 |
 |
 |
 |
  Saturday 1st of December 2018 and my alarm went off at 3 thirty and I had my tea and some burgers that we had bought yesterday for breakfast. We were hungry going back home yesterday and we kept our eyes out for a service station with a bakery. But we only found a hamburger place and we had our “dinner” there. I finished my tea and hamburgers and I went down to the reception at 6 thirty and my Guide arrived after a few minutes and we were soon on our way. But before getting in to the car I popped open a Diet Pepsi. I had a bag with Diet Pepsi in the car that I had bought yesterday.  Waiting for my guide at the hotel entrance
 Waiting for my guide at the hotel entrance
We will drive to Al Ain to visit Jebel Hafeet and we will stop at Al Jimi oasis in Al Ain to look for a Scop Owl that had been reported to be there. We're soon having Dubai in the rear-view mirror heading towards Abu Dhabi. It take us about 90 minutes to reach Al Ain.
We step out of the car around 8 o'clock in the morning and we walk in to the Al Jimi oasis and we pass the Bin Hamoodah Fort. There is a big tree in front of the Bin Hamoodah Fort and there are several birds in the tree. We turn left and we're soon at an open area and we have a look in the trees where the Pallid Scops Owl have been reported by the UAE Birding man we met at the Warsan Lake yesterday. We searched the area but we had no luck with the Pallid Scops Owl.  Al Jimi oasis
 House Sparrow
Listen to the House Sparrow
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
  Rose-ringed Parakeet
I run around try to get a recording of the White-eared Bulbul but there was too much other birds singing so I never managed to get any recording. I tried to get pictures of the Grey Francolin, but in vain. We walked back to the car and we passed a few noisy Rose-ringed Parakeets and I spotted a Hoopoe flying by. I ask my Guide if he is going to have a smoke. I tell him hat I will go look for birds and when he is ready he can come after me. I discover the Hoopoe and when my Guide is coming I give him the internationally recognized sign for “Easy, as quiet as possible, I make a video of a Hoopoe”   Eurasian Hoopoe
 Eurasian Hoopoe
Eurasian Hoopoe
We leave Al Jimi oasis and we had been disappointed with the missing Pallid Scops Owl. Never mind, as I told my Guide: - We cannot finish all the birds today, what will we then do for the rest of our life? But the Al Jimi oasis was a beautiful place and it is a recommended stop if you ever pass through Al Ain. Below is my Guide's eBird checklist from the Al Jimi oasis.   We were approaching the Jebel Hafeet and we will drive for as long as we can, close to the border to Oman on top of the mountain. I don't know what I had expected, but the road going up the mountain gave us a fantastic view and even though it is just desert it was gorgeous. We stopped at a rest place to have a look and I was lucky to spot the Desert Lark. As I am in the Arab Emirates I want to see all the birds with the name “Desert” and the Arabian Babbler.  Entering the road up the Jebel Hafeet
 Driving up the Jebel Hafeet
 Looking out from the first stop
  Desert Lark
 We continue towards the top
 We continue towards the top
 We continue towards the top
 The road coming up the Jebel Hafeet
 We stop to look at the Egyptian Vultures
 Motorcycles coming up the mountain
 The road coming up the Jebel Hafeet
We stop at the top, well, 2 more stops before the end, but pretty much as high up you can come on Jebel Hafeet. We had a group of Egyptian Vultures flying above and below the rest place. The vultures was gone even before we got out of the car. But we did our best to take some pictures before we continued. But it was a beautiful view and we spend some time enjoying the sights. There was a Desert Wheatear sitting on top of one of the lamp posts. We continue and we make the last stop before reaching the end of the road at the border to Oman. We see more Egyptian Vultures and a couple of Brown-necked Ravens. We continue and we just stop to have a look at the desert before we leave again. We decided to stop at Mercury Hotel for lunch before going down the Jebel Hafeet again.   Egyptian Vulture
 Brown-necked Raven
 We reach the end of the road
 The desert form Jebel Hafeet
The parking in front of the Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel is surrounded bushes and lawns and there is quite a few birds to be seen. So walking around there before lunch gave me a picture of a White-eared Bulbul. Lunch break from the bird watching and there is an outdoor restaurant with a view over the desert. Enter the hotel and take the elevator down a level or two. Walk past the swimming pool and you reach the restaurant. The food is OK and they have Earl Grey tea in pots, well, it is not any big pots. But it is OK.  White-eared Bulbul
 Lunch at Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel
 Lunch at Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel
 A cat begging for food at Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel
 View from the restaurant
  Chukar Partridge
 Chukar Partridge
Back at the car park and I spotted a group of Chukar Partridges in the park like area around the car park. We get in to the car and we leave Mercure Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel behind and we drive down the Jebel Hafeet. We have had a gorgeous couple of hours on Jebel Hafeet. Below is my Guide's eBird checklist from Jebel Hafeet.  We drive down Jebel Hafeet to go explore the Ain al-Fayda, a desert area Wast of the Jebel Hafeet Mountain. We pass the Green Mubazzarah, a park but we decide to skip the place. I wanted to see the desert and the park is most likely full because of the national day. We park the car in an, well, it looks like a construction site and we can heard the Clamorous Reed Warbler from the reeds and I was lucky to be able to spot the bird.   Clamorous Reed Warbler
We walk in to an abandoned resort area with half sunken paddle boats in a canal/ lake. No birds, except for a few Grey Francolins that run for cover in the bushes when they spot us. I turn on my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. I walk towards the bushes and the Grey Francolins only have one way to leave, towards me. I know that I won't get any picture, but I might get lucky and get the very nice wing flap sound when they take off. The first bird leave early, but I get the rattling sound from the bushes and the wing flaps when the last two birds take off. Listen to the Grey Francolin
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
We continue our walk and we walk in a circle and when we're approaching our car I see the White-eared Bulbul and the bird is singing so I give it a try with my OOM H5 Handy Recorder. And the recording is kind of OK so I discarded my recordings from Al Jimi oasis earlier this morning. Listen to the White-eared Bulbul
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
We leave the area and we work our way out in to the desert to look for more birds and adventures. Even though I had been to Djibouti I loved every minute of our desert adventure. I really enjoyed the landscape. I manage to get a picture of the Grey Francolin, this bird is very scared and I have failed every time as the bird disappears. But this bird stayed for a few seconds and I got a picture, not any good picture but it was OK enough for me to be able to put the bird on my list of observed birds.   Ain al-Fayda
 Ain al-Fayda
 In Ain al-Fayda and we can see Jebel Hafeet
 Female Desert Wheatear
 Not very lucky with the pictures of the Female Desert Wheatear
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
We have one of the Asian Desert Warblers landing in a bush in front of us. I was very unlucky with those pictures, but I will use it for my list of observed birds as the bird have the “desert” in the name. I have now seen all the birds with the name “desert”, all three (Only two of them) of them, at least I think it is only three: • Desert Wheatear • Desert Lark • Asian Desert Warbler Turned out to be a female Desert Wheatear
Now I only miss the Arabian Babbler, if we manage to see this bird I will be very happy with my list of observed birds when I leave the Middle East. We see a Great Grey Shrike and I ask my Guide to stop behind a bush. I will try to sneak up on the bird to see if I can get close for some good pictures. I got out of the car and I approached the Great Grey Shrike “commando” style. My Guide must have been in chock, and everyone else seeing 2 ton bird watcher sneaking up on the bird. I think the bird might have been chocked as well because I could sneak up all the way to the bird. Less than 2 meter from the bird and the bird started to sing. I felt my belt for my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder, DARN! H have it in the car. My phone, DARN! In the car as well. I went back to the car to pick up my gear but the bird was gone when I came back. DARN! Now I thought about my video camera I had have in my belt all the time. I could have made a video. Well, at least I was very happy with the pictures when we left.  Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
 Great Grey Shrike / Varfågel
We leave the Great Grey Shrike behind and we´re soon at some kind of pond/ lake. We stop and we get out of the car to go check out the area. We see Marsh Harriers and some small birds that are too far away for any pictures. But going back to the car we hear a Clamorous Reed Warbler in the reeds. I make a recording, but I never get to see the bird. Well, it is almost 5 o´clock and not much time left before dark so I suggested that we should get back to Dubai. It had been a long and very nice day. Listen to the Clamorous Reed Warbler
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 Time to leave Ain al-Fayda to get back to Radisson Blu Dubai Waterfront
 Leaving Ain al-Fayda and we can see the Mercure
Grand Jebel Hafeet Al Ain Hotel on top of Jebel Hafeet  We see another Great Grey Shrike but the
bird is gone before I can get out of the car   We leave Ain al-Fayda keeping an eye out for more birds. We see another Great Grey Shrike but the bird is gone before I can get out of the car. Back on the highway and it is almost 5 and it is getting dark. But we decide to go have a look at the Zakher Lake. We leave the paved road and we drive through the desert on dust road taking us past a plantation and we spot a Common Kestrel sitting on top of one of the irrigator. It is too dark for any good pictures and I have to use a crazy ISO speed. We get close enough with a little manoeuvring with the car. When I have my pictures I try to get out, but then the bird takes off we continue the last few hundred meters to the Zakher Lake passing a Night Heron sitting in one of the bushes.   Common Kestrel
  Male Desert Wheatear
Reaching the Zakher Lake and we see a Desert Wheatear just next to the dust path, and of course, by now it is too dark for any good pictures. ut I give it a go using a crazy ISO speed. Well, there was a lot of birds at the Zakher Lake. The Spoonbill might have been the most interesting of the birds. But by now I had lost interest as it was too dark even to try to get any pictures as they would only have turned out to be disappointments So the Desert Wheatear goes down the history books as the last bird for today. It had been a very nice days and these two days with my Guide have been worth every cent. I have seen a lot of different landscapes in UAE.  Not much water in the Zakher Lake
 Not much water in the Zakher Lake
 Bird watching at the Zakher Lake
 Desert Rat in action
 Leaving the Zakher Lake going back to Dubai
 Leaving the Zakher Lake going back to Dubai
 Back at my room at Radisson Blu Dubai Waterfront and I set my alarm to go off at 3 thirty. I will go to look for birds at the Al Mamzar Beach Park tomorrow morning. Well, morning, I don´t know. They don´t open until 8 o´clock. And as it is a public holiday celebrating the national day I expect the park to become full quite early. But I will give it a try. Click HERE to find out if I find any birds at the Al Mamzar Beach Park.
    
  You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||