Phase 2 (Nestlings stage): Daymaniyat and Fahal Island

In this stage Mike McGrady was not able to join us from the start, so the team was all Omanis: Waheed Al Fazari, Dr. Mansoor Al Jahdhami and Abdulrahman Al Owisi, in addition to the Royal yacht sailors that support us. During this stage we mainly aim to determine hatching success, in all the nests found in August.  Besides that, we also ring the nestlings and take a blood sample for further analysis. On the Damaniyats Islands we did find some of the nests we could not find in August, but unfortunately some of them had already fledged (were flying). We did not know at this point whether we were late or they were a bit early!

Sooty Falcon adult bringing food to the nestling -Taken by a camera trap

On Fahal, as was the case on the Daymaniyats, some of the chicks were already fledging, but by this time Mike McGrady had joined the team. The first day of field work was a bit dangerous due to a very low tide, which made the landing (in other words: jumping from the boat to the bare rocks) more difficult. In addition to all of that, the RY sailor and our important team member, Saeed Al Syabi, was not there because of the sad loss of his eldest son in a car accident. The water depth was less than 0.8m and I recall losing part of the boat trying to land. We decide to abandon the effort that day and return some other time (next early morning).

Working on Fahal is very dangerous indeed; the cliffs are not stable, falling rocks all around and there are more than 120 steps to walk to the top (not to mention the rope work needed to get to the nests).  However, once you are there, it is worth it. A stunning view of the sea and Muscat. fishermen, oil tankers, reef sharks around the island  and in the air you can easily spot more than 40 falcons at the same time! We managed to finish Fahal in few days, even with only two team members.

Omani bilogist taking blood sample froma nestling after being ringed

Here are some 2012 results: there were 12 nests on Damaniyats and more than 40 on Fahal. The team was able to catch 13 adults (some of them were caught in previous years) and to ring 48 chicks in both locations.