The Harshest Birding Conditions Ever!
An Introduction to Birding Qatar
What? Birding Qatar in the summer! What kind of crazy fool would do that?
No comment from this author on that question, and please don’t ask my wife to answer it.
Actually, it is not quite as random as it seems and perhaps there was a secondary purpose for the visit. We were in transit from Cape Town to Hanoi on Qatar Airways through Doha. Qatar Airways was offering an extended layover in Doha for up to four nights and giving incredible rates on luxury hotels and reduced prices on various tours. We decided to take advantage of it.
For me, I saw it as an opportunity to add another country to my list of countries where I have recorded 50+ birds. Fifty species being my minimum expectation when birding a new country. I was also interested, to a lesser degree than Mirka, to enjoy a tour or two, look around the beautiful city in the desert, and taste some of the cuisine. We rented a car to help make all this possible.
Qatar - A Brief History
Qatar is a small peninsula nation on the Persian Gulf with a human history dating back 50,000 years. Mohammed himself was involved in converting the inhabitants to Islam in the 7th century. Qatar marked time over the centuries with many different empires, affiliations and skirmishes. Their primary product was pearls.
After the conversion to Islam, the next watershed moment for the Qatari people was when they accepted the protection of the British Crown early in the 20th century. The British brought a level of governmental organization and administration that helped to integrate Qatar into a worldwide community of nations. They also brought oil surveyors.
In 1949 Qatar exported its first barrel of oil and you could say that the rest is history. The tiny nation of Qatar is the 6th and 11th largest producer of Natural Gas and Oil in the world, respectively. They are not an OPEC member.
Britain had long planned to end their agreement with many of the Gulf State emirates in the mid-1970’s. It was this eventuality that led to the creation of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE’s purpose is to provide for a common economic strength and defense. Qatar and Bahrain could not reach agreement with the group and never joined, maintaining their full sovereignty.
Arrival and First Impressions
Doha is a magnificent new city that has popped up out of the desert. Each new skyscraper must be taller and more uniquely designed than the previous. The roads have future expansion already built in, and sidewalks, parks and waterfronts are pristine.
Finding a Qatari in Qatar for the average tourist is difficult. The population consists of 85% foreigners which are doing all the jobs that normal tourists interact with.
We arrived in Doha around midnight, rented our car and drove to Hilton – The Pearl. It is a 5-star hotel that we would be paying less for than I paid for a dump of a 2-star hotel in Idabel, Oklahoma a few years ago.
Birding Qatar - Day 1 Anticipation
Reason Number One why birding Qatar is so harsh: the sunrise was at 4:30am. This means that things were getting light just after 4am. A brutal time to be up and on a birding site. That first morning we slept in and enjoyed our beautiful room and view. The birds would have to wait.
By 10am we were ready to go look for birds.
Reason Number Two why birding Qatar is so harsh: the temperature. Holy hot dogs, Batman! By 10am it was already 105F and getting hotter. One hour was all we could stand. Eleven birds on the list, three of which were lifers: Common Nightingale, White-eared Bulbul and House Crow.
That evening we had planned a romantic dinner for two in the dunes. We were picked up by our Nepalese guide and taken to the dune area in his Cadillac Escalade. At the dunes the tires were deflated to about 10 psig to avoid sinking in the sand, but even so, stopping in loose sand areas could be a problem.
Dune Busting and Dinner
He started to have fun dune busting but he quickly learned that at least one of his customers did not feel comfortable with this level of intensity. Dune busting involves driving at a high rate of speed up to the ridge of a dune and then driving quickly along the dune crest with steep sand embankments on either side. Then, without warning, quickly turning down one of those embankments. It was like a roller coaster without rails.
A change of plans was required. We spent more time at Sunset Point in the dunes. It is a high dune overlooking an inland tidal lake. Naturally, I scoped out something moving along the edge of the lake and asked if we could slowly take the car down. Two more waders for my Qatari bird list.
Still with time to kill, he suggested we go by a beach, park and have our dinner on a dune overlooking the ocean. It was a great plan. Not only was the beach beautiful but it was deserted and there was enough baitfish in the water close to shore that there were plenty of birds to ID. We made a nice long romantic beach stroll…with binoculars in hand, of course.
Our Middle Eastern dinner was out of this world. So much food that we didn’t finish it until the day we were leaving So delicious, such a great view and great company.
Birding Qatar - The Satisfaction of a Good Bird List
The next morning would be serious. An early rise and a trip to the most productive birding spot in Qatar, Irakhiya Farm, a 45-minute drive into the center of the country. We went to some lagoons that seemed to be the right place. Where the water comes from, I could only speculate, but there is lots of it, surrounded by reeds and other plants and small trees. It was alive with sound at 5:15 am and the temperature was only about 95F.
At this location you quickly learn the call of the Clamorous Reed Warbler. It is the dominant species here and extremely vocal. I spotted three different species of Reed Warblers (fam. Acrocephalidae) at the lagoons, Clamorous, Common and Great, all lifers.
It was a good morning of birding with 29 species observed including, a lifer Little Owl. He was so cute as he winked at me!
My Qatar total was up to 43 birds. Seven more to go to hit my target.
In the evening we had booked a pelagic birding tour, sorry, I mean a harbor sunset cruise on a traditional dhow. It was a nice trip and yielded two more birds for the Qatar list. By now with only one day left to bird, I was getting a little nervous that I would not make my 50 birds. I would need some additional help as insurance.
Birding Qatar – The Big Bust
I managed to contact one of the few active birders in Qatar. He gave me some pointers. Following those leads we arose very early again the next morning and headed to some water treatment ponds. It was a complete bust.
Reason Number Three why birding Qatar is so harsh: Google Maps sucks in Qatar once out of downtown. It simply didn’t know how to get us to where we needed to go. Qatar is still developing, and many routes have changed or are blocked. When you are out of the city some of the less traveled roads are unpaved ad hoc routes through the desert. We wasted the entire morning driving around the ponds trying to figure out how to get close enough to walk to them without trespassing. Another issue with GoogleMaps was that the street names in GoogleMaps frequently did not match the names on the signs. And one more thing, intersection turn-only lanes typically have a single access point that is 100 to 300 meters before the intersection. Lots of missed turns.
After this bust, we ate and went to Al Bidda park again in extreme heat, let’s say about 115F. Following my new birding friend’s guidance, we found the Rose-ringed Parakeets but not the Purple Sunbirds. We went to a beach at his recommendation to look for Terek Sandpiper. We didn’t find it, but I did get a Slender-billed Gull bringing my total to 49 birds.
Birding Qatar – Getting Over the Hump
Lucky for me, Timothy decided to go birding with me the next morning before I had to get on a plane. We decided that the best chance to get the goal was to head back to Irakhiya Farm. Turns out the Farm is different from the lagoons. We passed through the gate to the farm, exchanged niceties and a small token of appreciation with the guard and in we went.
It was a great morning of birding. I blew past the 50-bird target and added several life birds including, Spur-winged Lapwing, Collared Pratincole, Greater Hoopoe-Lark, Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark and Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin.
Final Thoughts
In addition to the intense birding, we really enjoyed our time in the city. We dined at several fine dining establishments, preferring the top floor restaurant experiences.
To give you an idea of how little birding is done in Qatar, in less than three days of part-time birding at the worst time of year for bird diversity, I made it into the eBird lifetime Top 100 for Qatar.
If I happen to be transiting through Doha in a winter month, I will do the layover. I think I learned my lesson on birding Qatar in the summer…maybe.
Joel, that was an extreme experience, unlike many of your other reports. Very unique. My favorite bird was the dove.
I assume all the water comes from the sea. Great report.
Always a great memories and experience with love of my life !!
Joel, once again I thoroughly enjoyed your blog and the pictures. I didn’t know very much about Qatar. Beautiful and HOT!
Nice report as usual for an unusual place !
Seeing the world !
I so enjoy your blogs, Joel. Very interesting birds. I look forward to birding with you and Mirka soon in much lower temperatures!