Desert Wheatear - Shedgum Escarpment

A family trip to Shedgum escarpment to take in the views allowed me to have a quick look for birds. Unfortunately the Shamal wind was blowing very strongly from the north and conditions were not conducive for birds and this combined with the fact that birds are thin on the ground in this area anyway left me with very little of note during the day. When the wind blows strongly it blows large amounts of sand and dust about making visibility poor and looking for birds difficult. As a result the only birds of any real interest were a Pale Rock Martin in the Shedgum valley along with three Rock Doves and a Brown Necked Ravern and a male Desert Wheatear trying to shelter from the wind on the lea-ward side of bushes and rocks.

 Desert Wheatear (male)

Shedgum Valley

Quite a few camels were about some with their Bedouin keepers and this combined with the change of colour of the sand dunes in this area from white to orange made for some beautiful views. The desert is becoming greener with quite a few plants now showing signs of life including large numbers of Bitter Apple. Many of these plants are good eating for the camels so they are now out in the desert looking for food rather than being kept penned in and being feed fodder. As a result there are many more sightings of camel in the true desert than normal.

Camels - Shedgum