Birding Oman: Sociable Lapwing steals the show

 

Sociable Lapwing

After a lengthy tour of five European countries (Italy, Finland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain: see following posts) we had a few days in Muscat, Oman, on our way home. Our hotel was close to a beach used by local fishing boats so we checked it out just as a boat was offloading a catch.

Caspian Gull

Large numbers of gulls were present including Caspian, Common, Slender-billed, Lesser Black-backed (fuscus fuscus Baltic) and Sooty.

Slender-billed Gull

Sooty Gull

Offshore were a few Common Terns and large flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes.

Red-necked Phalaropes

Crested Tern and Lesser Crested Tern (the latter scarce in Oman) were present on the beach with the gulls.

Crested Tern (middle) & Lesser Crested Terns

The following day I had hired a local driver, Nabeel, to pick me up at the hotel at 5.30am for a day in the field. We drove just over an hour to reach a wadi near Nakhal where Arabian Partridge had been reported.

Nakhal wadi & Nabeel

We found none but the scenery was superb and a few birds were about including Indian Silverbill, Green Sandpiper and Pale Crag-Martin. Then a bird showed which puzzled me until I worked out after I got home that it had to be a Pale Rockfinch.

Green Sandpiper

Indian Silverbill

We then headed north-west to Sawadi Beach where I had arranged to hire a young man to take us out to the delightful Daymaniyat Islands (below) offshore.

We circled several islands, enjoying fabulously close views of Socrota Cormorant (3 on one island and 1 on a second island), a species I’d seen just once previously, and then poorly, in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Great Cormorants and Western Reef-Egrets were present.

Socrota Cormorant

Around the outermost islands we found a nice flock of Persian Shearwaters (below) a lifer for me, offering similarly close views.

With them was a single Red-necked Phalarope (below).

Circling one island we had an immature Sooty Falcon (below) fly overhead.

We landed on the main island, Jazirat Jabal, and did the steep climb to an ancient lookout post at the summit. Others had reported Egyptian Nightjar roosting here but we failed to score. A few passerines present included Black Redstart (below) and Red-tailed (Persian) Wheatear.

Our next stop was eastwards to the fields and cultivated flatlands of the Barka area. There were several reports of Sociable Lapwing from this area last year and records in recent years suggested this may be an important wintering ground for this endangered shorebird, which had long been high on my target list. We searched sites where birds were seen most recently and were about to give up when we decided to give one area near the Al Nahda Resort a final lookover. This was fortuitous because I spotted two lapwings in a field that we’d overlooked earlier. Further searching found 11 more: 13 in all. This was a trip highlight and I’m thankful to Dr S.S. Suresh for guidance with both this site and the Daymaniyat Islands.

Of surprise was a large flock of about 80 mixed Pin-tailed and Common Snipe (some in the image below) roosting under bushes on a dry paddock with no water in site.

Arabian Green Bee-eaters added a colourful touch to the landscape.