UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 6–14 February 2009 Leaders: Vaughan Ashby and Svetlana Annenkova

With its superb infrastructure, friendly people and top quality birds, the United Arab Emirates is a first-class birding destination. It is home to many Middle Eastern specialities, including Socotra Cormorant, Crab Plover, Sooty Gull, Greater Crested, Lesser Crested, Saunders’ and White-cheeked Terns, Striated Scops-owl, Egyptian Nightjar, Long-billed Pipit, Greater Hoopoe-lark, Black-crowned Sparrow-lark, Arabian Babbler and Hume’s Wheatear. Amongst the winter visitors are Indian Pond-heron, Pallid Harrier, Greater Spotted Eagle, White-tailed Lapwing, Great Knot, Grey Hypocolius, Eastern Pied and Red-tailed Wheatears and Plain Leaf-warbler. Species otherwise found only in the Indian sub-continent include Grey Francolin, Red-wattled Lapwing, Collared Kingfisher, Indian Roller, Purple Sunbird and Bank Mynah. Furthermore, migration can be excellent. The leaders have extensive knowledge of the country and its birds from many previous visits.

Day 1 Overnight flight from London to Dubai, one of the Emirates.

Day 2 Early morning arrival in Dubai, followed by a one-and-a-half-hour transfer to Al Ain, known as the garden city, for a two-night stay. We travel through some of the country’s most remote sand desert en route for Al Ain, where we will arrive in time for lunch. In the afternoon, we will visit one or more of the wetlands around the city where we will see many wintering waders and ducks including Red-wattled Lapwing and Temminck’s Stint and possibly White-tailed Lapwing. In the late afternoon we will drive up a spectacular road that will take us almost to the summit of the stunningly beautiful Jebel Hafeet, the second-highest mountain in the UAE. En-route it is likely that we will see our first Desert Larks and Hume’s Wheatears, whilst good numbers of Egyptian Vultures can normally be watched at very close range. There should still be enough light left for us to be able to visit the extensive gardens of our hotel, where we should see Rock Martin, the eastern form of Black Redstart, Blue Rock-thrush and Indian Silverbill as well as more Hume’s Wheatears.

Day 3 Early morning is the best time to look for the shy Sand Partridge on the slopes of the jebel and immediately after breakfast we will try to locate some. This is the only location in the UAE where Hooded Wheatears are regularly seen and we should enjoy close encounters. Next, we will head back down the jebel to a nearby wadi, which is a reliable spot for wintering Plain Leaf-warbler. By slowly walking about a kilometre of the wadi with its scattered acacia trees, we can also expect to see Green Bee-eater, Lesser (Desert) Whitethroat, Isabelline (both Daurian and Turkestan) and Southern Grey Shrikes and House (Striated) Bunting as well as numerous Laughing Doves. Nearby is a man-made oasis of greenery which attracts many birds including Grey Francolin, Tawny and Water Pipits, Crested Lark, White-cheeked, Yellow-vented and Red-vented Bulbuls, Red-tailed Wheatear, Graceful Prinia, Ménétries’s Warbler and Purple Sunbird. After lunch we will look around the jebel for soaring raptors, which may include Barbary Falcon and Bonelli’s Eagle, before visiting a nearby stone desert with sparse vegetation, which has proved a reliable spot for Black-crowned Sparrow-lark as well as Isabelline Wheatear and Brown-necked Raven.

Day 4 After some early morning birding around the jebel, we will head first north then east towards Kalba. Our first stop will be at Qarn Nazwa, a rock monolith surrounded by stone desert. This is a regular site for Eastern Pied Wheatear, while roosting Pharaoh Eagle-owl is also possible. We will arrive in Kalba around lunchtime and, after checking into our conveniently located hotel for a two-night stay, we will head out to Khor Kalba. This is one of the best sites in the UAE for a number of specialities. Its extensive mangroves are home to the kalbaensis Collared Kingfisher, the endemic race found here, of which only 30 pairs remain. Indian Pond-heron is a regular winter visitor to the mudflats whilst Striated Heron, Western Reef-heron, Clamorous Reed-warbler and Sykes’s Warbler are resident in the mangroves.

Day 5 We will check Khor Kalba again immediately after breakfast as it is also an excellent site for Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. We will then slowly work our way north to Dibba, on the border with the Omani region of Musandam, checking the beaches for seabirds en-route. Along the 60-mile eastern coast, fishermen trawl whitebait directly from the beach with their four-wheel drive vehicles and seabirds find this very attractive and occur in abundance. White-cheeked, Common, Sandwich, Lesser Crested, Greater Crested, Bridled and Saunders’ Terns are all possible, while there may be Caspian, Heuglin’s and Steppe Gulls of the Herring Gull 'complex', and Great Black-headed and Sooty Gulls. Sometimes it is possible to see a few Persian Shearwaters offshore but Socotra Cormorant is more likely. In the afternoon, we will visit the famous dairy farm, which is another migrant hot spot. Its irrigated pastures are usually full of birds, including good numbers of Indian Rollers as well as White Wagtails (including personata) whilst overhead we should find numbers of hirundines, including Red-rumped Swallow, feeding on the insects attracted to the cattle. Many superb birds have been found here in recent years, including Black-shouldered Kite, Crested Honey-buzzard, Pied Stonechat (found by the leaders!), Black-winged Pratincole, Bay-backed Shrike and Little Bunting. Waders can often be seen in the drainage ditches here. We will stay here until dusk as, recently, this has proved an excellent site for nightjars and, amongst the regular Egyptian Nightjars, we may find the vagrant Sykes’ Nightjar.

Day 6 After breakfast, we will start our journey back west towards Dubai. En-route we will stop at Masafi. Here we will walk along a wadi (usually dry) for about a kilometre looking for typical mountain species. We may find Long-billed Pipit here and some winter visitors should still be present including Hume’s Lesser Whitethroat. Early migrants may include Steppe Grey and Woodchat Shrikes and residents are represented by Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Scrub Warbler and Arabian Babbler. Our next destination will be the extensive fodder fields around Digdaga and Hamraniyah. Here there are large numbers of Ring-necked Parakeets whilst the greenery attracts Bank and Common Mynahs, Rose-coloured Starlings and Pallid Swifts. Raptors quarter the area with Pallid and Montagu’s Harriers being almost common. We will study all the sparrows for Spanish Sparrow and listen out for the calls of Common Quail and Corn Buntings in the nearby fields. Three nights in Dubai.

Day 7 Today we will head for the wonderful Dubai Pivot Fields and Wimpey Pits. They are an absolute magnet for migrants, with the green fields and water attracting birds from miles around. On the Pivot Fields we will find many pipits and wagtails, including Red-throated and Tree Pipits and possibly Blyth’s and Buff-bellied Pipits, both of which have wintered in recent years. Citrine and Yellow Wagtails of several races can be found together with Greater Short-toed Larks. On the nearby Wimpey Pits there should be many common passage waders, and Common and Pintail Snipe will provide an identification challenge! Ducks may include Ferruginous Duck, and a recent feature of these pits has been breeding Purple Gallinule and Red-knobbed Coot. In the afternoon, we will visit the Khor Dubai Wildlife Sanctuary, an area of extensive mudflats within the city of Dubai where thousands of waterbirds feed. Kentish Plover is resident, and migrants and winter visitors, including Great White Egret, Eurasian Spoonbill and Terek and Curlew Sandpipers, are likely to be present in impressive numbers. The site is a major staging point for Broad-billed Sandpipers, which often join flocks of Greater and Lesser Sandplovers. Greater Flamingo is resident here in large numbers and we may see Caspian and Gull-billed Terns at roost and Greater Spotted Eagle, Osprey and Western Marsh-harriers hunting overhead.

Day 8 Our first destination today involves only a short drive to Al Jazeerah Khor, a large area of mudflats and lagoons flanked by a bank of high red sand dunes. We will search for passage warblers, which may include Asian Desert, Eastern Orphean and Ménétries’ Warblers, whilst Socotra Cormorants are possible offshore. Moving up the coast, we will keep a lookout for Greater Hoopoe-lark, if not already seen on the tour, before reaching Khor al Beidah. Highlights here may include Crab Plover, Great Knot, Terek Sandpiper and Lesser Sandplover amongst the commoner passage waders. Next, we will visit the breakwater at Umm al Qawain, which is excellent for cormorants and terns. In the afternoon, we will head back south towards Abu Dhabi to Ghantoot, where the plantations and carefully landscaped polo grounds provide a stark contrast to the surrounding desert. Our primary target species here will be the highly sought-after Grey Hypocolius. Although a regular migrant, numbers have been decreasing over the years. We may also find Cream-coloured Courser and Pacific Golden-plover here. Our next stop will be at the Al Wathba Camel Track, which is another migrant trap. The lush fields attract numerous pipits, wagtails, larks, hirundines and raptors. Finally, after dinner, we will visit Mushrif Park, where Striated Scops-owl can be found feeding under the lights.

Day 9 There may be time to revisit some local sites before returning to the airport for our flight back to the UK.

General Information Whilst afternoons can be hot, early mornings can be chilly. There are no compulsory health requirements and the country is generally insect-free. Walks are generally easy, although in the heat it can sometimes be tiring and some walks along wadis need a little extra effort.

Group size Minimum number for tour to go ahead: 4; maximum group size: 16. There will be 2 leaders irrespective of group size.