moloch05
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These are photos from the Al Hajar Mountains near Bahla and Nizwa, Oman. This was actually our second stop on the trip. We drove to Bahla from Al Ain, UAE. The drive and border crossing took about 4 hours. It will be faster before long when the construction of a new freeway is complete.
Map of the route from Al Ain.
Map of the mountains that we visited near Bahla. (C) Jebel Shams, (B) Jebel Akhdar
I have visited this area twice before and wanted to show Ted a cave that I found on my first visit. A small stream pours from a crevice in the cave. It seems to attract lots of invertebrates and as a result, many geckos at night. We sometimes had as many as 10 geckos in view at the same time. One annoying thing in the cave was the presence of wasp nests. I was stung by a wasp on my last visit.
On this trip, access was more difficult due to the high water levels in wadi. We had to walk upstream to find and area where we could cross.
The top of the "gecko cave" is visible here behind the trees:
Asaccus platyrhynchus. These were the most common gecko in the cave and on rocks in the wadi.
Females have white tails.
Males have yellow tails. I love the beautiful pastel colours.
Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus orlovi), a recent split from P. hasselquistii): They were harder to approach on this trip due to the deeper water in the cave and wadi.
This one was emerging from a crevice. They have such incredible toes!
Ptyodactylus orlovi eggs ? I've read that the geckos glue their eggs to the walls of caves or crevices. I am not certain about this one but it appears to be a shell rather than a spider egg sac.
Hemidactylus hajarensis? These were big geckos and we saw them both in the wadi as well as higher up on the Jebel Akhdar road.
Here are a couple fo shots of the hills near Bahla. They are dry and support a few small Acacia-like trees. It seemed like all plants here had thorns.
We visited this wadi near Bahla. It is always good for birds and a few lizards. Milkweeds are enormus here and may grow to 2m+ in height.
The wadi was good for birds and we saw several species. In this shot, Ted is confirming the identity of a Lesser Whitethroat.
Adult Bosk's Fringe-toed Lizard (Acanthodactylus boskianus). We saw a few of these in the wadi.
Acanthodactylus sp. This lizard was only slightly smaller than the Bosk's so I think that it is another species of Acanthodactylus rather than a juvenile Bosk's. We saw several in the wadi.
The morning was hot so this lizard making good use of shade:
Common Tigers (Danaus chrysippus) were numerous at milkweeds in the wadi. They are relatives of Monarch Butterflies and their catepillars looked similar. Common Tigers are a wide-ranging species that also occur in Australia.
... flowering milkweed that attracted Common Tigers and others.
Yellow Pansy (Junonia hierta). This is a beautiful species in flight with mostly blue and yellow upper wings.
Little Tiger Pierrot (Tarucus balkanicus): common, tiny lycaenids.
Blue-spotted Arab (Colotis phisadia): these were common, small pierids.
Caper White (Anphaeis aurota). Fairly numerous.
Thorn-tree Blue (Azanus moriqua):
Brandt's Hedgehog. We found this hedgehog on the road one night. It was bigger than I expected and was nearly the size of an Echidna. It could run fast but eventually took refuge beneath this thorny tree. It hissed at Ted when he approached for photos.
Jebel Akhdar
We visited the lookout at 2000m. I've seen a number of interesting birds here. On this visit, we found several pairs of Cricket Warblers, Eurasian Rock Thrush, Blue Rock Thrush, Desert Larks, Long-billed Pipits, Egyptian Vultures and others.
Aloes grew on this hillside near the lookout:
Milkweeds were also big here and some had a trunk like a small tree.
Jebel Akhdar lookout was a good place for Rock Semaphore Geckos (Pristurus rupestris). They have interesting tails with fringe-like scales.
We also found two Bar-tailed Semaphore Geckos (Pristurus celerrimus) on the slope with the agaves. They unfortunately remained in deep shade where they were hard to photograph.
Jebel Shams
This is a view of the mountains from the base of the Jebel Shams road:
We passed these old ruins. I suppose that this area looks much as it did when people lived in those rock houses.
... old fortification and walls on the hillside
We found this large agama at the base of Jebel Shams. I think that it was a Pseudotrapelus jensvindumi, one of the recent splits of Sinai (Blue) Rock Agama.
... habitat
"Ephedra"-like plant. This plant reminded us of Ephedra in the deserts of California.
This agama lived in the rocky habitat above. Another Pseudotrapelus jensvindumi?
Rock Semaphore Gecko (Pristurus rupestris)
One of the Greylings (Hipparchia parisatis). I was surprised to see these shade-loving satyrinae here on the barren rocky slopes.
Ypthima sp.? Another surprise. It usually settled in the shade of crevices or beneath rock ledges.
Map of the route from Al Ain.
Map of the mountains that we visited near Bahla. (C) Jebel Shams, (B) Jebel Akhdar
I have visited this area twice before and wanted to show Ted a cave that I found on my first visit. A small stream pours from a crevice in the cave. It seems to attract lots of invertebrates and as a result, many geckos at night. We sometimes had as many as 10 geckos in view at the same time. One annoying thing in the cave was the presence of wasp nests. I was stung by a wasp on my last visit.
On this trip, access was more difficult due to the high water levels in wadi. We had to walk upstream to find and area where we could cross.
The top of the "gecko cave" is visible here behind the trees:
Asaccus platyrhynchus. These were the most common gecko in the cave and on rocks in the wadi.
Females have white tails.
Males have yellow tails. I love the beautiful pastel colours.
Fan-footed Gecko (Ptyodactylus orlovi), a recent split from P. hasselquistii): They were harder to approach on this trip due to the deeper water in the cave and wadi.
This one was emerging from a crevice. They have such incredible toes!
Ptyodactylus orlovi eggs ? I've read that the geckos glue their eggs to the walls of caves or crevices. I am not certain about this one but it appears to be a shell rather than a spider egg sac.
Hemidactylus hajarensis? These were big geckos and we saw them both in the wadi as well as higher up on the Jebel Akhdar road.
Here are a couple fo shots of the hills near Bahla. They are dry and support a few small Acacia-like trees. It seemed like all plants here had thorns.
We visited this wadi near Bahla. It is always good for birds and a few lizards. Milkweeds are enormus here and may grow to 2m+ in height.
The wadi was good for birds and we saw several species. In this shot, Ted is confirming the identity of a Lesser Whitethroat.
Adult Bosk's Fringe-toed Lizard (Acanthodactylus boskianus). We saw a few of these in the wadi.
Acanthodactylus sp. This lizard was only slightly smaller than the Bosk's so I think that it is another species of Acanthodactylus rather than a juvenile Bosk's. We saw several in the wadi.
The morning was hot so this lizard making good use of shade:
Common Tigers (Danaus chrysippus) were numerous at milkweeds in the wadi. They are relatives of Monarch Butterflies and their catepillars looked similar. Common Tigers are a wide-ranging species that also occur in Australia.
... flowering milkweed that attracted Common Tigers and others.
Yellow Pansy (Junonia hierta). This is a beautiful species in flight with mostly blue and yellow upper wings.
Little Tiger Pierrot (Tarucus balkanicus): common, tiny lycaenids.
Blue-spotted Arab (Colotis phisadia): these were common, small pierids.
Caper White (Anphaeis aurota). Fairly numerous.
Thorn-tree Blue (Azanus moriqua):
Brandt's Hedgehog. We found this hedgehog on the road one night. It was bigger than I expected and was nearly the size of an Echidna. It could run fast but eventually took refuge beneath this thorny tree. It hissed at Ted when he approached for photos.
Jebel Akhdar
We visited the lookout at 2000m. I've seen a number of interesting birds here. On this visit, we found several pairs of Cricket Warblers, Eurasian Rock Thrush, Blue Rock Thrush, Desert Larks, Long-billed Pipits, Egyptian Vultures and others.
Aloes grew on this hillside near the lookout:
Milkweeds were also big here and some had a trunk like a small tree.
Jebel Akhdar lookout was a good place for Rock Semaphore Geckos (Pristurus rupestris). They have interesting tails with fringe-like scales.
We also found two Bar-tailed Semaphore Geckos (Pristurus celerrimus) on the slope with the agaves. They unfortunately remained in deep shade where they were hard to photograph.
Jebel Shams
This is a view of the mountains from the base of the Jebel Shams road:
We passed these old ruins. I suppose that this area looks much as it did when people lived in those rock houses.
... old fortification and walls on the hillside
We found this large agama at the base of Jebel Shams. I think that it was a Pseudotrapelus jensvindumi, one of the recent splits of Sinai (Blue) Rock Agama.
... habitat
"Ephedra"-like plant. This plant reminded us of Ephedra in the deserts of California.
This agama lived in the rocky habitat above. Another Pseudotrapelus jensvindumi?
Rock Semaphore Gecko (Pristurus rupestris)
One of the Greylings (Hipparchia parisatis). I was surprised to see these shade-loving satyrinae here on the barren rocky slopes.
Ypthima sp.? Another surprise. It usually settled in the shade of crevices or beneath rock ledges.
