The Dry Palearctic

So far I've never been in a position to fly on fancy airlines, but fate happened to work out in such a way that the cheapest way for me to fly from DC to Ethiopia to the Philippines, then back to DC, was via Emirates Airlines. I still didn't get to try out the famous Emirates first class, but it was still an unusually nice flying experience by my standards. Of course, that also meant that I had three layovers in Dubai over last summer. The first two were relatively short and I didn't get the chance to see much more than tarmac and Rock Doves, but my final layover on the way back from the Philippines to DC was a whole 13 hours long, which was long enough for me to get into the city for a little while, and see what all the fuss about Dubai is about.

The first thing to know about Dubai is that it's an extremely strange city. It's located in one of the hottest places on the planet, a massive desert that no sane human would decide to establish a permanent settlement in. On the other hand, it happens to be near some huge oil reserves, and in capitalism the logic of "we can make a lot of money here" supersedes the logic of "this is not actually fit for human habitation". The Emirs of the United Arab Emirates now have so much money they don't really know how to use it, so they've decided to just set in on fire constructing things like the world's tallest building or indoor ski hills or giant artificial condo-islands shaped like palm trees. The whole city makes no sense- the scene of giant, glittering skyscrapers rising out of the heat haze of the desert seems like something out of a Star Wars movie.

I of course was going to spend some of my time looking for birds, as Dubai was my first time ever in the Western Palearctic biogeographic realm and there were at least a few new birds there for me, as well as many I'd already seen in Ethiopia or the Philippines. I hopped in an overpriced taxi, and went to the Ras al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, home of some of the only mangroves in Dubai along with some decent water-adjacent birdlife. It was late afternoon but still brutally hot, but being Dubai the government was also nice enough to provide birders with a sheltered hide, complete with spotting scopes and air conditioning(!). 

It was August so the fall migration hadn't really started, but there were still some resident and migratory birds around. My first lifer was a beautiful Western Reef Egret, followed closely by a Green Bee-eater White-eared Bulbuls, and a female Purple Sunbird, very much not purple-colored. Non-lifers around were Red-wattled Lapwings, Sacred Ibis, Eurasian Collared-doves, and many shorebirds including Black-tailed Godwits and a distant Pied Avocet. 

Western Reef Egret

Green Bee-eater

Female Purple Sunbird

White-eared Bulbul

Red-wattled Lapwing

Eurasian Collared-dove

Sacred Ibis

Striated Heron

The Dubai Skyline over the marsh (Burj Khalifa in the center)

After seeing what could be seen at the first hide, I made a quick stop at the second hide, which was best known for its large flock of resident Greater Flamingos. Those were lots of fun to watch, making lots of noise and tussling occasionally as flamingos like to do. There weren't too many other birds, but I was able to add Whimbrel and Terek Sandpiper to my Dubai list.

Greater Flamingos

Some kind of jumping spider

I returned to the airport after that and paid my taxi driver, but I still had another 6 hours left before my flight, so I decided to take the metro to Dubai's spice souk in the old quarter, one of the only parts of the city that doesn't feel like a giant shopping mall. The area along the river was beautiful, and I realized that the cormorants roosting there were vulnerable Socotra Cormorants, a final unexpected lifer. The gold souk and spice souk were, of course, overwhelmingly touristed, but it was still a nice look at Dubai as it was before the oil boom. It was also a good excuse to buy some saffron and other spices to replace the souvenirs I didn't have time to buy in Ethiopia. 

The old quarter of Dubai

Socotra Cormorant

From the spice souk I returned to the airport, where I had a late dinner then boarded my flight back to DC- the end of an incredibly eventful summer, with visits to four different countries, over 700 species of bird seen, and lots of other rare and amazing wildlife. Not a bad way to spend my grad school time, overall.