December 29, 2014

Our second day in Northern Oman, we travelled northward along the coast towards UAE. Many great birding sites are to be found in this green coastal belt.

Khatmat Milahah - Shinas Al Qurm Reserve - Liwa - Sun Farms

We were up with the lark or should I say the local Imam who called us to prayer at 5:20am. How nice! It was a beautiful morning clear sky and about 15C. We packed away our tents ate some breakfast and drove to the scrubland just outside the village of Khatmat Milahah.

 We then drove back to the beach area a little further south at Shinas, we were heading for another nature reserve called Al Qurm. Along the way we stopped at large open heathland which is a known place for Sandgrouse and sure we saw many. At least 50 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse came down to drink at a couple of shallow puddles, they were a great sighting. In and around the area we also found Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Crested Lark, Graceful Prinia, Desert Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear and Tawny Pipit.

The reserve near the beach consists of a semi-circular stretch of mangroves, with pools of tidal water and a large expanse of sandy scrub, dunes and beach.  it was quite quiet at the mangroves, but we did find Common Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper, White-cheeked Bubul, another Plain Leaf Warbler and a Striated Heron. The beach area held the usual array of gulls, terns, herons, egrets and waders. We were hoping for a sighting of Great Stone Curlew but we never found one. A drive through the heath produced our first sighting of Asian Desert Warbler but not the Stone Curlew.

 Next was a visit to Liwa a very similar reserve but with a much smaller Mangrove swamp, we were hoping for a Collared Kingfisher but only got the Common Kingfisher again. Other species seen included Daurian Shrike, Oriental Skylark, India Silverbill and more Common Sandpipers. The beach area was more productive, we added Kentish, Grey and Ringed Plovers, Lesser Sand Plover, Sanderling, Whimbrel and quite a few Gulls were present, Heuglin’s, Sooty, Slender-billed, Caspian and the star find a Great Black-headed Gull (formerly Pallas’s Gull).

 For the afternoon we drove back southward towards Muscat and stopped at well-known birding area called Sun Farms. You have to be signed in and out of the area but it is well worth the hassle. This huge semi-cultivated area has extensive areas of dry scrub and open grassland and the place was hootching with birds. We spent two hours there and hardly scratched the surface, raptor sighting were excellent, we found Pallid Harrier (my first ever adult male), Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Common Kestrel, also 3 individual Imperial Eagles and 2 Bonelli’s Eagles. All of these sightings were excellent, good close views of all of them.