I was surprised at how common Caspian Terns were in Oman - there seemed to be qute a few in each mixed of the tern flocks we saw on the beaches around Salalah though none were ever really close. This bird was at Khor Raysut towards the end of our trip.

Blackstart is another common species in the Middle East that we saw in many locations in Oman, often near human habitation. Thankfully, they are quite the posers too making them one of the easier birds to see.

We heard several Arabian Scops Owl in various places, but only saw this one bird that showed very well just outside Salalah. A very nice lifer to end our first day in that part of Oman!

African Silverbills and Abyssinian White-eyes formed the main two species of feeding and mobbing flocks when owls were present. Both were tiny and whizzed around constantly at 100mph so I was very happy to get these shots of them.

African Paradise-flycatcher was a fairly common bird in Southern Oman, but it never lost its wow factor despite many sightings. We even observed one catching fish fry from the pond in Ayn Hamran!

The rather odd Abdim's Stork favoured water treatment works and rockpools as places to find food in the Salalah area. They're tolerant of humans, but less so of humans with cameras as it was a struggle to get one to face the right way for photos other than this obliging bird.

My final life bird of a fabulous two weeks in Oman was this stunning Malachite Kingfisher at Wadi Maghsyal this morning. Time for a swim and chill before a late flight home. Lots more pix still to come...

Finally arrived in Muscat - cloudless skies and 35C. It seemed a long journey despite getting some sleep, a bit tired but will have a look around the hotel grounds this afternoon. Pix to follow, hopefully, but it may be a bit intermittent! Apologies if I don't get around to likes