Dubai Birding

After Malaysia, it was time to begin the main part of our holidays by stopping over at Dubai in United Arab Emirates, with one day on the way to the UK and back, devoted entirely to UAE birding. The temperatures were a humid 45+ Celsius and it was Ramadan (no food or water during daylight hours), but it was a place to get some good desert birding done.

The view of Dubai from our hotel room.

Dubai with the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa dominating the skyline.

Sensible people are in the pool, but birders start exploring the gardens for birds, such as the family of Grey Francolin we got in the gardens. 

We organised a car with the hotel to take us birding the next day, expecting a small car with  a driver. This big luxury car turned up with a nicely dressed driver to take us birding at a few of Dubai's swamps. Nice! I could get use to this, birding in style!

First stop for the morning was one of Dubai's best birding spots, the Pivot Fields.

Large wet grassed areas  of the Pivot Fields that had large numbers of birds.

Good birding area. We got our targets which included White-tailed Lapwing, White-eared Bulbul, Southern Grey Shrike, Graceful Prinia and Purple Sunbird.

It was getting hot at the fields, so it was back in the luxury air-conditioned car and off to Al Warsan Lake, but due to massive development in the area we couldn't find a a way into the lake itself. Ras Al-Khor Wildlife Sanctuary was the next stop, another of Dubai's great birding locations with good hides.

The Dubai skyline from Ras Al-Khor. Burj Khalifa looks impressive, I must go to the top next time we are in Dubai.

The tide was out, but the birding was still good. Little Stint, Kentish Plover, Little Ringed Plover and Striated Heron.

Liz looking out of Flamingo hide. It's hot out there and only slightly cooler in the hide.

As the name of the hide suggests, yes there are Greater Flamingos out there.

The long hot hidden walkway to Flamingo hide.

In the cool of the afternoon, we went down to Dubai Creek and the creekside park with it's cable cars.

A beautiful park with some interesting buildings.

At Dubai Creek we got our target Socotra Cormorants and Sooty Gulls. Dubai Creek Park had the largest number of Hoopoe we have ever seen, 50+. It seemed like every tree had a pair!

On the return leg of our holidays we stopped in Dubai again, this time having booked a birding day with local birder/guide Tommy Pedersen. A great day with an excellent guide.

First early morning stop was at Green Mubazzarah, a watered area in the desert hills.

The bird highlights were Egyptian Vultures, Brown-necked Ravens, Turkestan Shrike, Desert Lark, Eastern Olivaceous and Upcher's Warbler.

One of the birds we very lucky to see in this arid rocky area were the elusive Sand Partridge.

Next stop, the mountain of Jebel Hafit (Haffet), a great place for Pale Crag Martins.

A good place to also see White-spectacled Bulbul, Blue Rock Thrush, Pied and Hume's Wheatear.

Time to head down the mountain to a parkland area (with Isabelline Wheatear), and then take the road to the coast to Khor Al-Beida. We missed the cool air of the mountain.

Not my picture, but our target species at the coast, a Crab Plover. We ended up seeing about 450 of these birds and agreed that this was probably our best bird of the holidays. A fantastic looking bird!

In Sarawak Again

Continuing our Malaysian holiday adventures from the last post, we had engine problems on the aircraft which forced us to turn back to KL, from half way to Miri. It was a long half hour back with the engine making bad grating noises and my wife Liz looking very worried and not appreciating me saying a couple times, 'Boy, that doesn't sound good!". We found out later, people on the plane were making calls on their mobiles, basically saying goodbye to loved ones! But, all's well that ends well. We landed in KL and were back on a new plane heading to Miri within an hour.

We may be going down, but there's always time for a glass of fine wine. Only joking.

Great to be on the ground again and birding at Mulu.

Good birding along the river at Gunung Mulu National Park. Last time I was here, I saw a fruiting tree full of Asian Fairy-Bluebirds and Green Broadbills.

 

The new accommodation at Mulu is fantastic.

I'm very happy.

Nice modern rooms.

But no muddy boots inside!

Birding is serious hard work.

A great dinner back in Miri with our friends Musa and Sara.

A day's birding with Sara at Lambir Hills National Park. Sara dwarfed by the rainforest.

Wonderful location.

Hard to get these little people off your back sometimes.

Another beautiful Lambir rainforest stream.

Musa, an expert on Bornean fireflies, shows us one of his favourite locations near Miri.

A morning's birding at Taman Awam Miri (Miri Public Park).

The bridge and walkways are great locations to get eye-level views of birds.

One of the residents at the park is this Striped Bronzeback Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis caudolineatus).

Good friends birding, Jen, Liz and Steve.

So ended our first part of holidays with Jen, having seen 71 bird species in Sarawak (6 new for Liz, 3 for me). Liz and I still had 8 weeks of birding holidays in Dubai, the UK and Turkey to look forward to. Lots of mileage and lots of birds.

Fraser's Hill

The next few post are basically for family and friends, so if you don't like looking at holiday photos, best to go to some other blog now.

It was a long 3 month holiday this time, covering peninsular Malaysia and Borneo, Dubai, the UK and Turkey. Mostly a birding holiday (but also visiting Liz's family in the UK), which began at Fraser's Hill in peninsular Malaysia in July with our friend Jen.

Our first stop off the plane. Birdwatching at Selangor Dam on the way to Fraser's Hill.

Our accommodation at Silverpark Holiday Resort, a huge complex in a good location, but with moldy old-looking rooms.

The classic photo that must be taken at the Fraser's Hill clock.

A morning spent at the 'Gap' (at 825m) below Fraser's Hill (1300m), a quiet morning birdwise, but the area got us a new bird, Striped Tit-babbler.

The Old Smokehouse, a fancy place to eat at Fraser's Hill, but I did get a bad case of food poisoning later, that lasted two days. Was it from here?

A tower on the way to High Pines, looking for the elusive Brown Bullfinch.

The golf course at Fraser's Hill was a good area to see a group of Javan Cuckooshrike, another new bird for us.

An early breakfast Roti and Dahl, before birding the forest trails. Yummy food that Liz and Jen loved!

Feeling a little better after the food poisoning, I'm out on Bishop Trail looking for Rusty-naped Pitta (no luck).

We did catch a wonderful skink, a Blotched Forest Skink (Sphenomorphus praesignis). I found out later that this is one of the largest Spenomorphus skinks growing to 25cm and is a rarely seen montane species that is found above 800 metres.

Fraser's Hill got us 55 bird species with 13 new ones for Liz and 11 for me. Our next major stop was Miri in Sarawak Borneo. Little did we know of the adventure awaiting us, when the plane developed a faulty engine and had to turn back to KL half way through the flight to Miri!

Zeiss 7x42 Dialyt Binoculars

Recently back from our 3 month holiday, which included Malaysia/Borneo, United Arab Emirates, UK and Turkey, it was time to test out one of the goodies I bought while overseas in the UK. Perfect 'as new' condition Zeiss 7x42 Dialyt Binoculars, still in their original box with all the original kit, such as case, cleaning gear and info. Don't ask how much I paid, as I must be crazy to do it, but these have been a pair of binoculars that I always regretted not buying when I was younger. Now they are an expensive collectors item that are hard to find, especially in good condition. These were as new!

Now for some information about these wonderful binoculars. This binocular was introduced by Zeiss in 1981 and quickly gained the reputation of being an outstanding performer, even when compared to other members of the Zeiss line. The Zeiss Dialyt 10x40, 8x56 and 7x42 were the most popular and were among the very favourites amongst the birding fraternity. Many are still around today giving the modern day binocular a run for the money, thus earning cult status!


 Later versions were called 'ClassiC', and the Dialyt binoculars were finally discontinued in 2004, when the Zeiss Victory FL binoculars emerged.

Its 7x42 body appears tall for a 42mm binocular, a result of Abbe-Koenig type prisms which build long, but, in contrast to the more compact Schmidt-Pechan type, fold the light-cone by total internal reflection only. Consequently, they do not require any mirror-coating at which light would get lost, making an exceptionally bright image when compared to other roof-prism designs of that time. Since 1988, the phase-correction coating (also called P-coating) was implemented, which shifted the level of contrast (much sharper images and finer detail) to that of the better Porro prism binoculars.







If buying Zeiss Dialyt binoculars keep an eye out for the T* and more expensive T*P* markings.  T* standing for Anti-reflective Multicoatings and  P* standing for Phase Correcting Coated Prisms.

 

 
 
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS



Rubber Armored Roof Prism , Centre Focus , with Right diopter


7x magnification


42mm objective lenses


Exit Pupil:  6mm


Weight:  28 ozs/800 grams


Height:  7.5 inches/190 mm


Width:  5 inches/125 mm ( at 67mm IPD setting )


Eye Relief: 19mm


Twilight Factor:  17.1


T.F.O.V:  8.6 degrees -  450 feet at 1000 yds/150 meters at 1000 meters 


Minimum Focus:  11.5 ft/3.5 meters

Waterproof:  YES according to Zeiss  (NO according to conventional design)


Nitrogen Purged:  NO

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 So how did I find them when I tried them out this morning for some local birding? I think this critic's review sums it up best.
 
"The Zeiss 7x42 Dialyt is applauded as a phenomenon in birding binoculars. Compare its specifications against any of the best, and you'll come away with one conclusion: if you're comfortable with a 7x magnification, it would be hard to find a better performer in the world. T* anti-reflective multicoatings and P* prism phase coatings combine to provide stellar sharpness, contrast and color fidelity. The look of Zeiss glass is distinctive-brilliant, cool coloring with razorlike deliniation. From their ultrawide view of 8.6 degrees to their impressive close focusing distance, to their easily held shape, this birding binocular is a purist's delight."