Qatar 10th – 13th March

2017

By Stig Jensen and Jon Lehmberg

Introduction

This short visit to the state of Qatar came about as a bit of a coincidence, since the absolute main focus of our

holiday was Oman. However, because the flights from Salalah via Doha to Copenhagen had an appalling connection

time, we decided to spend a few nights in Doha to have a quick look at this small country.

A further lure for us was that, despite Doha being an important hub for international flights, very few birders

seems to be visiting, and we both very much love unexplored places. As we found out, Qatar is only relatively

unexplored since there’s a small birding community, apparently mainly consisting of expats, here.

Even for Danes such as us, Qatar is a very small and flat country, and since it’s easy to get there, to get around,

to find accommodation (though mainly/exclusively in and around Doha) and places to eat, we wonder why so few

birders visit. The most likely explanation is that there are no birds here which are impossible or indeed difficult

to find anywhere else. It’s a shame really, because the country is definitely worth a visit, and we certainly didn’t

regret spending a few days.

Logistics

Since Qatar would be a stepping stone for us on our trip to Oman anyway, it was almost a freebie flight-wise as

the extended stop-over in Doha only had a limited impact on the price of our Qatar Airways plane tickets. The

tickets were easily booked online on www.qatarairways.com

Hamad International Airport in Doha pride itself of being one of the best in the Middle East, and it is quite nice

actually. We weren’t impressed by the efficiency, though, since it took forever to get our visa on arrival.

Collecting our rental car from AVIS, booked through www.rentalcars.com , also took much to long, but we finally

got an old banged up Toyota Corolla, which they assured us was an upgrade on the one we’d booked... – mmmh, yeah!

The GPS we’d booked in advanced wasn’t available either, which just goes to show that using one of the big

companies doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything.

Like in many other ways, Qatar is reminiscent of the United Arab Emirates when it comes to driving. Many locals,

especially around Doha, love speed and are generally impatient drivers, which, combined with the many roadworks,

can make a drive trough the capital quite an ordeal for the inexperienced foreign driver. Once out of the city,

traffic is, with a few exceptions, light and the roads generally well maintained. Most of the bigger roads are dual

carriageways, which is no doubt good from a road safety perspective. It can also be a bit annoying because in some

instances it adds unnecessary kilometres to some driving distances. Finally it’s worth noting that traffic lights in

Doha seems to take forever to change, which can be a little stressful if you’re in a hurry... - getting to the airport

for instance.

Since we expected most of our birding to take place west of Doha, we searched for a hotel in the western suburbs

to avoid congested roads near the city centre. We finally decided on the Mövenpick Hotel Al Aziziyah which is

nicely situated near Aspire Park, the impressive Villaggio Mall and most importantly Salwa Road which is the main

highway from Doha to the Saudi Arabian border. We booked through www.hotels.com and were well satisfied with

our accommodation, even if it was a little pricey.

Weather

The weather was pretty nice throughout with temperatures ranging between 14 and 29°C, good visibility and no wind to speak of. Our second day was mostly cloudy with a few drops of rain in the morning, but otherwise it was

clear and sunny.

Greater Hoopoe-lark - Umm Bab.

Resources

As always www.cloudbirders.com is the go-to website for trip reports, but when it comes to Qatar there’s not a

lot to be found. Two short reports is all, but rather than deter us it served as a further motivation, since we felt

confident that there were interesting birds to be found in the small desert state. The Qatar Bird Records

Committee (QBRC) has a nice website and especially the “Resources & links” part is worth checking out for the

visiting birder - http://www.qatarbirds.org/resources.htm. Amongst other things you’ll find a link to a Yahoo

Group where you can follow recent sighting from the country, but there’s also links to different web blogs and

galleries with a wide selection of mouth-watering photos. One of the photo blogs we enjoyed was “Simons Birding

Blog” which can be found here: http://simonsbirdingblog.weebly.com/ - despite him moving to South Africa a

couple of months before our trip, the blog is certainly still worth checking out for past sightings and great

pictures. Much to our appreciation, Simon was even kind enough to answer our request for information swiftly,

even though he was away on holiday at the time.

eBird - http://ebird.org/ebird/explore - is another helpful website and will surely be even more so as an

increasing number of birders become aware of it, and starts to contribute. It offers different search options,

but as always it’s advisable to keep in mind that not all contributors are equally skilled and that faulty

identifications are a real risk on sites like this.

While bird reports are a rare commodity, it’s quite the opposite when it comes to field-guides. Since many species

are shared, one of the good field-guides covering Europe is well worth taking. We also brought the Helms field-

guide “Birds of the Middle East” (2nd edition) which is quite good and the obvious choice when visiting this part of

the world.

Unlike Oman there are, as far as we know, no locality guide covering Qatar, which is a shame really. Surely it

wouldn’t take much of an effort to make such a book/booklet (maybe including Bahrain), or to include it on the

above mentioned QBRC website. To be fair there is a link on the that site, which is supposed to show the principal

birdwatching sites, but it doesn’t seem to be working at present.

In hindsight it would have been nice with a map of Qatar, but since we expected to have a GPS available during our

stay, we hadn’t bought one. Instead navigation was done with the help of the free app Maps.me, while a broader

study of maps were done on Google Earth since we had Wi-Fi on our hotel.

Places

Since we didn’t find any books about the birding sites of Qatar, we studied Google Earth, eBird and various photo

blogs instead, to decide where to spend our few days here. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit all the

places we found, but everywhere we went, we saw lots of interesting stuff. An advantage of the country being so

small is that all the places we visited – and pretty much everywhere else – is within easy reach of Doha.

Abu Nakla, the Al Wakrah area and the peninsula north of Zekreet were areas we would have loved to go. The

many new irrigated farms, mainly between Doha and Al Ruwais, would also have been interesting to visit if possible,

since they surely attract lots of migrants. There are surprisingly many of these green oases, but otherwise the

desert is mainly as you’d expect, though in much better condition than you see in so many other countries. In many

places, like Umm Bab, the vegetation is fairly pristine which we imagine is mainly due to the low pressure of

grazing domestic livestock – we only saw a couple of shepherds with a few sheep and goats around Al Ruwais.

In the end, however, we decided to visit the following sites:

Al Rikayya Farm: That was the name written on the big yellow double arched gate we went through to get into

this relatively large area of pivot fields and wetlands in the middle of the desert. We’re not actually sure if this is

synonymous with Irikaya/Arikhiya Farm which is the most famous and well visited birding site in Oman, or if it’s

merely the neighbouring farm. Anyway it’s (they’re) situated a few kilometres south of the Salwa Road

approximately half way between downtown Doha and As Salwa by the Saudi Arabian border. Access is easy from

the highway taking the Umm Bab exit but going in the opposite direction i.e. going south instead of north.

7 kilometres down this road you’ll find the above mentioned gate on the right/western side and we had no

problems getting in – the guard seemed to be used to bin-carrying visitors.

This place definitely deserves more time than the morning we spent here. There’s no doubt that lots of migrating

birds use the area as a stop-over and the potential for finding interesting stuff is immense. Both numbers and

diversity was excellent on our visit and we enjoyed lots of sparrows, wagtails, pipits, wheatears and swallows as

well as a several whistling Quails, Namaqua Doves, a surprise Black-winged Kite and much more. We also saw a

Hooded Malpolon (False Cobra) very well, and highly recommend a visit here. We felt that we barely even

scratched the surface here!

Map 1 - Al Rikayya Farm and Al Karaana Lagoon.

Al Karaana Lagoon: This is surely not what pops into most peoples minds when hearing the word “lagoon”, and

rightly so since this is a dump site for sewage of all kinds, thus carrying more of a resemblance to an outdoor loo

than a lovely body of water. Consequently the site is rather foul smelling in places and the constant comings and

goings of heavy trucks doesn’t add to it’s charm. Not surprisingly most of the pools were completely birdless, but

an exception was the western part of the area which wasn’t as heavily contaminated as the rest. Here we saw

quite good numbers of waterbirds like Flamingos, waders and terns and there’s surely potential for even more. As

in many such places a telescope is really helpful.

The “lagoon” is situated approximately 19 kilometres further down Salwa Road towards Saudi Arabia from the

Umm Bab exit mentioned above. It’s easily found just of the highway to the south and there’s a good view of the

western “lagoon” from the lay-by.

As we understand it, the French company Egis has won a contract to rehabilitate this area - no doubt it’s very

much in need of that! How it’ll affect the birdlife here is hard to predict, since we don’t know the exact plans, but

for now it’s definitely worth a quick stop if you’re in the neighbourhood anyway.

Umm Bab: This place doesn’t look like much neither on the map nor in reality, but never the less it was the only

place we visited twice. It’s located on the west coast and the village itself is situated a few kilometres from the

sea. From the big intersection by the large cement factory there’s a road leading straight to the coast, where we

birded the area between the end of the road and the coast guard station to the south. This area is very sandy

(surprise, surprise!) with low scrub and stands of palm trees. Tracks criss-cross the entire area making

birdwatching quite easy. There’re probably quite a few places similar to this along the coast.

The reason we went to Umm Bab in the first place was the enigmatic Grey Hypocolius. We’d found pictures of this

species on the web taken somewhere around here, but alas we didn’t succeeded in tracking them down. However,

we never regretted going there since both Greater Hoopoe-lark and Asian Desert Warbler were seen really well.

On our first visit the place seemed rather dull on arrival from a birders perspective, but during the afternoon we

came to appreciate the local birdlife and since tracks of small mammal activity was evident almost everywhere, our

plan was to come back early in the morning on our final day, to do some spotlighting. Unfortunately a navigation

error meant that we only reached the beach shortly before sunrise and thus didn’t see any gerbils or whatever

other mammals inhabit the area.

Map 2 - Umm Bab.

This second visit wasn’t a waste of time, though, since the entire area was alive with migrant birds. We added

Stonechat, Rock Thrush and Rufous Scrub Robin to our Qatar list, and both Ménétriés’s Warbler and Isabelline

Shrike were surprisingly common. All in all we had a great morning before returning to Doha.

The most direct way to reach Umm Bab from Doha is to take the Salwa Road towards Saudi Arabia. From

downtown Doha it’s an approximately 40 kilometre drive to the Umm Bab exit, from where there’s an additional 40

kilometres on a smaller road to the big intersection at Umm Bab. To go to the beach just go straight through the

intersection. The village will be to the left of the road and from there it’s just 3 more kilometres to the coast.

WARNING: Please be aware that the smaller road connecting Salwa Road and Umm Bab mentioned above is

marred by potholes on the last 10 kilometres before Umm Bab, and that there’s a lot of heavy traffic from the

cement factory towards Doha day and night. We recommend that you do not drive this road in the dark on

weekdays – Muslim weekdays, mind you!

Al Ruwais: This small coastal town sits on the extreme northern tip of the peninsula, and we visited three

different sites south and east of it.

When approaching Al Ruwais you’ll notice the fort-like stadium of the Al Shamal Sports Club on the right hand

side of the road. We parked our car by the eastern corner of this complex and walked the flat grassy plain to the

east. This area was good for larks with 5 different species seen and it must surely be a great place to see pipits,

wagtails and other migrants in the main migration periods. We also saw 3 different plovers here, Caspian Plover

being a very nice surprise.

Al Shamal Park is just one kilometre further up the road from the sports complex, also on the right side. On our

visit Hoopoes and Song Thrushes favoured the well kept lawns, but otherwise the trees along the perimeter of the

park seems to have the most to offer visiting birders. This site is probably more rewarding later on, when

migration is peaking, but we did see a couple of really nice birds in the form of Masked Shrike and a

Collared/Semi-collared Flycatcher – a nice male.

Finally we visited an area of tidal mudflats and mangrove east of Al Ruwais. Unfortunately we didn’t really have

time to explore this area and only spend half an hour checking the tidal flats seeing a variety of shorebirds, a

Caspian Tern, some Slender-billed Gulls and a couple of Ospreys. Like so many other places this area looks

promising and deserves a more thorough look.

Map 3 - Al Ruwais.

Al Dhakira & Al Khor: This area probably surprised us more than any other on our trip to Qatar. We had, of

course, checked eBird for observations from this area, with special attention on waders, since satellite images

looked promising for this group. We did indeed find previous records of a wide selection of shorebirds, but

nothing to suggest any large gatherings. We were therefore pleasantly surprised to find very good numbers of

sandpipers in particular.

We have no knowledge about the status of this area, but bird numbers certainly warrant some sort of

conservation effort – a worthy cause for the QBRC perhaps? A sad, but also slightly comical sight out here was a

small group of “nature lovers” chasing a lone Greater Flamingo, trying to kill it with some kind of ancient looking

riffle. They didn’t succeed despite several attempts but instead managed to disturb all the other birds resting on

the mudflats. Hopefully that wasn’t a reflection on the general attitude towards nature here, but we rather fear

it was exactly that.

Map 4 - Al Dhakira and Al Khor.

We went to two different places on the afternoon that we spent in the area. First we drove to Al Dhakira were we

checked out the inner and outer bay from the pier at the harbour. The tide was coming in fast when we arrived

which made the birds move around quite a bit. The tidal flats east of town held lots of distant shorebirds, and the

whole area looked very good. Caspian Terns were constantly patrolling the area and Saunders’s Tern was feeding

around the harbour in good numbers. Since the waders were quickly disappearing from the bay due to the tide, we

decided to try our luck somewhere else. To check the shore of the bay north of Al Khor, we took the road leading

out on the small peninsula between Al Khor and Al Dhakira. The wetlands south of this road were very good for

resting and feeding shorebirds as well as pipits – especially Water Pipit – and wagtails. The big flocks of Dunlin

and Little Stint contained surprisingly large numbers of Broad-billed Sandpiper, and Terek Sandpiper was also

rather common here.

This area is easily explored from the main road which is tarmacked, and from several sandy tracks (no 4-wheel

drive required on the one we used) leading from the main road to the coast. We highly recommended anyone with

an interest in shorebirds to visit this area, and it must surely be possible to find other good vantage points to

check the wetlands around the two bays either side of the peninsula even more thoroughly.

Al Rikayya Farm, Al Karaana Lagoon and Umm Bab.

Al Ruwais (”grassy area” & tidal mudflats) and Al Khor.

10/3

Al Rikayya Farm 6.30 – 11.40.

Common Quail 8h , Ferruginous Duck 2 , Little Grebe 35 , Great Crested Grebe 6 , Black-necked Grebe 5 ,

Purple Heron 1 , Little Egret 2 , Great Cormorant 2 , Kestrel 13 , Black-winged Kite 1 , Western Marsh Harrier 3 ,

Montagu’s Harrier 1f , Sparrowhawk 1 , Buzzard 1 , Common Moorhen 7 , Coot 4 , Black-winged Stilt 24 ,

Pied Avocet 1 , Lapwing 1 , Kentish Plover 2 , Common Snipe 61 , Redshank 3 , Greenshank 2 , Green Sandpiper 1 ,

Wood Sandpiper 3 , Common Sandpiper 3 , Little Stint 17 , Dunlin 2 , Ruff 3 , Slender-billed Gull 4 ,

Collared Dove 400 , Laughing Dove 150 , Namaqua Dove 5m+4f , Swift 8 , Hoopoe 6 , Isabelline Shrike 9 ,

Southern Grey Shrike 4 , Sand Martin 65 , Barn Swallow 90 , Red-rumped Swallow 45 ,

Greater Short-toed Lark 35 , Crested Lark 25 , White-eared Bulbul 6 , Clamorous Reed Warbler 8 , Chiffchaff 4 ,

Black Redstart 1m , Whinchat 1m+1f , Isabelline Wheatear 6 , Northern Wheatear 1m , Pied Wheatear 18 ,

Desert Wheatear 2m+1f , House Sparrow 500+ , Spanish Sparrow 500+ , Yellow Wagtail 125 , Citrine Wagtail 1m ,

White Wagtail 90 , Tawny Pipit 20 , Red-throated Pipit 2 , Water Pipit 11.

Hooded Malpolon (False Cobra) - Al Rikayya Farm.

Al Karaana Lagoon 12.00 – 12.55.

Greater Flamingo 75 , Western Marsh Harrier 1f , Black-winged Stilt 90 , Pied Avocet 13 , Ringed Plover 95 ,

Kentish Plover 3 , Common Snipe 2 , Black-tailed Godwit 9 , Spotted Redshank 4 , Redshank 35 ,

Marsh Sandpiper 9 , Greenshank 13 , Green Sandpiper 1 , Wood Sandpiper 5 , Common Sandpiper 8 ,

Little Stint 75 , Dunlin 14 , Ruff 110 , “great white-headed gull” 1 , Black-headed Gull 19 , Slender-billed Gull 6 ,

Whiskered Tern 4 , White-winged Black Tern 12 , Collared Dove 8 , Laughing Dove 5 , Swift 2 , Crested Lark 2 ,

House Sparrow 25.

Umm Bab 13.50 – 16.30.

Grey Francolin h+1 , Grey Heron 1 , Western Reef Egret 2 , Kentish Plover 3 , Greater Sand Plover 1 , Dunlin 7 ,

Collared Dove 45 , Laughing Dove 30 , Namaqua Dove 1m+1f , Hoopoe 3 , Isabelline Shrike 4 ,

Southern Grey Shrike 2 , Barn Swallow 2 , Greater Hoopoe-lark 3 , Crested Lark 9 ,

Black-crowned Sparow-lark 3m+4f , White-eared Bulbul 13 , Chiffchaff 2 , Eastern Orphean Warbler 1 ,

Asian Desert Warbler 3 , Black Redstart 1m , Isabelline Wheatear 4 , Pied Wheatear 4m , Desert Wheatear 2m ,

House Sparrow 17.

11/3

Al Ruwais 6.25 – 11.55.

Grey Francolin 4 , Grey Heron 4 , Western Reef Egret 17 , Great Cormorant 1 , Kestrel 1 , Osprey 2 ,

Western Marsh Harrier 1f , Sparrowhawk 1 , Grey Plover 2 , Kentish Plover 17 , Lesser Sand Plover 2 ,

Greater Sand Plover 30 , Caspian Plover 1 , Curlew 31 , Redshank 45 , Greenshank 2 , Terek Sandpiper 2 ,

Sanderling 1 , Little Stint 20 , Dunlin 16 , Ruff 2 , “great white-headed gull” 1 , Slender-billed Gull 9 ,

Caspian Tern 1 , Collared Dove 45 , Laughing Dove 5 , Little Owl 1 , Swift 3 , Hoopoe 3 , Isabelline Shrike 1 ,

Southern Grey Shrike 2 , Masked Shrike 1 , Barn Swallow 5 , Red-rumped Swallow 1 , Greater Hoopoe-lark 4 ,

Greater Short-toed Lark 60 , Lesser Short-toed Lark 6 , Crested Lark 16 , Oriental Skylark 2 ,

White-eared Bulbul 30 , Red-vented Bulbul 4 , Chiffchaff 7 , Common Myna 25 , Song Thrush 5 ,

Black Redstart 1f , Isabelline Wheatear 3 , Pied Wheatear 3m , Desert Wheatear 2m+1f ,

(Semi-)Collared Flycatcher 1m , House Sparrow 85 , White Wagtail 9 , Tawny Pipit 8 , Long-billed Pipit 3 ,

Meadow Pipit 2 , Water Pipit 7.

Greater Hoopoe-lark 4 , Eastern Orphean Warbler 1 – Al Zubarah Fort.

Al Dhakira & Al Khor 14.10 – 16.15.

Greater Flamingo 1 , Grey Heron 5 , Great White Egret 1 , Western Reef Egret 14 , Great Cormorant 1 , Kestrel 2 ,

Osprey 1 , Western Marsh Harrier 1m+1f , Black-winged Stilt 57 , Pied Avocet 1 , Grey Plover 6 , Ringed Plover 2 ,

Kentish Plover 45 , Lesser Sand Plover 8 , Greater Sand Plover 165 , Common Snipe 7 , Bar-tailed Godwit 1 ,

Curlew 26 , Spotted Redshank 12 , Redshank 55 , Marsh Sandpiper 8 , Greenshank 6 , Wood Sandpiper 2 ,

Terek Sandpiper 24 , Little Stint 500+ , Curlew Sandpiper 13 , Dunlin 450+ , Broad-billed Sandpiper 134+ ,

Ruff 65 , Slender-billed Gull 16 , Gull-billed Tern 1 , Caspian Tern 11 , Saunders’s Tern 18 , Collared Dove 30 ,

Laughing Dove 4 , Isabelline Shrike 3, House Crow 2 , Barn Swallow 20 , Crested Lark 4 , White-eared Bulbul 18 ,

Clamorous Reed Warbler 6 , Common Myna 15 , Isabelline Wheatear 3 , Pied Wheatear 1m , Desert Wheatear 1m ,

House Sparrow 20 , Yellow Wagtail 1 , Citrine Wagtail 2 , White Wagtail 12 , Water Pipit 40 .

12/3

Umm Bab 5.25 – 8.45.

Grey Francolin 3 , Western Reef Egret 1 , Great Cormorant 14 , Kentish Plover 3 , Dunlin 2 , Slender-billed Gull 1 ,

Caspian Tern 1 , Collared Dove 50 , Laughing Dove 30 , Namaqua Dove 1m+1f , Hoopoe 3 , Isabelline Shrike 11 ,

Southern Grey Shrike 3 , Greater Hoopoe-lark 5 , Crested Lark 4 , Black-crowned Sparow-lark 2m+4f ,

White-eared Bulbul 50 , Chiffchaff 6 , Lesser Whitethroat 2 , Eastern Orphean Warbler 1 ,

Asian Desert Warbler 2 , Ménétriés’s Warbler 12 , Common Myna 6 , Rufous Scrub Robin 1 , Black Redstart 1m+1f ,

Redstart 1m , Stonechat 1m+1f , Isabelline Wheatear 4 , Pied Wheatear 3m , Desert Wheatear 2m+1f ,

Rock Thrush 1m , House Sparrow 45.

Asian Desert Warbler - Umm Bab.

Birdlist

Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) 10/3 8h Al Rikayya Farm.

- Very actively whistling from the pivot fields early in the morning.

Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 10/3 35 Al Rikayya Farm.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) 10/3 6 Al Rikayya Farm.

Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) 10/3 5 Al Rikayya Farm.

Greater Flamingo (phoenicopterus ruber) 10/3 75 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 1 Al Khor.

- The later clearly exhausted but still managing to stay alive despite the best effort of a local hunter.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) 10/3 1 Umm Bab ; 11/3 4 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 5 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm.

Western Reef Egret (Egretta gularis) 10/3 2 Umm Bab ; 11/3 17 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 14 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 1 Umm Bab.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 14 Umm Bab.

- We didn’t see Socotra Cormorant at all, though it’s certainly around in good numbers. Just arriving from Oman,

we didn’t really make much of an effort either, to be honest.

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 10/3 13 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 2 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm.

- Probably the biggest surprise of the trip and as always a delight to behold. We found it sitting on one of the

irrigation machines and later saw it flying across one of the pivot fields. Seen well but alas we only managed to get

a few documentary photos before it disappeared.

Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) 10/3 3 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 1f Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 1f Al Ruwais ; 11/3 1m+1f Al Khor.

Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygarus) 10/3 1f Al Rikayya Farm.

- We had expected more harriers which are normally pretty common on migration and as winter visitors.

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

Buzzard (Buteo buteo) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm.

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) 10/3 7 Al Rikayya Farm.

Coot (Fulica atra) 10/3 4 Al Rikayya Farm.

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) 10/3 24 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 90 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 57 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 13 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm.

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 6 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiatcula) 10/3 95 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 2 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 3 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 3 Umm Bab ; 11/3 17 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 45 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 3 Umm Bab.

Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 8 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) 10/3 1 Umm Bab ; 11/3 30 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 165 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Caspian Plover (Charadrius asiaticus) 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

- An uncommon species which we saw quite well immediately east of the Al Shamal sports complex.

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) 10/3 61 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 7 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

- We carefully checked for Pintail Snipe (G. Stenura) when possible, but found none.

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) 10/3 9 Al Karaana Lagoon.

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Curlew (Numenius arquata) 11/3 31 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 26 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Black-winged Kite, Caspian Plover, Lesser Whitethroat, Namaqua Dove and Pied Wheatear.

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) 10/3 4 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 12 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Redshank (Tringa totanus) 10/3 3 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 35 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 45 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 55 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) 10/3 9 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 8 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 13 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 6 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) 10/3 1 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 1 Al Karaana Lagoon.

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) 10/3 3 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 5 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 2 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 24 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) 10/3 3 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 8 Al Karaana Lagoon.

Sanderling (Calidris alba) 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

Little Stint (Calidris minuta) 10/3 17 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 75 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 20 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 500+ Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) 11/3 13 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Dunlin (Calidris alpina) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 14 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 7 Umm Bab ; 11/3 16 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 450+ Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 2 Umm Bab.

Broad-billed Sandpiper (Limicola falcinellus) 11/3 134+ Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

- One of many positives were this fairly large gathering of Broad-billed Sandpipers, which we hadn’t expected. Of

course, we only counted birds which were positively identified, but since many of the sandpipers here were

sleeping, the numbers might have been even higher.

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) 10/3 3 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 110 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 65 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

”Great white-headed gull” (Larus sp.) 10/3 1 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

- The taxonomy of the “big gull complex” is still rather unresolved. Some would call these two birds Caspian Gull

(Larus cachinnans), but we feel there’s just to much uncertainty for it to make sense. After the many big gulls in Oman, it was a little weird seeing only two in Qatar.

Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) 10/3 19 Al Karaana Lagoon.

Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei) 10/3 4 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 6 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 9 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 16 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 1 Umm Bab.

Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica) 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia) 11/3 1 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 11 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 1 Umm Bab.

Saunders’s Tern (Sterna saundersi) 11/3 18 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

- About half were in full breeding plumage and they were all seen very well, so no doubt about the identification.

Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) 10/3 4 Al Karaana Lagoon.

White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) 10/3 12 Al Karaana Lagoon.

- All birds still in non-breeding plumage or only just beginning to moult.

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 10/3 400 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 8 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 45 Umm Bab ; 11/3 45 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 30 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 50 Umm Bab.

Little Owl – Al Ruwais.

Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis) 10/3 150 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 5 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 30 Umm Bab ; 11/3 5 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 4 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 30 Umm Bab.

Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis) 10/3 5m+4f Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 1m+1f Umm Bab ; 12/3 1m+1f Umm Bab.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

- Seen exceptionally well on pile of rocks along the main highway a couple of kilometres south of town.

This bird was very pale and we strongly suspect it to be of the subspecies lilith, which some even consider to be a separate species. However, it’s not the only race occurring here and there’s most likely even some interbreeding

between them. Furthermore there’s still considerable debate regarding the Little Owl taxonomy, and consequently

we’ll refrain from making a positive subspecies identification.

Swift (Apus apus) 10/3 8 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 11/3 3 Al Ruwais.

Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 10/3 6 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 3 Umm Bab ; 11/3 3 Al Shamal Pak, Al Ruwais ; 12/3 3 Umm Bab.

Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) 10/3 9 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 4 Umm Bab ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 4 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 11 Umm Bab.

- Both races/species - Turkestan and Daurian Shrike – seen, but being conservative on the taxonomy issue, we

treat it as a single species here.

Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

10/3 4 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Umm Bab ; 11/3 2 Al Ruwais ; 12/3 3 Umm Bab.

- A couple of the birds seen were of the race pallidirostris, which by some is considered a separate species, Steppe Grey Shrike, but the taxonomic issues regarding the Great Grey Shrike complex still seems somewhat

unresolved.

Masked Shrike (Lanius nubicus) 11/3 1 Al Shamal Park, Al Ruwais.

- Always a joy to watch even though this bird was a little shy.

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) 10/3 65 Al Rikayya Farm.

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10/3 90 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Umm Bab ; 11/3 5 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 20 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 10/3 45 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 1 Al Ruwais.

Greater Hoopoe-lark (Alaemon alaudipes) 10/3 3 Umm Bab ; 11/3 4 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 4 Al Zubarah Fort ; 12/3 5 Umm Bab.

- We imagine Qatar must be one of the best places in the world to see this species. It seemed to be everywhere

in the desert, and we had some truly wonderful experiences with different individuals. The peculiar song and

display flight just adds to the charm of this cool species.

Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) 10/3 35 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 60 Al Ruwais.

Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens) 11/3 6 Al Ruwais.

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) 10/3 25 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 9 Umm Bab ; 11/3 16 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 4 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 4 Umm Bab.

Ménétriés’s Warbler, Rufous Scrub Robin, Masked Shrike, Saunders’s Tern and Chiffchaff.

Oriental Skylark (Aluda gulgula) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais.

- Seen very well feeding in the short grass.

Black-crowned Sparow-lark (Eremopterix nigriceps) 10/3 3m+4f Umm Bab ; 12/3 2m+4f Umm Bab.

White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) 10/3 6 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 13 Umm Bab ; 11/3 30 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 18 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 50 Umm Bab.

Clamorous Reed Warbler (Accrocephalus stentoreus) 10/3 8 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 6 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) 10/3 4 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2 Umm Bab ; 11/3 7 Al Ruwais ; 12/3 6 Umm Bab.

Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) 12/3 2 Umm Bab.

Eastern Orphean Warbler (Sylvia crassirostris) 10/3 1 Umm Bab ; 11/3 1 Al Zubarah Fort ; 12/3 1 Umm Bab.

Asian Desert Warbler (Sylvia nana) 10/3 3 Umm Bab ; 12/3 2 Umm Bab.

Ménétries’s Warbler (Sylvia mystacea) 12/3 12 Umm Bab.

- None were seen on the same location just two days prior, so this was obviously a wave of migrants resting on

their way north. The birds we saw here were quite variable and we reckon that we had at least two different

subspecies, mystacea and rubescens, and possibly even a third, turcmenica.

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) 11/3 5 Al Shamal Park, Al Ruwais.

Rufous Scrub Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) 12/3 1 Umm Bab.

- Probably a local breeding bird, since a weird display-like behaviour was observed.

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochrorus) 10/3 1m Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 1m Umm Bab ; 11/3 1f Al Ruwais ; 12/3 1m+1f Umm Bab.

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) 12/3 1m Umm Bab.

- Of the race samamisicus.

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) 10/3 1m+1f Al Rikayya Farm.

Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) 12/3 1m+1f Umm Bab.

- The female was rather distant, but the male was seen well on a fence near the round-about in Umm Bab. It was

of one of the eastern subspecies which many now consider a separate species, Siberian Stonechat (S. maurus).

Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellinus) 10/3 6 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 4 Umm Bab ; 11/3 3 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 3 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 4 Umm Bab.

Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) 10/3 1m Al Rikayya Farm.

Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) 10/3 18 Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 4m Umm Bab ; 11/3 3m Al Ruwais ; 11/3 1m Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 3m Umm Bab.

- We didn’t see this species at all in Oman, making the numbers here somewhat surprising.

Desert Wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) 10/3 2m+1f Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 2m Umm Bab ; 11/3 2m+1f Al Ruwais ; 11/3 1m Al Dhakira & Al Khor ;

12/3 2m+1f Umm Bab.

Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis) 12/3 1m Umm Bab.

- This lovely species apparently becomes a rather common migrant towards the end of the month.

Rock Thrush – Umm Bab.

Collared/Semi-collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis/semitorquata) 11/3 1m Al Shamal Park, Al Ruwais.

- See separate note at the end.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 10/3 500+ Al Rikayya Farm ; 10/3 25 Al Karaana Lagoon ; 10/3 17 Umm Bab ; 11/3 85 Al Ruwais ;

11/3 20 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 45 Umm Bab.

Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)

10/3 500+ Al Rikayya Farm.

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) 10/3 125 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 1 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) 10/3 1m Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 2 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) 10/3 90 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 9 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 12 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) 10/3 20 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 8 Al Ruwais.

Long-billed Pipit (Anthus similis) 11/3 3 Al Ruwais.

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) 11/3 2 Al Ruwais.

Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus) 10/3 2 Al Rikayya Farm.

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) 10/3 11 Al Rikayya Farm ; 11/3 7 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 40 Al Dhakira & Al Khor.

Introduced species.

Grey Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) - 10/3 h+1 Umm Bab ; 11/3 4 Al Ruwais ; 12/3 3 Umm Bab. House Crow (Corvus splendens) – 11/3 2 Al Dhakira & Al Khor. Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) – 11/3 4 Al Shamal Park, Al Ruwais. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) – 11/3 25 Al Ruwais ; 11/3 15 Al Dhakira & Al Khor ; 12/3 6 Umm Bab.

If you have any questions regarding this report, please feel free to contact either

Stig on sej@primoris.dk or Jon on jon.lehmberg@gmail.com.

All Photos in this report are taken by either of us.

Front page: Isabelline shrike (Lanius isabellinus phoenicuroides) at Al Rikayya Farm.

Semi-mysterious flycatcher.

When visiting Al Shamal Park in the southern outskirts of Al Ruwais on 11th March, we came across a male pied

ficedula flycatcher. It really shouldn’t have caused much of an identification problem but unfortunately it ended

up doing just that. Our mutual first impression was that the bird was a Collared Flycatcher (F. albicollis) - CF, but before making sure of it, we both went into photo-mode trying to get a picture of this beautiful bird. The up-side

of this approach was that we were both able to document our observation with photos of useful quality. The down-

side on the other hand was that non of us ever got a more thorough look at it, since it took of rather quickly,

never to be seen well again.

After scrutinizing the combined result of our photographic efforts, we now find ourselves in the position of

disagreeing on the identification. To get second opinions on the bird, we sent our photos to a range of the best

Danish birders we know, but the response didn’t help us very much since opinions were divided almost equally

between CF and Semi-collared Flycatcher (F. semitorquata) - ScF. Our good friend, Andreas Bruun Kristensen,

also posted the bird on www.birdforum.net and even though the feed-back was pretty meager, all three

respondents agreed on Semi-collared Flycatcher.

Unfortunately none of us saw the tail pattern, which would’ve been a big help, and another character, the extent

of the white patch on the forehead, isn’t conclusive either, though it probably fits ScF a little better. To make

matters worse, the two key characters point in different directions. The white tipped median coverts strongly

indicates ScF, since it’s the only one of the pied flycatcher to show this character. On the other hand, one of us is

certain that he saw a complete white collar when the bird took of, which of course would suggest CF. However, the

collar doesn’t really seem to have the right shape and size for that species either.

An obvious possibility is to consider a hybrid since it’s a well known fact that crossbreeding happens quite

frequently between Pied Flycatcher (F. hypoleca) and CF. The range of CF and ScF only overlaps marginally, though, and the book “Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World” (E. M. McCarthy) mentions no known cases of

these two species interbreeding. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen, but please feel free to look at

the photos above and make up your own mind.

Al Zubarah Fort.

Doha skyline.