm so we had to do all out birding from outside of the fences. We could still see some but we probably missed a lot.  Myself and a the other guys in my car actually stopped by two times. First on the way back from Ayn Hamran on the morning of the 22nd (see the blog post covering Ayn Hamran here). We saw some Sociable Lapwings in the distance and European Roller along with a couple of Cream Colored Coursers and Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. 

On the 23rd we went back but now with the whole group. This time it was later in the morning and the heat shimmer was enough to make it virtually impossible to see the Sociable Lapwings. We drove around the farm and tried to peek through the fence. 
Namaqua Dove (långstjärtsduva, Oena capensis)
Collared Pratincole (rödvingad vadarsvala, Glareola pratincola)
Booted Eagle (dvärgörn, Hieraaetus pennatus)
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (grön biätare, Merops persicus)
Eurasian Hobby (lärkfalk, Falco subbuteo)
Isabelline Wheatear (isabellastenskvätta, Oenanthe isabellina)
These last two photos are also from Sahnawt farm but of a bird that caused quite a lot of discussion. The general impression at first was that they were very pale and the main hypothesis was a Lesser Short-toed Lark. Small bird, very pale but there are a few things that in the end showed that this is really a female Black-crowned Sparrow-lark. But just to show just how the light (wich is very strong in these two photos, the sun coming from almost straight up) can affect the appearance of a bird, I have a link here to another female Black-crowned Sparrow-lark, taken in the evening in UAE a couple of years earlier. Link!
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark (svartkronad finklärka,
Eremopterix nigriceps)
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark (svartkronad finklärka,
Eremopterix nigriceps)
A couple of places well worth a visist if you ever go birding in Oman. As always, new lifers for me (at this point in time...) marked with *.

Raysut Landfil area species list (not that many species but many birds...):
Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca)
Steppe Eagle (stäppörn, Aquila nipalensis)
Greater Spotted Eagle (större skrikörn, Clanga clanga)
Desert Wheatear (ökenstenskvätta, Oenanthe deserti)
Barn Swallow (ladusvala, Hirundo rustica)

Raysut wastewater treatment park:
Bonelli's Eagle (hökörn, Aquila fasciata)
Abdim's Stork (abdimstork, Ciconia abdimii) *
Namaqua Dove (långstjärtsduva, Oena capensis) *
White Stork (vit stork, Ciconia ciconia)
Spur-winged Lapwing (sporrvipa, Vanellus spinosus) *
Red-wattled Lapwing (rödflikvipa, Vanellus indicus)
Little Ringed Plover (mindre strandpipare, Charadrius dubius)
Spotted Redshank (svartsnäppa, Tringa erythropus)
Forbes-Watson's Swift (somaliaseglare, Apus berliozi) *
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (grön biätare, Merops persicus)
Sand Martin (backsvala, Riparia riparia)
Bluethroat (blåhake, Luscinia svecica)

Raysut beach:
Caspian Tern (skräntärna, Hydroprogne caspia)

Raysust mudflats:
Pacific Golden Plover (sibirisk tundrapipare, Pluvialis fulva)
Terek Sandpiper (tereksnäppa, Xenus cinereus) *
Whimbrel (småspov, Numenius phaeopus)

Raysut pond:
Ruddy Shelduck (rostand, Tadorna ferruginea)
White-winged Tern (vitvingad tärna, Chlidonias leucopterus)
Marsh Sandpiper (dammsnäppa, Tringa stagnatilis)
Greater Flamingo (större flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus)

Sahlnout farm:
Sociable Lapwing (stäppvipa, Vanellus gregarius) *
Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse (brunbukig flyghöna, Pterocles exustus)
Cream-colored Courser (ökenlöpare, Cursorius cursor)
Namaqua Dove (långstjärtsduva, Oena capensis)
Collared Pratincole (rödvingad vadarsvala, Glareola pratincola) *
Booted Eagle (dvärgörn, Hieraaetus pennatus)
Eastern Imperial Eagle (kejsarörn, Aquila heliaca)
Pallid Harrier (stäpphök, Circus macrourus)
Eurasian Hobby (lärkfalk, Falco subbuteo)
Singing Bush Lark (sångbusklärka, Mirafra cantillans) *
Tawny Pipit (fältpiplärka, Anthus campestris)
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark (svartkronad finklärka, Eremopterix nigriceps)
Isabelline Wheatear (isabellastenskvätta, Oenanthe isabellina)
European Roller (blåkråka, Coracias garrulus)

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