OMAN - SEABIRDS OF THE ARABIAN SEA
Day 0 ARRIVING A DAY EARLY TO MUSCAT
We thoroughly recommend arriving a day early and staying in an airport hotel, just to rest and have a good night's sleep before the tour starts tomorrow.
Day 1 AL FAHAL ISLAND - MASIRAH ISLAND
We meet at Cafe Nero in Muscat Airport at 7am before we hop onto a small boat and take a tour around Al Fahal island where we should see the breeding Sooty Falcons, as well as Red-billed Tropicbirds. After this exciting start, we will drive 3.5 hours to Shannah Port where we board an afternoon ferry to Masirah Island. Along the way we could see Greater Hoopoe-Lark, Brown-necked Raven and Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark. The ferry journey is approximately 19kms and could give us our first White-cheeked Terns and occasionally something slightly rarer such as a Wilson's Storm-Petrel, which occurs here in reasonable numbers at this time of year. Masirah is an island off the east coast of mainland Oman in the Arabian Sea, and the largest island of the country. It is is 95 km (59 miles) long north–south, between 12 and 14 km (7.5 and 8.7 miles) wide. As well as a decent seawatching promontory facing south, there are a couple of migrant sites we can check during our stay.
After checking in to our conveniently located hotel, and If time permits, we can visit the South Cape of Masirah for an evening seawatch. Night at a comfortable hotel in Hilf.
Days 2 - 3 MASIRAH ISLAND
Over these 2 full days on Masirah Island we will spend morning and late afternoons seawatching from the very south of Masirah Island. At this time of year Flesh-footed & Persian Shearwaters will be passing the coastline in good numbers. Jouanin's Petrelspass in smaller numbers and there's a very good chance of Wilson's Storm-Petrel at this time of year, along with Lesser Noddy, Bridled, White-cheeked and the sought-after Saunders's Tern as well. We should be able to get very good views of Lesser Noddy, and both White-cheeked and Saunders's Terns roosting on the rocks of Cape Masirah. There should also be a summering flock of Greater Crested Terns, a few Common Noddies, and many Sooty Gulls.
We can also check out the mudflats at Sur Masirah for Crab-Plover, which should be present in small numbers, and there could well be a few other shorebirds present including Greater and Tibetan Sandplovers, and possibly some early returning Broad-billed and Terek Sandpipers.
Over the midday period we may well take a break back at the hotel, but the temptation to checkout Al Shamkaiah Park for any rarities may well be too tempting. The nearby coastal wetland and sewage treatment works can also be checked for migrants as well. 2 nights at Hilf.
Day 4 MASIRAH ISLAND - MUSCAT - SALALAL - MIRBAT
After one final seawatch this morning we will catch the ferry back to Shannah and return to Muscat in time for our evening flight to Salalah, in Dhofar governate about 1000kms south in the Dhofar region of Oman. Upon arrival we will drive just over an hour to a nice hotel in Mirbat where we will spend the next 6 nights. Mirbat has become famous with birders the world over for its pelagics heading out into the Arabian Sea and we have 3 planned with Captain Hatem over the course of our stay. At this time of year the sea isn't as calm as we've become used to from our November visits, which is going to be great for our land-based seawatching and we hope for some really strong onshore winds!
Days 5 - 9 MIRBAT
Over the course of these 5 full days we will take 3 morning pelagics from Mirbat and then spend the rest of our time seawatching from Ras Janjari Headland (about 25 mins drive east). Over the late summer and early autumn period 1000's of seabirds pass along the Arabian Sea coastline, being drawn close to shore by the huge shoals of fish present. As well as regular species such as Jouanin's Petrel and both Persian & Flesh-footed Shearwaters numbering in their 1000's, we should also see Socotra Cormorant, Red-necked Phalarope, Sooty Shearwater, Parasitic & Pomarine Jaegers, Red-billed Tropicbird, Common Noddy, Bridled Tern, Brown & Masked Booby, and we can expect to see some really rare species. Possibilities include Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel, Matsudaira's Storm-Petrel, White-faced Storm-Petrel (3 records), Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (4 records), Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Streaked Shearwater (3 records), Sooty Tern, Brown (3 records) & South Polar Skuas (5 records) , Long-tailed Jaeger (8 records) and who knows what else is possible? There's even been Tahiti Petrel recorded twice! The chances of increasing our knowledge of seabirds here is huge and the fact that many of the above-named species could well be unrecorded due to the lack of observer coverage is a tempting proposition to the avid seawatcher!
We can also visit nearby Wadi Darbat one evening to see Arabian Eagle-Owl & Arabian Scops-Owl, head up onto the nearby plateau to look for Arabian Partridge, Arabian Wheatear, Yemen Serin and possibly Verreaux's Eagle. Other species such as Abdim's Stork, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Bruce's Green-Pigeon, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Diederik Cuckoo, Black-crowned Tchagra, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Pale Crag Martin, Singing Bushlark, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Forbes-Watson's Swift, Arabian Wheatear, Blackstart, Long-billed Pipit, Arabian Warbler, Abyssinian White-eye, Palestine & Arabian Sunbirds, Fan-tailed Raven, African Silverbill, Ruppell's Weaver & Cinnamon-breasted Bunting can also be seen at this time of year just to add some variety to our birding in this amazing region. And we can also try for Desert Owl one evening, along with Sand Partridge, and check out a site for Arabian Grosbeak as well.
Day 10 MIRBAT - SALALAH - END OF TOUR
After a final seawatch from Ras Janjari headland this morning (or another pelagic) we will drive back to Salalah Airport in the afternoon and reach the airport by 6pm in time for evening flights to your onward destination.
This last day is rather flexible and there are opportunities to visit some of the coastal lagoons (known locally as khawrs) on our drive back to Salalah where we could find some interesting species such as Yellow Bittern, a variety of terns including Gull-billed, Whiskered, Caspian and even some early migrant White-winged Terns, Graceful Prinia, Clamorous Reed Warbler, as well as a variety of shorebirds, egrets & herons.
