My First True Pelagic trip (Birding Trip)

I have been to see for a number of times.  I have been to islands around Abu Dhabi for birding. But never went on a trip to the true sea to photograph birds.  This is my first true pelagic trip.

Started the day at Dubai Pivot fields. I reached there around 5:00AM in the morning after a slow two hour journey from Abu Dhabi.  Slept inside the Jeep for an hour and and was ready to go inside when the gaurd said, the gate only opens at 6:30.  There is still a good 30 minutes. So decided to go the next petrol station and refresh myself.

But instead going to the petrol station, I stopped at the Al Warsan Lake where I found a Black-crowned Night Heron on the road.  He let me go very close to him and gave me some good views.  Unfortunately the light was very low and its reflected on the photo.

I returned Pivot Fields soon after the Al Warsan Lake.  The Pivot looks very empty apart from the commons.  The main attraction was three sub species of Yellow Wagtail.

The variation in each sub species is amazing. Fortunately I got some decent shots of them today.  After the Yellow Wagtail saga, came the chapter of Red-throated Pipit.  I have seen enough Red-throated Pipits but not so close. The guy was so busy feeding and never cared about me getting close to him.

There was nothing more to find in Pivot Fields, before I got my attention on a Cattle Egret which was holding something very similar to a Lizard.  At close look I had my first tick for the day. It was a ....

Apart from the above birds, there were a lot of common birds like Common Myna, Bank Myna, Laughing Doves, Eurasian Collared Dove, House Sparrow, Red-wattled Lapwing, White-tailed Lapwings, Indian Silverbill, Kentish Plover, etc. For reason I am not really sure, I loved the photo of the Kentish Plover.

From Pivot Fields, I went directly to Mamzar Park. I have never been there. It was my first trip to Mamzar. There is a report of a Long-tailed Shrike at the Mamzar Park yesterday. I have seen Long-tailed Shrike in India. In UAE, there a vagrant species. Also there were reports of sighting of a White-throated Robin at Mamzar.

The first species of bird to welcome me to the Mamzar Park was a Barred Warbler.

There were a good number of Asian Pied Mynas and Rufous Bush Robins. Some gave decent opertunity for photographing them.

Soon afterwards, I found a bird which I was looking for a long time.  The Eurasian Wryneck. The first true tick for the day. I was twiching for the Long-tailed Shrike. I found something unique flying about 50m away from me. On a closed look I found it to be the Eurasian Wryneck. I never expected it here.

The twitching for the Long-tailed Shrike continued after a few moments spent photographing the Eurasian Wryneck.  In 10 minutes or so I found it. He was just flying from one tree to another only stoping for a minute or so.  The Long-tailed Shrike was the second tick for UAE for the day.

While I was photographing the Long-tailed Shrike, I found the White-throated Robin.  He didnt stay for a long. Again managed to get some shot of it before we (me & Khalid who was birding in Mamzar) decided to go to for a Pelagic trip off Fujeirah Coast.

But before we left the Mamzar Park, almost towards the gate, we found a Arabian Babbler who was very cooperative. The only issue I faced was the he was against the sun. Still managed to get some okay shots of him.

Reached Fujeirah around 3:30 and directly went to the Port to arrange a boat. I parked my car in Dubai and went with Khaleefa.  We hired the boat for two hours and we started from Fujeirah port at 4:00PM sharp. 

Almost after 10 minutes we were watching Persian Shearwaters, Briddled Terns, Common Terns and Little Terns. I have seen Persian Shearwater from shore using Spotting Scopes. I have never got a photograph of them and never saw them properly. So I never counted them in my sighting list. The sea was very rough and photographing them was becoming very difficult especially with a 600mm lens.  But some how I managed a couple of decent shots of the Persian Shearwater which was my third tick for the day.

We continued our trip more in to the deep sea.  Suddenly I found a bird which just took from the water. It was a Masked Booby, the forth tick for the day. As I said earlier, the sea was very rough and it was throwing us, I never managed to get a shot. But I had some great views of it before it went very far.  Another species that we found was the Artic Skua (the fifth tick). They were attaching the Terns and Shearwater.  Again never managed to get a shot of them.  We continued for a couple of hours and when we coming back, I found the great discovery of the day. The Black Tern (the sixth tick). A full grown adult. I managed to get a record shot of it.

As we touched the solid ground we were greeted by a couple Stiriated Herons (Green Heron). They were very close and was not afraid of humans. There not enough light to get any decent shots.

Well, a wonderful day. 6 lifers in a single day, which includes two rare birds.  This is what I called a day. But when I looked at the day, it was also a very tough day. Started from home around 2:30 in the morning. By the time I reached home, it was around 10:30PM. A twenty hour day covering almost 800 kms! But it was a wonderful day.