Oman Day 2 - Muscat

Another day of culture but with the first look at some natural areas within the city.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is an impressive sight as you pass by on the expressway, appearing in full grandiose, radiating against the warm Arabian sun.

The nearby Natural Park was a good place to wander in the comfortable warm afternoon sun.  The adjoining nature reserve is unfortunately closed to the public and maybe rightly so given the amount of litter (particularly single-use plastic) that gets discarded but more of that later.

The reserve itself can be viewed from the road that runs along Qurum Beach on the opposite side, and more conveniently from a couple of the rooftop cafes located along the beach road.

Within the reserve, an Osprey successfully snared a fish from the lagoon making a couple of circuits before settling down for lunch.  A female Marsh Harrier was quartering the area.  A Great Egret and Western Reef Egret stalked around the shallows.

Small groups of White-cheeked Bulbul jostled along the fenceline that separated the road from the reserve.  A Common Chiffchaff paused briefly here.

There were plenty of birds present within the park.  

Of the common species, Common Myna and particularly Laughing Dove were present in good numbers.  A Hoopoe was feeding close by on the manicured lawns within the park along with a few juvenile Common Sandpiper that were seen regularly within the area.

At least three Indian Roller flew gracefully between the ornate lampposts.  A Daurian Shrike was seen flying into one of the scattered trees there.

A good number of energetic Purple Sunbird now in winter plumage were widespread around the park, never settling for any length of time.  Beautiful little birds.

The river winds its way through the park, but proved difficult to gain close access apart from a couple of spots.  Around 20 Red-wattled Lapwing were present here along with a Great Egret, a Whiskered Tern, Whimbrel, and a Red-vented Bulbul. 

Making my way round to the small lake looked good for more species that delivered a Garganey, at least seven Indian Pond Heron, numerous Little Grebe and the familiar sight of both Coot and Moorhen.

On the Qurum Beach side, waders began to feed along the exposed sand as the tide began to ebb away.  Amongst these were numerous Greater Sand Plover and Lesser Sand Plover with a number of other species associating with them that included Dunlin, Greenshank, Common Redshank, and a smart adult Kentish Plover.

The shallows of the receding tide attracted Gulls and Terns including my first sight of Swift Tern, a group of around 20 Slender-billed Gull, and a few Steppe Gull.