Day 7. 31st. We set off after breakfast for Mudayy where we hoped to find Hypocolious. We parked up in a car park area near a play area and above a pool. As we walked down the road we found a couple of Sand Partridge making their way in the distance. We walked around the palms and bushes but couldn’t find any Hypocolious. We did see African Silverbill, Ring-necked Parakeet, Blackstart, African Collared Dove. Walking back along the road I had really close views of an blackstart. We found one Nile valley Sunbird which flew into the top of a tree. Walking further round the village didn’t give much else so we drove out to a farm area Green Bee-eaters, Oriental Turtle Dove, Red-throated Pipit and a Chiffchaff. We drove out along a track towards a valley where we were looking for Sandgrouse which used the area to drink but they seem to have been and gone. We did see a few flocks in the distance and we came across a group of birders who had seen flocks of sandgrouse further over so we drove on to a small oasis farm. Viewing from the road wasn’t the best so we walked along the road. David found a still warm Crowned Sandgrouse that had obviously hit the wires and died very recently. A really sad sight. We walked on into the compound and walked through the trees to the wall where we had better views, but still didn’t see any close Sandgrouse. We did have Cuckoo before moving on to the Thumraite waste disposal site where there were many Steppe Eagles sitting around and flying overhead. We also had Desert Wheatear and Laughing doves.
Our next stop was very unexpected but very much appreciated as we went to Wadi Dawkah, a World Heritage Site and Frankincense Park for a ‘Scratch and Sniff’ experience, where there were hundreds of Frankicense trees and where Frankincense is still harvested.
wadi Dawkah, Salalah, ad daharz.
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