adult male common cuckoo<\/p>\n
Remarkably in one tree there were three cuckoos.<\/p>\n
adult male common cuckoo 2<\/p>\n Two were passage common cuckoo and one was a Dideric cuckoo which is a summer breeder in Dhofar.<\/p>\n adult male common cuckoo<\/p>\n The first one I noticed was an adult male.<\/p>\n resting common cuckoo<\/p>\n The second one is a second calendar year bird which still retained some juvenile plumage.<\/p>\n second calendar year common cuckoo<\/p>\n I understand there is nowhere of telling whether this bird is male or female.<\/p>\n second year common cuckoo 2<\/p>\n Both birds are remarkably tame especially if you walk towards them extremely slowly. I withdraw from one barely 3 metres way. Ironically it only flushed when I walked away.<\/p>\n second year common cuckoo 3<\/p>\n To be honest I didn’t know that common cuckoo don’t mature until they are two years old until this sighting and my investigation into it.<\/p>\n second year common cuckoo 4<\/p>\n The Dideric cuckoo was not so tame. It moved out into a dip next to the tree very quickly.<\/p>\n Dideric cuckoo<\/p>\n This tree didn’t look very special except it is one of the largest in the wadi, with only one immediate neighbouring tree and also close to the water.<\/p>\n “eastern”nightingale<\/p>\n Most of my time at the wadi was taken under the more heavily wooded area on the west side. Here is is well shaded.Several passage nightingale were present.<\/p>\n tree pipit<\/p>\n Some tree pipit have arrived. A few stayed all winter there last year.<\/p>\n common whitethroat<\/p>\n As is typical in most of the Salalah area in autumn, the most common passage warbler by far is common whitethroat.<\/p>\n western reef heron with a grey heron<\/p>\n The water levels in all water bodies in Dhofar are much lower this year than last. There were no signs of ducks here yet.<\/p>\n water at Wadi Darbet<\/p>\n As well as the migrants, the resident birds were out in force obviously including Ruppell’s weaver. By co-incidence, representatives of three of the local birds got much closer to me than usual. This allowed me to shot sharp pictures with my average camera.<\/p>\n cinnamon-breasted bunting<\/p>\n Arguably the nosiest bird in the woods, one was a cinnamon-breasted bunting.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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