We left Muscat around 9 intending to reach Filim early afternoon. A substantial drive (250 miles) with no reason to stop off in the bland Desert environment. We were staying nearby at Mahoot and we enjoyed the usual Chicken, Rice and delicious Roti bread before heading down to the Coast at Filim...
The main target here was Crab Plover. I'd looked at the Tides and unfortunately high tide was a couple of hours after dusk. No matter this was out time slot and we were going to make the most of it. We set our scopes up and started to look through the numerous Birds out on the mud. We'd seen this Species in the UAE but you just can't get enough of this unique Wader. We soon picked a few out, way out on the tideline, in time they moved closer as the Sea approached...
We saw a nice selection of Waders but again I felt there were maybe other areas nearby that we couldn't locate? Great Knot is possible here but no contenders. We enjoyed the Sunset...
...and headed fro our more than adequate Hotel.
Wednesday morning dawned and we headed for the Mahoot Waste Treatment Plant...
Nothing of note seen, so we continued South West into the aptly named "Empty Quarter"! Our destination tonight was the Al Ghaftan Resthouse which we reached mid afternoon after another 230 miles...
It was hot, so we checked in and decided to Bird the last hour before Dusk. It was quiet, very quiet...apart from the House Sparrows!
Thursday morning we had 30 minutes around the Resthouse first thing before grabbing supplies from the Shell Station and continuing South towards the Muntasar Oasis, a renowned Birding Site. Our intention was to be there early to increase out chances of Sandgrouse sp. All was going well on the main road BUT as we left it onto an obvious wide track things took a turn for the worse. It was rutted...and I mean RUTTED!!! Remarkably, we still had Google Maps, unfortunately it told us we had TEN MILES to go! I felt somewhat guilty at this stage as this was going to take quite a while and we (or more accurately Robert) still had to drive to Salalah. We discussed whether to carry on and after some deliberation we decided to do so. We arrived at 7.50.
We saw the drinking pools immediately but again no Sandgrouse? This was surprising and disappointing after our efforts? We started to slowly drive around the perimeter of the pools. Then...things bucked up. We spotted a dark "Moorhen type" Bird in the long grass? Rob manouvered the Jeep into a better position and we were soon looking at another Lifer...a White-breasted Waterhen...
A Species common further East but Rare here. Amazing to find it out here surrounded by hundreds of Miles of Desert! Our efforts had been rewarded! Rob then picked up a Raptor deep in a bush enjoying its breakfast...
After initial thoughts of something good I decided on Sparrowhawk...
We then saw a few small Birds having a drink. One was a hoped for Asian Desert Warbler...
A couple of familiar Species were also present. Namely Little Ringed Plover...
...and Coot!
I also had a puzzling Pipit that needs further investigation? We stayed for a couple of Hours before retracing our steps and continuing our journey South. We stopped of at the Qitbit Motel for lunch but couldn't find any Hypocolius...unfortunately. They were seen by other Birders but we arrived at 1pm and it was toasty!
We did have brief company on the last section of our journey...
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| The Open Road |
We arrived at Salalah before dusk after completing just under 300 miles, dropping down off the Plateau into the greenery and after an initial hitch (the Lift wasn't working) we settled into our apartment and even received a new Telly!
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