The Oman Bird List* boasts no less than 36 species of birds of
prey (vultures, hawks, eagles and falcons). The great majority
of these are passage migrants and/or winter visitors: from November
through April the sky over the Sultanate is filled with these
birds, many of which are rare elsewhere. At least three species
– Imperial Eagle, Spotted Eagle and Lesser Kestrel – are classified
by BirdLife International as globally threatened, yet all three
are regular visitors to Oman and easy to find. It is not uncommon
to see a couple of species of vultures, perhaps five different
species of eagles, a couple of harriers and a falcon or two on
a single outing here.
Vultures
The most common species of this group is the Egyptian Vulture
(Neophron percnopterus). A few pairs breed in the high mountains
of Oman, but the numbers dramatically increase during the winter
months when gatherings of up to 200 may be encountered. Its much
bigger cousin, the Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus)
is a much sought after bird by resident and visiting birdwatchers.
With a wing span of over three metres, it is the biggest bird
in the sky and impressive by anyone’s standard. When birds gather
around a dead animal even the biggest eagles look like dwarfs
again a Lappet-faced and will easily be driven away. In one instance,
35 Lappet-faced vultures were seen around a dead donkey.
The Big Eagles
Three big Aquila eagles are regular if not common winter visitors:
Steppe Eagle (A. nipalensis), Spotted Eagle (A. clanga) and Imperial
Eagle (A. heliaca). All three seem to prefer the same habitat
so one often encounters all three together. Steppe Eagles are
the most common with flocks of 100 or more sometimes seen. Most
of the birds are immatures from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
It is well known that immature birds of these species are far
more migratory than adults which presumably only turn up here
if the winter in their breeding range is particularly severe or
food is in short supply. Rubbish dumps, sewage works and large
farmlands are the best places to see these eagles and from November
to March there will always be some present.
Lesser Kestrel
One of the most attractive members of the falcon family, the Lesser
Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a fairly common spring passage migrant
in Oman. They can be seen hovering over grasslands near Salalah
and Sohar from about mid-March to mid-May. Their diet consists
of grasshoppers and large beetles. The kestrels hover over the
field and swoop down on their prey which is either eaten on the
ground or taken to the air in the talons and eaten on the wing.
Elsewhere, spraying fields with insecticides has undoubtedly affected
these birds, but Oman seems to be a safe haven for them. 1994
was a particularly good year and in mid-April no less than 150
birds could be seen together on fields near Sohar.
With such variety and impressive numbers of birds of prey it is
not surprising that visitors come from all over to birdwatch here.
Recent visitors from Scandinavia reckoned that Oman was the best
place in the world to study these birds.
*The 4th edition of the Oman Bird List was published by the Oman
Bird Records Committee in January 1994. It lists all birds found
in the Sultanate of Oman and gives the status of each species.
It is available in Oman at the Natural History Museum and Family
Bookshop. It is also available in the UK from the Ornithological
Society of the Middle East. All bird sighting should be sent to:
The Recorder, OBRC, PO Box 246, Muscat 113.