Yesterday being a holiday, the entire family set out for Khor Kalba around noon. Its located to the north of UAE in Fujairah. It is near the border between Oman and UAE. On our way, we stopped along the main road to have lunch. We lunched in the sand in the middle of the desert along with a lot of huge red ants. Got some nice pics of another insect too. Will upload photos when I figure out how to. Saw an Indian Roller on the way and lots of camels.
Khor Kalba has some beautiful mangroves. Since it was a family outing, I didn't get to venture out much on my own. In spite of that I got see a number of birds. Although I have been able to ID merely a few of them. Saw a number of Terns and Gulls along the shore. We stopped at some place near the mangroves on the inside. There were a lot of crabs out there. There was a nice spot for swimming. But we stopped at the fishing area since my brother in law wanted to fish. He even caught a baby Sherry. After that he didn't have any luck. But my sister wanted to fish more. So she continued but with no luck.
All this while I enjoyed with my nephew. And after sometime I sneaked out with my Mom in the search of something better. Luckily I found a lone White Collared Kingfisher, endemic to the area. At least I think it was that. Got a pic too, but not very good since my Dad scared him away. (Family outings can be very frustrating in such cases!!!) On my way back from this short walk, Mom and I spotted a Hoopoe Lark. Got a very bad pic of that too. Saw a couple of Sand Plovers.
The other side of the mangrove looked really dense. Found one egret catching fish. Heard a lot of bird calls. Saw a lot of fish jumping in the water too. After having dinner in the dark, we started on our way back home through Masafi. All in all, it was a good trip. Not just due to the things I saw but also because it was the first time in three years, I think, that the entire family including my sis had gone out together for a trip.
