Jack Snipe, Khawr Rori.
no grosbeaks and only a Grey Wagtail was new for the trip. Heading back into the mountains we wound our way up to the eastern edge of the escarpment at the totally awesome Jabal Samhan. This stupendous viewpoint looks out over the Mirbat Plain and has never let us down yet for Verreaux’s Eagle. We saw this super-impressive hyrax-eater again here, including some sky dancing, followed by the pair mating! Just like last year at this time. Gangs of Fan-tailed Ravens went about their business noisily and mobbed a passing Longlegged Buzzard. Tristram’s Starlings whistled ‘who are you?’ and a few Arabian Wheatears were along the cliff top. We also spotted a couple of Carter’s Rock Geckos, flashing their white tails. Back down at the 300 metres deep limestone sinkhole at Tawi Attair we arrived just in time for the evening performances. In nice light we watched four Arabian Partridges slowly descending into the sinkhole to roost as well as the pair of Bonelli’s Eagles, which nest in the crater and allowed their usual habituated views. The drab and wholly underwhelming Yemen Serin also appeared, again four birds feeding in bushes on the crater’s rim but what a mega now that Yemen itself is off limits again (it is occasionally also seen further west in Dhofar towards the Yemen border). A flock of 10 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters flying high overhead at Tawi Attair was a lovely way to end another action-packed birding day.
After a few hours sleep we were off on another midnight owling session, this time for many people’s nemesis owl, Desert Owl. Many hear it in Oman but far away in the darkness. We have put in a lot of time searching for this bird over the years and know of at least four regular territories in the Dhofar mountains. The super moon was still illuminating the night landscape but a little less bright now and partly veiled in clouds, which probably helped us a little. We hiked slowly, passing by three territories and waiting for some time at each one, without a response, until we got to the fourth. It was another WOW(!) moment, a female responded immediately from a smooth limestone cliff face and we were able to approach quickly to around 20 metres range, well within DSLR reach for a change. Desert Owl often hoots back at us from the top of the cliff or at least high up it. It was no coincidence that we saw it here, as we first discovered this territory in 2009 and it later transpired to be a nest site, found by the Sound Approach team. After a few photos the birds moved up a little higher so we left them to it and simply sat in the darkness listening to them. We could also hear two different males of the other territories in the distance joining in with their noisy neighbours, an amazing chorus! Bats fed around us and we also heard some rocks being dislodged by something nearby but we couldn’t see what
19 BirdQuest Tour Report: Oman (Custom Tour) 2016 www.birdquest-tours.com