Trip Report, Ras Mohamed National Park (1 Viewer)

[NicoleB]

Not many birds (wrong time of day), but maybe some useful information if you want to go there.

Ras Mohamed trip Report (Nov 2009)

Let me know, if you need any more Infos or help, maybe I can find it for you.

Cheers,
Nicole

 

[NicoleB]

Some more picture from Ras Mohamed (March 21st 2010), the birds follow later

 

[Barred Wobbler]

There's a thing.

We were at Ras Mohammed on 21st March and those "professionals" on your link are me and my wife!

It's a small world.

 

[NicoleB]

That's hilarious

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I remember seeing you and your taxi, but you were some way off. My wife passed closer to you and she tells me she said hello as she passed.

We didn't see many birds that day, but there were a few surprises.

A lone bush near the earthquake crack pool had a scrub warbler (great find, I just stopped the car because the bush looked "birdy" and went over to check it out). Further on when I got out of the car to walk down through a scrubby area towards the car park at Yolanda Bay I flushed a great-spotted cuckoo that flew into the area around the huts.

While I was relocating it I spotted a largish bird flying in from the sea. My scope was out of reach in the taxi, so after seeing the bird distantly through binoculars I fired off a few photos to clinch the ID. I could hardly believe my eyes. It was a short-eared owl!

 

[NicoleB]

Sweet goodness. I guess you were more than lucky !

 

[Barred Wobbler]

There were other surpises on the trip. On the way back from our first visit to the small pools we stopped at the golf course, but went to the wrong entrance (we went to the hotel by mistake) and were turned back by the security, so we went across the road to the botanical gardens.

We got kicked out of there too, because it was closed to the public.

We worked our way south along the plantation of trees south of the botanic garden and at the far end there is a group of small palm trees just next to the road junction. I saw a bird sitting on the ground amongst the palms and at first I thought it was another laughing dove, but then I realised that it was too small even for that and I looked a bit harder.

Here is my first view of a Namaqua dove, a bird I hoped I would see, but didn't at all expect to.

 

[NicoleB]

Ah, Namaqua doves are gorgeous!

Too bad you couldn't go to the golf course (or did you go later?), it's starting to get real good right now at this time of the year.

The Info about the Botanical garden is useful, since I was planning to stop there one of these days and check out what the heck it is

 

[Barred Wobbler]

We never got back to the golf course.

A pity.

 

[NicoleB]

Saw my first purple heron there on Friday