I went to Nabors Arabia Rig 70 in Ain Dar for work on Wednesday, which allowed me to drive through quite a large expanse of true desert habitat. As I was working I did not stop many times but if I saw a bird I checked to see what it was. This did not hamper my work as I hardly saw any birds with the exception of a couple of Crested Larks and a few Rock Dove. After driving almost the entire distance from the office to the rig site, which took one hour and fifteen minutes we saw a bird fly across the road that I immediately identified as a Greater Hoopoe Lark ue to its distinctive wing pattern. A quick roadside stop allowed me the chance to take a photo of the bird but it was distant. I jumped over an oil pipeline and the bird, which was joined by a second, ran over a sand dune. This allowed me to creep up the dune and take a single photograph before the bird saw me and ran away. Luckily the shot turned out to be quite good - see below.
Greater Hoopoe Lark
The only other thing of interest we saw in the desert on our drive was a huge flock of sheep numbering at least 500 and hundreds of camels scattered all over the desert in varying numbers. Below are a few shots of camels seen on the journey.
