The east coast of the UAE peninsula, squeezed between Oman to the south and Oman to the north (yep, there are actually three non-contiguous bits of Oman, including one small enclave completely surrounded by UAE) is quite mountainous and less developed than the flat, desert plains of the west coast where Dubai and Abu Dhabi are located. When Ted Burkett suggested to me a weekend birding over there I jumped at the chance. A change of scene, and a chance to connect with a few birds that do not occur in the west was a great opportunity. We had a vague plan to bird sites along the coast, and some of the wadis in the mountains just west of the coastline. We also had in mind perhaps some owling, and even a chance of boat trip if we found ourselves near Dibba, come Saturday afternoon.
We departed mid-Friday afternoon, aiming to be at Khor Kalba, the southern most bit of UAE coast, for low tide. There are mangroves, mudflats and tidal flows and it’s the best spot (the only?) to see the Arabian race of Collared Kingfisher. This is bird that Ted needed for his UAE list. Me too, come to think of it, but I haven’t really started thinking about my UAE list (yet…). I visited this spot in briefly in 2013 but the tide was wrong access looked problematic. Nowadays there is a visitor centre and entry is for a small fee, and the area, rich in terrestrial and marine life, receives some protection as a result. We checked out the Green Turtles whose heads pop up under and around the entry bridge in the tidal channel, skirted the impressive visitor centre — they tend not to do things by halves in this part of the world — and wandered briefly through the aviary. Once beyond made-made “nature bits” we reached the first boardwalk across a 50m tidal channel towards the mangroves. Amazingly the first bird I clocked was an Arabian Collared Kingfisher sitting on a mound of mud and rocks barely 10m from the boardwalk.
North along the coast we reached Fujeirah where numerous very pretty Sooty Gull — a large grey gull with a pale green bill and pink lipstick — were circling the small fishing harbour.
It was good to be away from Abu Dhabi, and since our cheap-and-cheerful hotel had an Indian restaurant on the ground floor, we quietly celebrated the low key but successful start to the trip with a curry and a few beers.
The following morning we started early and drove to Masafi Wadi, one of the best-known birding spots in the mountains. It’s mostly undisturbed, natural state, yet relative accessibility, make it a favourite spot among UAE birders. Dry, sparsely vegetated slopes rise above the wadis, dry creek and riverbeds in which the occasional water supports a few larger trees. Immediately a Hume’s Wheatear sang from a typical rocky perch high above us, a gorgeous black and white wheatear that is fairly common over here in the mountains (I saw one outside my hotel room in 2013 see here). Closer to the base of the wadi a Persian Wheatear and Desert Lark made themselves apparent, then a skulking Scrub Warbler was my first proper lifer of the trip. The views weren’t great but we would find a couple of much showier ones a little later. Sand Partridges called but wouldn’t play ball for views or photos. Near a small well, a group of noisy Arabian Babblers skuttled about, a Striolated Bunting came down to drink, and we added Pied Wheatear after initially trying to turn it into something rarer. Another bird I was keen to find was Menetries Warbler. They are found over our way, reported regularly from Ajban Farms, but I had dipped a couple of times at Ajban Farms so it was gratifying finally to clock this chunky Sylvia warbler.
As the day warmed up and the desert birds became less active it was time to hit Wamm Farms. and visit a famous UAE birding site called Wamm Farms. Once upo a time this was a major atrractor to migrants and one of the regions top birding spots — it still boast UAE’s most impressive ebird list of 288 species, but these days, I’m told is a fraction of its former glory. Ted asured me it was still worth a visit though.
The most interesting vagrant was a first for the site, answering to the name of Nic Hallam. It has been more than a decade since I last saw Nic, then in his “natural habitat” of Farmoor Reservoir, scanning the gull roost from his white van. This was Nic’s first foreign birding in several years following a long illness and sad passing of his wife, and his enthusiasm for this very different birding from the rezzie was a timely reminder of the privilege I enjoy of being able to call home — for the time being at least — a new location with a new array of birds. We scanned the fields looking for migrant pipits, finding an amazing array: Red-throated, Meadow, Tawny, Tree Pipit. Ted and Nick even picked out one that was even rarer on my personal list than Nic himself. I ticked off Richard’s Pipit in 1994, 30 years ago, a single bird in Australia on my first foray into birding. Subsequently Richard’s was split from Australian, so it turns out that this was a lifer for me today! We flushed a few Common Snipe and one Pin-tailed Snipe (the flight views were solid enough to see that this bird clearly had no white trailing edge to the secondaries, distinguishing it unequivocally from Common). Other good birds here included Namaqua Dove (a flock of 40 was a notable size) and it was good to find a small group of Eurasian Siskin, a species which has irrupted into UAE this winter. Nearby, the tracks between goat farms are just about the best spot in UAE to find Variable Wheatear, and we connected with two (no photos).
After a spot of lunch we headed down to the coast, to Dibba harbour. Ted and I had made the call late to get on a trip out to the fish farms where a couple of regional rarities (Great Black-backed Gull and Red-footed Booby) were being seen regularly, and it turned out that Nic was already booked on the same boat. The farms are only a few km from the shore, and the number of birds that roost on the pontoons was impressive. For some, like the terns (we had five species: White-cheeked, Common, Sandwich, Lesser Crested and Crested), it’s because because the floating structures are a convenient resting place before feeding forays, while for others, like the Reef Egrets and dozens of Grey Herons, it’s the chance of sneaky meal. Hundreds of Black-headed Gulls roosted on the guano-streaked structures, along with a smaller number of Slender-billed Gulls, several Steppe Gulls (Lesser Black-backed), and about 20 Sooty Gulls. Inevitably, an Osprey also hangs about and we had lovely close encounters.
Beyond the farms we flushed a black-and-white bird sat on the water, then found several more Persian Shearwaters.
At Dibba Rock more than 300 Great Cormorants roosted, though we noted nothing of greater rarity value before, as the sun was setting, we made one final pass of the farms. Several minutes after sunset, just as we were about to head for home, Ted’s cry went up “Booby!!”. Somehow the young Red-footed Booby had flown in unnoticed and was roosting on one of the farms. We filled our SD cards with close shots of the lifer.
After a booby-selfie, we finally did set out for the harbour, now in semi-darkness.
Tired, but still enthusiastic, Ted and I decided to try some owling in Wadi Shees. The steep-sided and quiet valley seemed like it should hold something interesting and if you don’t look, you don’t see. For once the pull of the birds trumped the pull of the bar after a long day birding. We harboured dreams of something mega like an Omani Owl or Arabian Eagle Owl, but of course we heard/saw neither, though we did hear an interesting unidentified call at one spot. Enthusiasm dimmed, we headed to our hotel in Khor Fakkan. What I had not realised is that Sharjah is the most conservative of the seven emirates and is completely dry. I had been hoping to revive my spirits with a beer like last night. Instead, I had to make do with a coke and a good sleep, but I was also consoled that of we had skipped the owling only to find zero alcoholic refreshment, I would have been truly gripped off.
We returned the following morning to Wadi Shees to check it out in the daylight. We drove the full length along the rocky track that winds it way along the wadi base between sheer cliffs either side. Although scenic, it held no new birds for us, and after trundling up out the far end late morning, we decided to head for home, about 2.5 hours back to Abu Dhabi.
