ISSN 0268-497X

(2.KCP

the PHOENIX

Number 5 December 1988

Compiled and distributed by Michael C Jennings (ABBA Co-ordinator)

for contributors to the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Arabia

INTRODUCTI ON

The exciting news -for the Atlas in 1988, i f one
can out aside Phil Hollow's new book Birds of the
Middle East and North Africa and breeding
Thick-billed Lark (see notes below), is the

acquisition of a project sponsor. The National
Commission for Wildlife Conservation and
Development in Riyadh has agreed in principle to
sponsor the project, during the data collection
phase and to publish the Atlas in due course. The
NCWCD and ABBA have had a very good working
relationship for the last two years. No less than
four atlasing surveys in Saudi Arabia have now

been funded and assisted by the Commission. The
ABBA objectives are part of the Commission's
National Action Plan for wildlife and the

environment and therefore the sponsorship deal is
an obvious, mutually beneficial, arrangement.

The details of the formal agreement have not yet
been hammered out but the outline arrangements are
as follows. The NCWCD sponsorship would extend to
four areast

1) To meet the running costs of the project.

2) To provide the necessary equipment such as a
computer, copier, filing cabinets, etc.

3) To support atlasing surveys of the co-
ordinator .

4) To publish the results of the survey.

The running costs would include the employment of
a part-time researcher for much-needed work on
literature and museum sources and part-time
assistant for secretarial and data processing
work. This help, and the computer, will
revolutionise the current 'manual' record system
and greatly increase the service that can be
offered to contributors and those researching
Arabian birds. For example, in future I envisage
that individual atlasers can be given a

personalised print for all the birds breeding in
squares near where they live so that they can
direct their atlasing forays more purposefully.
Those seeking information from ABBA on Arabian
birds can be given much, much more information,
such as breeding habits and relevant authors, than
the 'draft distribution map' which is all that can
reasonably be provided at the present time. As
regards publication it is envisaged in the

agreement that this will be done in two stages.
Two years from the agreement being reached, a
provisional Atlas will be prepared. This will be
largely aimed at stimulating further field work
but will also provide an extremely accurate
reference source on the information collected so
far. The provisional Atlas will include a map of
all data collected up to a date about two years
hence, plus basic breeding data but especially
highlighting gaps in knowledge and coverage for
each species. The final Atlas will follow some
time afterwards.

The sponsorship agreement will resolve the
threadbare financial arrangements that have
character i sed the Atlas since its inception. Now
that money problems seem to be behind us I wish to
record my very sincere thanks to all those who
have given me such tremendous help by personal
donations over the years, which have kept the
scheme's head above water and enabled it to amass
what is probably the most compr ehensi ve
information on breeding birds in Arabia that has
sver been collected. There are, however, a few
odd corners of project expenditure which it is not
envisaged will be covered by the sponsorship
agreement and therefore the gifts of readers and
atlasers will continue to be very gratefully
recei ved.

1988 saw two major atlasing surveys on my part. A
total of seven weeks was spent on two surveys to
northern and central Saudi Arabia in the spring
and in the Asir and southern Hejaz mountains in
the summer. Full reports on both surveys will be
prepared in the coming months. The report on the
Asir National Park survey of July 1987 has been
completed and published as NCWCD Technical Report
No. 4 and has been distributed to relevant
libraries and organi sati ons (a small number of
copies of this report are available, see sales
list enclosed with this issue). Two further
exciting surveys are being planned for 1989 to
virtually unrecorded areas.

With the exciting news of sponsorship for the
project it is hoped that all atlasers can go into
the desert in 1989 with renewed vigour.

Fig 1 Thick-billed Lark. Found breedinq in
northern Saudi Arabia March, 198S

Sponsor

National Commission for

Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD)
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

LajLqijg sLiiJ! iLU^J **.; *— C » ■.;***

Lo j) f wll n^Jo-nJI - jssLjJI

1

N EW BREEDING SPECIES; THICK- BILLED LARK

The Thick-billed Lark is on the ABBA list of
breedinq birds (Form 2) because it is a potential
breeding species in Arabia. In fact it breeds in
a broad band of desert across North Africa and
there is a seemingly isolated breedinq population
east of Suez in Jordan. It is only known in
Arabia as a rather scarce winter visitor
southwards to about 20° N but it has long been
suspected of breeding in northern parts of Saudi
Arabia. Whilst atlasing in northern Saudi Arabia
in March, 19SS, I was especially looking for this
species showing any evidence of breeding. It was
located in the NCWCD Reserve at the Harrat al
Harr ah and nearby, being observed, quite
regularly, in eight Atlas squares, although it was
probably the rarest of the nine lark species
present in the region at that time. Many were
moving around as closely associating pairs,
probably indicating that breeding was imminent.
In the eastern part of the Harrat al Harrah
Reserve (DB38) on 12 March two birds were seen
collecting beak fulls of grasses and plant down
and flying off with it. Peter Symens and I failed
to locate the nest site however. Two days later,
whilst we were near Jebel Amud (FA28) we again
found a pair collecting nesting material. On this
occasion, whilst sitting in a vehicle watching
them around us, we could not work out where their
nest site was. After walking a couple of hundred
metres from the vehicle, and with Peter continuing
his search nearby for evidence of the presence of
Houbara, I settled down to watch a Dunn's Lark
singing high overhead (it sang continuously for
thirteen minutes). Looking back for progress with
the Thick-billed Lark I saw one bird take nesting
material down only about 15m from the vehicle.
Following this up I quickly found an almost
completed nest. It was situated on a slight
gravel slope, placed just north of a small plant.
It was deeply cupped into the ground, with a
pebble glacis surrounding it. The nest cup was
constructed of grass and twiglets and lined with
some downy plant heads. We watched the pair
coming to the nest for a while. It seemed that
whilst both male and female were collecting
nesting material only the female was actually
involved in its construction.

Unfortunately I had to leave the area the next day
so could not follow up the nest personally. Peter
tells me that the pair were still nestbuilding a
couple of days later but no eggs had been laid
before he, too, had to leave. From the evidence
of this nest and the behaviour of other pairs of
Thick-billed Larks in the area, it was quite
obvious that the species is an uncommon breeding
bird in this part of northern Arabia.

M.C. J.

WHAT W E HAVE ALL BEEN WAITINB FDR

When I first went to Arabia in 1969, there were
very few fieldguides around and none that covered
the Middle East. One had to be content with the
old "Peterson, Mountfort & Hoi lorn" (PMH) . For
extras like the White-cheeked Bulbul, which I saw
on my first day in Bahrain, one had to take the
word of others about identity, as such birds were
only to be found in tomes covering the Indian
region. Relief seemed just around the corner
however, as Messrs Collins, on the dust jacket of
their fieldguide which covered Eastern and Central
Africa, proclaimed that a guide to the birds of
the Middle East and North Africa was in
preparation. Correspondence with Collins at the
time indicated that the book would be a year or
two in preparation. This was not to be. In fact
the rather inadequate "Heinzel, Fitter and
Parslow" which covered the Middle East but not
Arabia, arrived first in 1972. This title was in
time for my second 2 1/2 year spell in Arabia at
Riyadh. It was very helpful at the time but I
found that it did not cover a good number of the
Arabian species, especially those of the south
west. Even one or two birds of Palearctic oriqin
were missing. For example, the fact that Dunn's
Lark was not in that book is, I feel sure, the
main reason that so few people until recently have
recorded it in Palearctic Arabia. Dunn's Lark is.

in fact, wide-spread and common throughout much of
the interior deserts of Arabia. The Heinzel book
also had a few staring errors which have remained
uncorrected through various editions; for example,
a whole generation of birders must by now be
convinced that the Blackstart is sexually
dimorphic !

The nineteen years' wait for Phil Hollom et al 's
book Birds of the Middle East and North Africa was
worth it! Now we can all see what Dunn's Lark
looks like and discover the truth about
Blackstarts. In terms of knowledge and experience
the team who produced this book could not have
been better. Phil, Richard Porter and Steen
Christensen all have a vast knowledge of the area
and Ian Mi 11 is is one of the most acclaimed bird
artists working today.

The important thing to remember about this new
book is that it is "a companion guide". It is
meant to be used in conjunction with the PMH guide
that covers the more common species found in
Western Europe, This is a very wise move as it
frees the authors to concentrate on those species
found in the Middle East and North Africa but not
in Europe.

The publisher's blurb says 700 species are
covered, of which 350 are illustrated in 40
plates, with an additional 100 line drawings and
500 2-colour maps. I didn't check these
statistics but did notice that the maps are not
what most people would think of as 2-coloured.
There are red breeding ranges on black map
outlines. They are not, as one would expect from
this description, blue for winter range, red for
breeding — which I suppose would make them
3-colour maps. But then nobody believes what
publishers sav do they?

The species accounts take up 243 of the 280 pages
and are worked out as follows. If the species is
a visitor or vagrant to the area and is dealt with
in PMH it gets a very cursory mention, for
example, Citril Finch, has two words "Vagrant
Algeria", plus its size and a reference to PMH.
If it is a breeding species adequately covered in
the other field guides it gets a breeding range
map and rather more on status, e.g. the places
where it is migrant, winter visitor, summer
visitor, etc. and habitat. For identification one
has to turn to PMH. If the species has a distinct
Middle East sub-species there is usually an
illustration, either as a line drawing or on one
of the colour plates. The final, and most
complete level of treatment, is reserved for those
species not found in Europe. They are all
illustrated, have a very thorough description and,
where appropriate, notes on voice along with
information on status and habitat. This method of
approach is unusual in a book of this kind but
works well. Although some readers will be
inconvenienced if they do not have the other book,
most of us will appreciate not having to carry
around more than is necessary.

This is the first time that all Arabian breeding
species have been dealt with under one cover
(Meinertzhagen 's Birds of Arabia missed a number
of species and, of course, many have been added to
the Arabian list since then). The part we all
turn to first when picking up a new fieldguide is
the colour plates section. Perhaps, rather
unfairly, such guides are judged by their colour
plates. Again, all the special birds of Arabia,
the Middle East and North Africa are illustrated

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* Scientific names of all species included in the
project and their reference numbers are given on
Form 2; List of the Breeding Birds of Arabia -
issued free to all contr i butor s. The names of
other species and additions to the list are given
in full. To save space, localities mentioned in
the text (except major towns) are suffixed by the
atlas square reference and these can be seen on
the maps in this issue. Bi bl i ographi c references
are kept to a minimum and are given in abbreviated
form. All articles are attributable to the Editor
unless otherwise shown.

2

in this book. The colour plates are to the very
high and attractive standard we have come to
expect of Ian Willis, showing, where appropriate,
separate paintings o-f the di-f-ferent plumages -for
race, age and sex. But oh dear! The artist seems
to have been let down badly by the printers.
Unfortunately, most plates have a rather
washed-out appearance, giving many species an
anaemic look. Some o-f the blues, especially, are
■far too powdery and give a -false impression o-f the
bird in life. An example of this is the Little
Rock Thrush on Plate 30. In nature it is a rather
deep bluish-grey above with a rich chestnut belly
but appears in the plate as a rather insipid ashy
bird above. I, personally, didn't like the
captions on the plates which have been written in
free hand, presumably by the artist. Apparently
written directly on to the art paper it gives a
rather spidery effect and in one or two plates I
had some difficulty deciding which caption
referred to which bird. Apart from all this the
plates are, however, truly lovely and include
several species not illustrated in a similar book
before. The only point of noteworthy inaccuracy
that I found on the plates was that the Yemen and
Arabian Serins are both misleadingly shown as
robust, thick-billed finches. In fact, the Yemen
Serin is a more slender, less dumpy bird than the
other and it also has a much finer bill and, in my
opinion, is much more stripy on the breast than
depicted. The pictures will confuse observers
unfamiliar with these two awkward species. I was
happy to find that the text is correct on these
features.

There are also a number of line drawings in the
text by Steen Christensen, especially of raptors.

I found these rather stiff, lacking the warmth and
life which makes Ian Willis' work so attractive,
but they were still probably better than similar
drawings found in other fieldguides. The
'two-colour' maps at 59mm x 26mm each (i.e. about
three postage stamps) are rather more generous in
size than maps found in most other field guides
but are still not very much room to show
distribution from western Morocco to eastern Iran
and from Aden to northern Turkey. The maps are
good, however, and even tiny dots indicating
isolated occurence are accurately registered. I
think the desci si on to show only breeding range is
sound as winter ranges can be easily located in
other fieldguides or one can consult the text. I
am pleased to say that the Arabian part of the
maps, being based on ABBA drafts is the best set
of Arabian bird distribution maps yet published.
However, the data was taken from ABBA files two
years ago and some now look rather quaintly
old-fashioned to me, now that much more of Arabia
has been atlased. (Notes The only part of the
ABBA coverage not covered in this book is Socotra
Island (PDRY) off the Horn of Africa.)

The book is topped and tailed with a short
introduction, an explanation of the maps,
taxonomy, a good list of references, a check list
and an index. The laminated hardback cover of my
book have been noticed to curl slightly but I
understand from 'a source close to the publisher'
that this is due to a slight moisture problem
during manufacture which will cure itself in time.

This book is most highly recommended to every
birder active in the Middle East area,
particularly Arabia. Price £14, it is published
by T. A. D. Poyser , Townhead House, Calton,
Waterhouses, Staf f ordshire, ST10 3JQ.

M.C. J.

REPOR TING PROCEDURES

Cover age i Farewell JA38 Hello KA36

Jim Mandaville has drawn attention to the fact
that a boundary agreement between Saudi Arabia and
Iraq in 1981 (ratified in Riyadh in 1982) has
erased the neutral territory between the two
countries (see Phoenix 4, p. 3) . The agreement
also straightened out several of the kinks along
the 900 km common border. The result is that the
ABBA area of coverage, which is limited to the
political boundaries of the countries of the

Arabian Peninsula, needs some adjustment. The
original ABBA coverage map was based on the 1972
version of the USGS/Mi ni stry of Petroleum and
Mineral Resources (Jedda) 2,000,000 map. The
up-dated 1984 version of this map shows the above
boundary changes. The net effect to ABBA coverage
is that square JA38 is now totally in Iraq and is
lost to the project, but KA36 is now partly in
Saudi Arabia and is gained. Future editions of
maps used in the project will reflect these
changes. The maps in this issue incorporate these
changes.

Pe rsonal Computer Records

Increasingly , observers are keeping their records
on their own personal computers and the more
enterprising are generating ABBA report sheets
(Form 3) direct from these records. This is a
development which is to be continuously
encouraged, provided those thinking of presenting
records in computer generated format adhere to the
following rules:

a) All data must be presented in the same
sequence of the columns as Form 3.

b) Dates must be in the sequence of
day/month/year . Many computers are
pre-programmed to 'American' dates of
month/day/year, which can create havoc with
existing ABBA records if not corrected.

c) A space, equivalent to at least two lines
of print, should be left between each
record.

d) Space must be provided on the right hand
side for 'official use', equivalent to
columns 7 and 8 of Form 3.

Failure to keep to these rules may mean records
will have to be transcribed into the correct
format before they can be properly accessioned.

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Fig 2 Indian House Crow. Now a serious pest
species in Aden and increasing in numbers near
other coastal towns in Arabia.

OR IENTA L MENACE

Governments all around the Indian Ocean and to
some extent in the Red Sea, are taking note of the
spread and the worrying population increases
locally of the Indian House Crow. This species
has experienced population explosion throughout
the region in the last couple of decades and is
now a major source of concern to the authorities
in its adopted homes from the Seychelles to Suez
and from Aden to Zanzibar. In some areas where it
was hardly known a dozen years ago it is now
officially classified as a pest and control
(extermination) programmes have been started.

Amongst the several undesirable aspects of its
behaviour in its new found territories is its
effect on the native avifauna. In Mombasa it is
heavily predatory on some local species, for
example colonially nesting weavers have all but
disappeared from the House Crow's range. At Suez
the Hooded Crow has now disappeared because of
constant harassment by this vigorous and

3

aqgressive species. In areas where it is common
it drives away potential competitors -for carrion
such as the Black Kite and hassles others,
especially colonially nesting species such as
herons and terns, taking young and eggs. It
attacks domestic animals, reptiles, rodents, even
humans, and is thought to be instrumental in
spreading human diseases. It is intelligent and
cunning and -feeds on anything a group can
overpower . It has even been known to plunge into
water -for fish and feeds at night where there is
ill umi nation .

Reports of its predatory habits are rare so far in
Arabia except from Aden where it is now especially
abundant and a control programme has been started.
Information is needed on the species it preys
upon, the economic damage it causes and
interactions between it and native species in
Arabia. Please report all relevant observations,
for example in respect of competition for nest
sites, food stealing, unprovoked aggression etc.,
on the standard report. Form 3. News is also
needed of its breeding needs and ni di f i cat i on .
Does it for example have the curious habit of
building wire nests in Arabia which it has learnt
to do in many other parts of its range?

THE FORMER DISTRIBUTION OF THE HOUBARA

The species for which most enquiries are received
is the Houbara. It is a bird closely linked to
Arab folklore and is one of two species whose
numbers have been drastically reduced in Arabia
this century. The other is the Arabian Ostrich
which is now extinct - see Phoenix 4. There are
currently several attempts in Arabia to breed this
bird in captivity with a view, eventually, to
rei ntroducti on .

As a large, edible bird the Houbara has always had
a price on its head. Before firearms were widely
available it was trapped in a variety of ingenious
ways and when guns came along it was shot on
sight. In addition, it has always been the
traditional prey of falconers. A combination of
guns and falconers reduced the Houbara population
throughout Arabia to almost negligible numbers by
about 1950. We are more enlightened now, perhaps,
but there is still much hunting pressure on this
bird and the Houbara is having a hard time
re-establishing itself in those corners of Arabia

where it survived. Current breeding localities
are widely separated and these would appear to be
only in the extreme northern regions of Saudi
Arabia and in central Oman, with possibly a small
population in PDRY.

A hundred years ago the Houbara was widespread in
the plains of northern Arabia and a reasonable
picture of former distribution can be pieced
together from the records of travellers and
visitors to those areas who kept detailed records.
It is a fortunate paradox that both the Houbara
and the Ostrich were more often recorded in
travellers' logs than other birds. Even those
visitors with absolutely no interest in the
natural environment could not resist entering
notes in their diary such as, "Bedouin brought me
fresh Houbara eggs for breakfast", and thereby
recorded a Breeding Evidence Code 15 for
posterity. The farmer distribution of the Ostrich
has already been published in Phoenix 4 and that
for the Houbara is shown in Fig 3.

One of the biggest problems for the recovery of
the Houbara today in Arabia is over— grazing by
domestic stock. Sheep and goats not only eat the
plants which are also favoured by the Houbara but
do such an effective job on the vegetation that
they deprive the Houbara of cover for nesting as
well. Nevertheless, the former breeding areas
shown on the map may be regarded as a potential
range map for the reintroduction of this bird to
Arabia should any of the captive breeding
exercises be successful. Any rei ntroducti on , of
course, will have to go hand-in-hand with a
commitment from desert users to keep their finger
off the trigger and their hand firmly holding the
jesses.

FUTURE BREEDERS AND EXOTICS IN KUWAIT
Moustached Warbler

Until about 19B0 records indicated that the
Moustached Warbler was essentially an uncommon
passage migrant in Kuwait, but since October 1981
it has become increasingly more common. This
species has been a regular winter visitor to the
Jahra Pool (NB 35) for the past seven years and
during the last three winters it has been present
from early November until at least mid-April. On
several occasions, during single visits to readily

Fig 3 Houbara.
Breeding records
prior to 1954 show a
much wider distrib-
ution in N. Arabia
than at present.

Prior to 1954

• Confirmed breeding

• Other records
After 1954

■ Confirmed breeding

0 Probable breeding

□ Other records

4

accessible fringes of the reed beds, up to 12
individuals have been sighted and I estimate that
there would have been 40-50 birds present in all.
On numerous occasions singing males have shown
aggressive territorial behaviour, particularly in
February, but it has not been possible to allocate
a breeding code of higher than 04. Never the
less, it seems highly likely that breeding has
taken place.

The Moustached Warbler's change of status in
Kuwait over the past decade illustrates the point
that habitat changes brought about by agriculture
or industry may well be exploited by migrants to,
or through, the region. The Jahra Pool area has
changed greatly since 1978, when the site
comprised a very shallow pool of relatively clean,
drainage water. At that time the open expanse of
water extended to nearly two acres and was
virtually devoid of vegetation. Today the pool
area is completely choked with reeds Phraqmi tes sp
and an increased volume of effluent has permitted
them to flourish, so that they now occupy an area
several times greater than the original site.

The Moustached Warbler breeds in several areas in
the immediate region; viz. to the east, just
across the head of the Gulf in Iran, immediately
to the north, in the marshes of Iraq, and to the
south in the reed beds close to Hofuf in the
Eastern Province of Arabia.

Spanish Sp arrow

A note in Phoenix 3 commented on how close the
Spanish Sparrow came to breeding in Kuwait, when a
colony of more than 100 birds was present near
Ahmadi (0A35) throughout February, 1955. Many of
them engaged in breeding activities, including
copulation and construction of completed nests,
but the colony suddenly deserted the site and left
the area before any eggs were laid.

The Spanish Sparrow was described in Phoenix as
wintering erratically in Kuwait, but since I began
keeping detailed records 10 years ago, this
species has occurred here in every winter and it
is now more accurate to describe it as a regular
winter visitor. Generally the first arrivals are
in November and departures in late March, with the
highest numbers being present in January and
February. In several years I have witnessed
breeding behaviour to the extent of occasional
nest building activities only, but the following
observations may be of interest.

In March and April 1986, two male Spanish Sparrows
were present at Umm al Aish oil camp (0A33) , where
there is a resident population of about 100 House
Sparrows, many of which nest in Prosopis , Tamarix
and Eucalyptus trees. The two Spanish Sparrows
seemed to be associated with a colony of House
Sparrows nesting in tall trees in front of the
camp offices, but neither I nor my companions
noted any obvious breeding behaviour on their
part. The following year, on 1 May 1987, whilst
mist netting in the garden in front of these same
offices, we trapped a male that was clearly a
hybrid Spanish x House Sparrow. We noted after
its release that this male was paired with a House
Sparrow and they both entered the same nest on
several occasions. Whether the hybrid was the
result of a local mating between a Spanish and a
House Sparrow could not be determined, of course,
but this seems to have been highly probable.

Red-vented Bulbul

I first caught sight of a Red-vented Bulbul in the
grounds of Ahmadi Hospital in the spring of 1981.
The following year I saw two birds together in a
private garden in Ahmadi but could not determine
if they were breeding. In subsequent years
non-birding ' aquaintances living in the town
mentioned from time to time that they had seen
Red-vented Bulbuls in their gardens, and it seemed
certain that the species had established itself.

The first confirmed breeding came from a private
agricultural garden/plot in Messilah, some 30 km
north of Ahmadi. Unfortunately, this garden is
inaccessible, being fenced off from the road by a

two-metre high, chain-link fence, through which we
are able to do our watching! Inside the fence is
a Tamarix wind-break and at the north end of the
garden, which is about 200 metres long, there are
groups of tall Prosopis and Tamarix. At the end
of January 1986 I noted that a pair of bulbuls
appeared to have a nest site in a group of Tamarix
and by 20 February they were feeding young. In
the following year three pairs of birds were
established in or within 300 metres of this same
garden and young were being fed through early
March. I also received a report that Red-vented
Bulbuls were breeding at that time in a large
private garden about 3 km to the south-west of the
Messilah site.

These bulbuls have not been in evidence at the
Messilah site this year. I assume that they have
moved away because of disturbance from the huge
construction project on closely adjacent land.

Prof .C.W.T. Pilcher

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SITES OF INTERE S T

Those who have tackled atlas work know just how
fulfilling a pursuit it can be. The common birds
can be ticked off in each new square visited, the
absence of expected birds becomes intriguinq and a
challenge and the presence of unexpected birds is
always exciting. On subsequent visits to a square
which one is already familiar with, one can try to
upgrade the previous BEC's obtained. Because of
this all sites can be of interest to the atlasser.
These following site notes seek to detail the
variety and diversity of bird habitats throughout
Arabia and the representati ve birds to be found in
each. It is not meant to be a 'where to watch
birds in Arabia' or a directory to the most
prolific bird sites, although inevitably, some
sites are exceptionally good.

Observers are asked to submit reports of other
interesting sites or those that they have studied
reasonably well, drawing special attention to the
breeding and resident species occurring. A site
may be as small as a sewage pond or other
microsite, an urban area or as big as a mountain
range.

D as and Sarneyn I slands, U.A . E .

Das Island is approximately 175km NW of Abu Dhabi
city. The island is 2km long by 1km wide, and its
position in the Arabian Gulf is 25°09N, 52°52'E
(SB27) . Oil from the Umm Shaif and Zakum Fields
is piped to Das Island where it undergoes a
process to separate the gases from the crude oil.
The oil is stored in tanks until sea-going tankers
collect and transport it around the world. The
gas is separated into methane, ethane, propane,
butane and pentane, cooled and then stored as
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) . Sea-going gas
carriers then transport it, mainly to Japan.

Many migratory birds visit Das Island despite the
vast amount of industrial plant and a large
population of workers. Some bird species are
common in both spring and autumn, such as Kentish
Plover, Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos , Swift
Tern, Turtle Dove, Swallow, Red— throated Pipit
Anthus cervinus, Yellow Wagtail HotaciUa flava,
Whitethroat Sylvia communis and Redstart
Phoenicurus phoenicurus. Rarer species are also
seen, such as Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus.
Spotted Eagle Aquila clanqa. Pallid Harrier Circus
macrourus , Avocet Recurvirostra avocetta . Dotterel
Char adr i us morinellus, Arctic Skua Stercor ar ius
parasiticus , Pallid Swift, Indian Roller. Grey
Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus, Icterine Warbler
Hippolais icter ina , Orphean Warbler Sylvia
hor tens i s and House Bunting. Only one species
actually nests on the Island itself, this being
the Feral Pigeon, of which there are hundreds.

About 1km offshore there are three oil tanker
loading berths; one is a single buoy mooring, and
the others fixed to the sea bed. One of these is
no longer in use and has been taken over by

5

White-cheeked Terns as a nesting site. On 1 May
1987 I visited the berth in order to try and count
breeding pairs. As soon as the boat pulled
alongside the gangway a multitude of terns arose,
wheeling and screeching above my head. Some even
dive-bombed so a safety helmet was an essential
piece of eguipment. Once onto the main deck I
spotted eggs, nests and chicks everywhere.
Covering the whole deck area as guicklv as
possible I counted 84 nests. Some birds had made
an attempt at building an untidy little structure
using a small amount of old bleached fish bones
but many had merely laid eggs on the painted metal
surface. The eggs were in various stages, some
newly-laid, some hatching while I watched. In
places they were so close together that it was
impossible to distinguish how many eggs there were
per pair of adults. I suspect some terns were
hatching eggs belonging to others. Quite a few
chicks had hatched; some were a couple of days
old, others a couple of weeks old and these
scurried under gratings and pipes when approached.
Many chicks were dead, which is understandable
when it is realised they are in the open on a hot
metal surface in a midday shade temperature of up
to 45°C.

the nest sites for the safety of rocks. Both
species had left the island by the end of
September.

Approximately 100 Sooty Bulls winter on the
island, this number doubling during the breeding
season. They nest away from the other birds,
usually in the shade of a boulder which offers
some protection. It seems the breeding cycle is
linked to that of the terns because Sooty Gull
chicks are fed almost exclusively on terns' eggs
and chicks. The average clutch is three, laid
over an eight day period and the chicks are on the
wing within six weeks.

Many thanks to Len Reaney and Rob Western for also
supplying information used in this article.

David C. Heath, L.R.P.S.

Tailpiece

The author reports that the White-cheeked Terns
nested again on the loading berths at Das Island
in 1988 but approximately 10 weeks later. He
suggests the long, cold, wet winter may be the
reason. Ed.

The White-cheeked Terns also nest on the
'dolphins'; these are steel piles sunk into the
sea bed with a capstan on top used for securing
the mooring ropes of oil tankers. These birds
also nest on the LNG loading jetty but
unfortunately this area is out of bounds to
myself. However, I estimate approximately 200
pairs of White-cheeked Terns bred on the offshore
structures around Das Island in 1987.

During the winter of 1985/86 a pair of Deprave
attempted to breed on No. 2 berth, which is in use.
An untidy nest consisting of sticks, polythene
bags, old oily gloves, pieces of wood, wire, sea
weed, an eight-inch length of hacksaw blade, and
grass was constructed on top of the lifeboat
davit, but no eggs were laid. This berth is in
constant use by tankers loading so perhaps the
noise and disturbance by day and night deterred
the birds; also an Osprey's nest in full view
would stand a good chance of being raided by a
crew member - not everyone is conservation-minded.
The Ospreys did not attempt to breed at this site
in the winter of 1986/87.

Qarneyn Island is about half the size of Das and
is situated 27km south of that island at position
24°56 ' N , 52°51'E (SB26) I personally have never
been there; in fact there is only a radio station
there which is presently unmanned. Ian Foxall was
one of the last people to be stationed on Qarneyn
and left in 1984. I write this using his records.

One pair of Ospreys bred regularly in a nest just
20 feet from the sea at one end of the rough
aircraft landing strip. Eggs were laid in
December. In the 1982/83 season two eggs were
laid; one was apparently infertile, but the other
hatched successfully and the chick fledged on 4
April. During the 1983/84 seaon three eggs were
laid, all hatched and all chicks fledged, the last
leaving the nest by 23 March.

Red-billed Tropicbirds are also winter breeders
and about 200 pairs nest on Qarneyn. Natural
holes and crevices in the hilly north end of the
island are used as nest sites in which only one
egg is laid, usually in early December. The
chicks hatch in February and leave the island
before the terns arrive in April. Four species of
tern breed on Quarneyn; Swift, Lesser — crested.
Bridled and White-cheeked. Bridled Terns arrive
in early May and guickly pair up before dispersing
over most of the island. The nests are just a
hollow scrape under a stone or bush and contain
one egg; two in a nest is guite rare. In May 1984
Ian found 30-40 colonies of White-cheeked Terns,
each colony consisting of 50-200 pairs, with nests
only 2 feet apart and an average clutch of two.
Swift and Lesser — crested terns also breed on
Qarneyn, the latter being more numerous. The two
main colonies contained many thousands of birds
but the species kept themselves separated within
the colonies. Lesser — crested Tern chicks formed
large creches within a week of hatching and left

The Liwa Oases, U.A.E.

Following a report from the ABBA Co-ordinator that
little breeding information was available for
several squares in the remote south-east corner of
the U.A.E. I decided to visit the Liwa Oasis
(TA22/23, TB23 and UA23) on the northern edge of
the Rub al Khali (The Empty Quarter) and record
all that I found over the weekend 24/25th March
1988. In addition to collecting breeding data,
the trip was rewarding in terms of migrant
sightings and it confirmed that many small
passerines must fly over the Empty Quarter, while
most commercial airlines feel safer to fly around
it!

The Liwa is reached by travelling south for 100 km
from Tarif on the Arabian Sulf coast, on a good
quality metalled road. Half-way to Liwa one
passes through Medinat Zayed (TB24) , a quickly
developing new town situated amongst the small
active red sand dunes, before their transition to
the high pale dunes of the interior. I spent an
hour in the vicinity of the town, finding only
Palm Dove and Great Brey Shrike in the landscaped
grounds of the Ruler's guest house. I found no
House Sparrows.

As one approaches Liwa the sand hills rise up to
over 100 meters, all showing naturally farmed slip
faces on the southern side, a result of the
prevailing north to north-westerly wind. The
oases which run in an east-west arc lie in a chain
of depressions linked by a remarkably modern road,
a dual -carri ageway which runs for 120 km.
penetrating deep into the remoteness of the
region. Drifting sands and high dunes rise on
both sides, so venturing off this motorway without
a properly equipped vehicle can prove extremely
hazardous. There are 12 permanent villages in the
Liwa, situated in the fertile depressions in the
northern lee of the dunes. In addition there are
28 settlements, occupied only at date harvest and
pollination time. I found very few people away
from the village of Liwa (at the main road
T-junction, from where the road heads 60 km east
or west). The settlements are no more than simple
cultivations, most no bigger than 50 hectares,
planted predominantly with date palm. There are
some fruit trees, and a mixture of other
introduced species, but most importantly fresh
water is available, and many cultivations are
watered by a series of channels
diesel pump adjacent to a well,
cultivation at Bilaq, 40
T-junction, adjacent to a well
Wryneck Jynx torquilla , Tree Pipit Anthus
trivialis , Yellow Wagtail Motaci 1 la flava (of
three different races!). White Wagtail Motacilla
alba, Redstart Phoen icurus phoen icurus , Pied
Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka , a Semi -col 1 ared
Flycatcher Ficedula semitorquata and five Pale
Rock Sparrow! In the nearby trees there was a
selection of warblers, namely Olivaceous,

supplied from a
At one 30 hectare
km west of the
I found Hoopoe,

6

Menetries Sylvia mystacea , Blackcap S . atr icap i 1 1 a ,
Desert Lesser Whitethroat S.minula and Willow
Warblers Phylloscopus trochi Jus . All at their
first staging post since crossing the Rub al Khali
from the south. Palm Dove were present in all
settlements, but only two House Sparrows were
found, near the Li wa T-junction (TB23) . The

second most common species was Indian Si 1 verbi 1 1 ,
a surprise, and an indication of its nomadic
character to have colonised such a remote place.
It occurred in small parties, up to 15 birds, in
all the cultivations. Brown-necked Raven was
present even in the remotest of sand dune areas
between cultivations. Probably resident, one

Great Grey Shrike was seen at Narnia cultivation
(UA23) , 40 km from Liwa village, at a time when
its mate was probably at the nest. (This

reinforces my understand! ng of this species, which
has been recorded in every habitat in the U.A.E.
and appears to be even more widespread than
Brown-necked Raven ! )

Swallow was seen everywhere though in small
numbers. Only one each of Sand Martin Riparia
riparia and House Martin De 1 ichon urbica were
found, though two of the rarer Red-rumped Swallow
were flying above a garden in square TB23, near
the junction.

Colin Richardson.

The Masafi area, U.A.E.

There has been no organised ornithological study
of the northern section of the Hajar range in the
northern United Arab Emirates since the early
springs of 1970 and 1971 when Michael Gallagher
led expeditions to observe, record and collect
specimens of the region's natural history.
EXERCISE TAYUR WATCH from 31 Jan-10 Feb 1970 and
EX LAPWING from 20-31 March 1971, sponsored by
Headquarters Land Forces Gulf were centred on the
village of Masafi (WA27) , an area which has
greatly changed in the last 17 years. I retraced
very briefly the footsteps of the members of these
expeditions and recorded all birds found in a 24
hour period 3-4 March I960.

Masafi lies in a pass at about 400 metres, in the
centre of the Hajar mountain range which form a
barrier between the western facing desert plains
of the Arabian Gulf and the fertile coastal belt
of the eastern U.A.E. which faces the Gulf of Oman
(see Fig 4). The area covered during this study
encompasses the heads of Wadi Ham and Wadi Siji
(which continues as Wadi Nakh north of Masafi).
The surrounding mountains are dark, bare and
rugged, mostly igneous rock, although there are
outcrops of hills consisting of a pale cretaceous
shale, which support the greater number of
species. The little vegetation is mostly
goat-grazed acacia but during my visit there was
evidence of considerable new growth following
heavy rains in mi d-February .

The dark ophiolitic barren peaks bounding the
course of Wadi Siji from Siji village yielded few
birds. However the calls (yelps) of Desert Lark
were heard continuously and small groups were
observed in most locations on the broken stony
hillsides and adjacent gravel plains. Palm Doves
were common throughout and appeared to be nesting.
Black-capped Bulbuls were seen amongst the few
trees in the deep wadi and on the upper level of
gravel plains dotted with stunted thorn. Up to
seven birds were observed together and much
chasing from tree to tree was taking place.
Purple Sunbird were here too, the male now in
glossy breeding plumage. A pair of Sand Partridge
were disturbed on the lower hill slopes.

A range of smaller scale (up to 800 metres)
cretaceous hills stretch west of Masafi towards
Tayibah, and are generally of more interest to the
naturalist than the surrounding dark peaks. Here,
shrubs, acacia and — after the recent rains —
9 rasses an d light vegetation are more abundant.
As a result, birdlife is more diversified and
twenty species were recorded in this area. While
climbing a low hill I watched two Brown— necked

Raven flying over in a northerly direction, and a
number of Pale Crag Martin, 8 in all, sailed over
the valley. The previous evening at dusk I had
seen a number of Pallid Swifts feeding, their
nesting colony probably nearby. Along a narrow,
winding and uninhabited V-shaped wadi on the east
side of the valley I found the ubiquitous Desert
Lark, some in pairs, and a number of interesting
non-residents. Two Red-tailed Wheatears Oenanthe
xanthoprymna were still present and one male Black
Redstart Phoenicurus ochr ur os was perched on a
thorn tree on the nearby slopes. Both are winter
visitors and likely to be gone by the end of
March. Two fine male Rock Thrush Monticola
saxat i 1 is sat on a ledge about 10 metres above my
head. Movement in a small acacia alerted me to a
Plain Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus neq lectus , a
scarce winter visitor, and often overlooked due to
its similarity to the more common wintering
Chiffchaff. Apart from its 'plain' grey plumage
its calls include a distinctive harsh "chick".

Above me a single bird, which by its undulating
flight and outline I took to be a pipit, landed
high up on the mountain-side. Its back was
light-brown and its underside was even paler with
no distinguishing markings. It was too far off to
see clearly but it resembled a Tawny Pipit. I
could not gauge its size, nor see the size of its
bill, but I concluded it must be the elusive
Long-billed Pipit. As I approached to get a
better look, it flew off and was never seen again.

I found a whole different range of avifauna in the
cultivated lower valley of Wadi Nakh adjacent to
the old village of Masaf i , Graceful Warblers were
calling everywhere and a pair of Indian Rollers
displayed above the palm groves. It was
surprising to find Grey Francolin roaming freely
in one densely overgrown garden. This species is
unusual so deep in the mountains and may have been
introduced. Similarly 'introduced' a Ring-necked
Parakeet flew noisily over a few minutes later. A
Little Green Bee-eater was hunting from telegraph
wires in the village.

About 5 miles north of Masafi on the road to Dibba
the road crosses Tayibah gravel plain, situated at
the head of Wadis Tayibah and Asimah. Pied
Wheatear were perched prominently on many acacia
trees - I counted 14 males and 1 female in 4

7

hours, indicating major passage taking place.
Five European Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe were also
present. Those trees which did not host a
wheatear were bristling with House Bunting. Over
twenty were counted, but probably three times that
number were present on the plain that day. The
plain was divided partially by Wadi Asimah at one
side and here I -found another pair of Sand
Partridge, a Red-tailed Wheatear and a male Blue
Rock Thrush Monti col a sol i tar ius . A female Rock
Thrush was perched amongst the foliage of a small
tree, and a party of five very vocal Arabian
Babbler played f ol low-my-leader with no apparent
sign of pairing. Another Plain Leaf Warbler was
seen and amongst the surface layer of broken
stones two Tawny Pipit Anthus campestr is were
feeding.

Stangely coy, normally widespread resident species
Hume's Wheatear, Scrub Warbler, Great Grey Shrike
and localised breeder Indian Silverbill were not
recorded. Shy, localised and unobtrusive,
sandgrouse were not chanced upon, nor were owls
and 1 arger birds of prey. Colin Richardson.

Tha Harrat al Harrah Reserve, Nor the rn Saudi
Arabia

The Harrat al Harrah reserve, in the extreme north
of Saudi Arabia (mainly squares EA39, EB39, EB38,
FA38 & FA37) is a bleak and inhospitable region of
ancient lava flows and low basalt jebels. It
covers some 17,000 sq km and is managed by the
National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and
Development which employs a permanent guard force
to protect it. Although completely treeless, like
the rest of northern Arabia, it is unique for its
rich coverage of small shrubs, grasses and herbs,
which are the di rect resul t of a pol i cy to exclude
bedouin and their flocks, over the last two years.
This exclusion of stock and the good vegetational
cover have created optimum conditions for many
species of ground dwelling birds. In turn, the
abundant population of small birds and rodents
makes available ample prey for several predatory
species. The Harrat al Harrah reserve region was
one of the last places where the Ostrich occurred
in Saudi Arabia - it has been extint since about
1930. It is one of the very few places that the
Houbara breeds in the Kingdom. Altogether there
are some 24 species of birds currently breeding in
the reserve and a further 10 species which may be
categorised as probable or possible breeding
birds. The avifauna of the reserve is by far the
richest of any comparable zone in northern Arabia.

In addition to the diversity of bird species, the
abundance of individual species is very much
greater in the reserve than anywhere in the
surrounding regions. The most prominent family
represented in the reserve are the larks, of which
no less than nine species are likely to breed.
This is probably the highest number of breeding
lark species for any similar sized region anywhere
in the Arabian Peninsula. The breeding larks
include the Thick-billed Lark, found breeding in
March 1988 (see page 1), and the Bimaculated Lark,
which was commonly in pairs and singing and almost
certainly bred in March 1988 in some numbers. The
Lesser Short-toed Lark is a locally common
breeder. Other common breeding larks are Dunn's,
Bar — tailed and Temminck's Horned. The Houbara
finds optimum feeding and breeding conditions in
the reserve and has bred there in the last several
years, probably the only place it regularly does
so in Saudi Arabia. Populations of this species
are nevertheless, very small, with a total of
perhaps only one or two dozen breeding females.
However, provided its protection from hunting is
continued and the exclusion of stock is rigorously
enforced, these population levels should gradually
build up and there seems no reason why it should
not become common within the reserve in years to
come. Predatory birds include the Golden Eagle
which was proved to breed in March 1988,
Long-legged Buzzard, Kestrel, probably Barbary
Falcon, Eagle Owl, Little Owl, and Hume's Owl.
Cream-coloured Coursers are particularly common on
the rocky plains and a few Sand Partidge can be
heard - more rarely seen - on the jebels.
White-crowned Black Wheatear are relatively common

but Rock Dove, Brown-necked Raven and Trumpeter
Finch which might be expected to be common are
generally scarce. The House Sparrow occurs on the
only two buildings in the reserve — the
Portacabins of reserve Headquarters and guards '
accommodation.

The category of possible and probable breeding
birds for the reserve include the Chukar
Partridge, Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti
(which, although not known as a breeding bird
anywhere in Arabia, has been seen in pairs and
singing in Spring), Pale Rock Sparrow and the
scarce and local Desert Finch.

The treelessness of the reserve accounts for the
complete absence of some typical Arabian species
and rarity of others, for example Great Grey
Shrike and Scrub Warbler are only present in very
small numbers and those species usually associated
with acacias are absent altogether, e.g. Babbler,
B1 ackstart and Yellow-vented Bulbul.

In winter the reserve has been shown to be an
i mportant wintering area in Arabia for the Houbara
and has al so been recently identified as a
wintering zone for the Dotterel Char adr ius
nor inel 1 us , only the second known site for the
wintering of this species in Arabi a. In addition ,
the good vegetati onal cover has , during recent
winters, attracted many hundreds of B1 ack-bel lied
Pterocles or iental is and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse,
the f ormer speci es being previously almost unknown
in Arabia.

If the policy to exclude stock animals and the ban
on hunting continues, and disturbance by outsiders
is kept to a minimum (for example, a particular
problem is posed by bedouin truffle gatherers) ,
then it is certai n that the avifauna of the
reserve will continue to improve and enlarge. If,
however, these policies are relaxed, even for a
few months, the vegetation will rapidly be
degraded by livestock and the reserve will quickly
revert to holding only the impoverished avifauna
which is found elsewhere in northern Arabia.

M.C. J.

F a rasa n Islands, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia

The Farasan Islands lie some 80 km off the Saudi
Arabian mainland opposite Gizan, between 16°29 '
and 17°10'N and 41°30' and 42°30'E (mainly squares
HB10 and IA10) . The archipelago is comprised of
dozens of named islands and i numerable islets and
sandbars. There are only two of any large size
and these are Farasan Kebir and Segid, both of
which have settled villages. All the islands are
low-lying with a substrate of fossil coral. The
two large islands have a very broken terrain of
small hills, gullies and craggy coastal cliffs,
although there are also subkha tidal flats and
mangrove thickets on the coast. In many places
there is dense scrub with acacia and euphorbia
thickets. Agriculture activities and date
cultivation are minimal, the main traditional
occupation being fishing.

I was able to visit the Islands for just two days
in March 1985. During those two days I added
several land bird species to the known list of
birds resident or breeding on the islands. My
observations, plus a few records gleaned from
diverse published sources and some unpublished
reports (including from ABBA files), have now been
published (Jennings, 1988, Fauna of Saudi Arabia
9: 457-467). The breeding birds list at that time
had 19 seabirds and shore birds and 11 land birds,
including seven passerines. The seabirds and
shore birds include Brown Booby, Red-billed
Tropicbird, Sooty and White-eyed Gull and seven
terns.

One of the most interesting observations of my own
trip in 1985 was the discovery of about 20 pairs
of Pink-backed Pelican nesting in Rhizophora
mangrove on the coast. The commonest bird of
prey on the Farasan Islands is the Egyptian
Vulture and there were probably in the region of

8

65 pairs present there in March 1985, a
concentration which -far exceeds population levels
of this species in comparable areas on the nearby
mainland. Also very common, and also an important
scavenger, was the Brown-necked Raven. There
appears to have been nothing known o-f passerines
on the Islands until my visit. Others found were
Black-crowned Finch Lark, Hoopoe Lark, Crested
Lark, Black-capped Bulbul, Black Bush Chat and
Graceful Warbler. The latter two species were
especially numerous. The Graceful Warbler was
interesting on account of its harsher call and
much heavier bill, possibly a new race?

Peter Symens was able to visit these Islands in
April and June 1988 and added several more species
to the breeding and resident list. These include
Black Kite which must be very scarce as I only saw
one in March 1985 (whereas they were common on the
nearby mainland at that time). Little Owl,
White-browed Coucal and Namaqua Dove, all of which
I missed but had expected. Peter also had a few
House Sparrow, which I had specifically searched
for but had not found. He also saw a
Black-shouldered Kite, which is very rare anywhere
in Arabia, and proved breeding of Purple Heron.
This makes four breeding herons on the Islands,
the others being the Reef Heron, Goliath Heron and
the Green-backed Heron.

M.C. J.

RECENT REPORTS

Some records received for the Atlas stick out as
being especially interesting on account of the
species, location, habitat, period of breeding or
the number of birds involved. The following are a
selection of some of the more interesting,
unexpected or unusual records received within the
the last 12 months (some relate to earlier years).
Records of unusual birds often get reported by
more than one observer and although care is taken
to credit records as appropriately as possible, it
is regretted if the original finder of a rare bird
is not identified here. Special thanks are due to
David Foster and contributors to the Oman Central
Record for the many records from Oman received
over the last two years, some of which are
featured here.

Lappet-faced Vulture Adults attending nests on
southern edge of Nafud (FB30, FB31 & GA31) March
1988 (M.C.J.). Northernmost breeding records in
Arabia.

Egyptian Vulture Two nests 0A30, one with two
young April 1987 (M. Elwonger) . A rare breeding
record from the Eastern Province of KSA.

Coot Young seen on lagoon south of Riyadh June

1987 (D. James, A.J.Stagg). First Riyadh breeding
record .

Grey Francol in Seen in coastal region of central
□man (XB17) Sept 1986 (Oman Central Record).
Southernmost record.

Houba ra Two were seen to fly into each other and
were killed north of A1 Ajaiz (XA16) in central
□man July 1987 (T.Tear in Oman Bird News 3).
Bl ack-winged Stilt Chicks seen east coast of UAE
(WA27) April 1988 (J. A. Chapman , P.Hellyer &

C. Richardson) . First UAE breeding.

Pi n-tailed Sandqrouse Many flocks, made up of
pairs of birds, extreme northern Saudi Arabia
(FA41 ) March 1988 (M.C.J.).

Eur opean Collared Dove At Khamasin (KB17) June

1988 and Afif (IB24) July 1988 (M.C.J.). New
areas in KSA. NB The sight record of this species
from near Taif, KSA, mentioned in Phoenix 4, p.3,
has been withdrawn.

African Collared D ove Recorded Yanbu (EA25) May
1988 (B. Meadows). Furthest north record.

Recorded 11 km east of Tathlith, KSA (JB16) June
1988 (M.C.J.). Furthest east record in central

Arabia.

Turtle Do ve Cooing Layla (MB21) Shudayq (IA17)
and JA25 , central KSA June & July 1988 (M.C.J.).
New possible breeding areas. Also bred in UAE
(VB27) June 1988 (C. Ri chardson ) .

Palm Dove A pair in square IB31, 110 km S.E. of
Hail, KSA, more than 400 km from the nearest other
proven records at Tayma (M.C.J.).

Namaq ua Dove One near Quryat (YB23) June 1987
( Oman Bird News 3). First record from northern
□man .

Scops Owl O tus scops

Calling south of Riyadh (MB25) May 1988 (D. James).
A potential breeding species in Arabia.

Afric an Eagle Owl Very young bird seen square
YA24 , Jebel Akhdar , northern Oman (Oman Central
Record ) . A new area for this species.

Bar — tailed Desert L ark Nested Bahrai n , al though
young not reared, April 1987 (Bahrain Natural
History Society). No previous breeding record for
the island.

Black Bushc hat New areas for this bird are
southern Nafud ( IB30) March 1988 (M.C.J.) and
Kumdah (LA17) June 1988 (M.C.J. ).

Nightin gale Luscinia me ga r hynchos A male singing
for long periods each day 1-7 May 1988 near Dubai,
UAE (C. Ri chardson ) .

Black-hea ded Bush Shrike Two individuals seen at
1700m & 2060m at GB18 & HA17 respectively,
southern Hed jaz , July 1988 (M.C.J.). Furthest
north records and also at an unusually high
altitude.

Great Grey Sh rike Only a rare breeder on Bahrain.
This year at least two pairs bred succesfully and
one pair appears to have raised two broads
(T. Ni ghti ngal e) .

Common Mynah Bird visiting nest in barn on east
coast of UAE (WA27) April 1988 (J. A. D. Chapman &
P.Hellyer). Visiting nest site in Taif, KSA
(GA19) July 1988 (M.C.J. & P. Symens). Both new
breeding areas for this introduced species.

Arabian Waxbi ll Four in Wadi al Sail ah, southern
Hed jaz (HA17) at 1700m July 1988 (M.C.J.).
Northernmost record.

Trumpeter F inch Bred Bahrain May 1987 (Bahrain
Natural History Society). First breeding record
for the island.

PROGRESS SO FA R

Brown-necked Rave n

Probably the most widespread bird in Arabia, the
Brown-necked Raven, is found on some offshore
islands, at the top of the highest mountains and
in the remotest of deserts. Because of this wide
range, records collected for this species give a
good indication of the coverage so far achieved in
the project. The up-to-date position for this
species can be seen at Fig 5. A good number of
squares have been blanked in and others upgraded
since the similar map which appeared in Phoenix 4,
but there are still large parts of Arabia which
have not vet been touched by atlasers. If there
is no Brown-necked Raven record for a square then
the chances are there are very few other records
from the locality. Active atlasers should,
therefore, make special efforts to get to the
blank squares and report their findings.

Although widespread and common in places, the
habits and movements of the Brown-necked Raven are
still poorly understood in many respects. One
aspect of behaviour which has not vet been studied
is its inclination to congregate near settlements
in summer and early autumn, often in many
hundreds. Why do they do it? Is food easier to
come by at this time when conditions in the desert
must be at their harshest? Do the rigours of the
moult drive them to seek places of water and easy
living? Similarly, where do they come from? Are
they all making for the nearest town or is there a
general drift southwards, or northwards, or in any
other direction? One thing is sure that the
deserts of central Arabia are virtually empty of
Brown-necked Ravens in summer. For example, in
July 1988 in central Saudi Arabia only one single
pair were seen in the 500km of desert between
Zalim ( IA22) and Shagra (LA27) , except for one
congregation of 40 at Dawadimi (pers.obs.)

Egyptian Vult ure

A not-qui te-so-wi despread species in Arabia.
Compare distribution (Fig 6) to the records
collected during the same period for the
Brown-necked Raven (Fig 5). Note especially the
general absence of this vulture from northern

9

Fig 5 Brown— necked

Raven: records to
date.

$ Con-firmed breeding

• Probable breeding

• Other records

Arabia (the Kuwaiti records are probably
migrants), the Empty Quarter and the very
restricted range in eastern Saudi Arabia.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

NEW BOOKS

This column aims to review all those books that
are either relevant in some way to the ABBA
project or deal with an aspect o-f the Arabian
envi ronment . Most titles can be -found -for sale in
good bookshops in Arabia, Europe or North America
but in cases of difficulty write to the author,
pub 1 i sher or the di str i butor shown . If order i ng
through an agent or from a library quote the ISBN
number. Information is also sought from readers
on new titles not vet deal t with.

A Ne w List of the Birds of Masirah Isla nd.
Sultanate of O na n by T.D. Rogers (196 8)

Many Arabian ornithologists have never heard of
Masirah Isl and but it is a very significant
island, both in terms of size (it's as big as
Bahrain) and its ornithology. It lies off the
coast of the Sultanate of Oman. Small when
compared to the 1 and mass of Arabia (65 x 16
ki 1 ometers and only two Atlas squares) but it
f i gures 1 argel y in the annal s of Oman orni thology .
It is, perhaps, the most intensively watched
corner of south east Arabi a having an attracti on
for birds and bi rders like Fair Isle in northern
Britain. No less than- 260 species have been
recorded on this, almost tree-less, largely
barren, slightly rocky island. Most of the
species are migrants or visitors of one form or
another and only 18 species have bred. The
specialities of this island are sea birds and
waders, of which large numbers of a vast range
occur. On top of this, rarities from both Africa
and India provide highlights to the birding year.
The main part of the book, as one would expect,
are the species accounts of the birds which have
occurred. These notes are proceeded by a general
description of the island, its climate and
vegetation and habitats as well as an account of
the orni thol ogi cal year and hints on when and
where birds can be seen. The species accounts
themselves are provided with a status code and a
reference number (which equates to the ABBA
number) and a narrative on the records, occurrence

and status, i.e. dates, places and numbers of
birds seen . Individual species coverage varies
between a single line and about nine lines per
bird; the average is about three lines. Following
the species accounts are the de r iguer
accompaniments of any check list, that is the
'unacceptable list', a list of observers and those
species accepted too 1 ate to get in the main
manuscript! There are also a bibliography and
indexes. More detailed appendices deal with wader
accounts (up to 19,000 regularly are counted) as
well as rainfall and temperature. This book is
very good value and well recommended to those
interested in Arabian sea and shore birds, Oman
and those who merely collect check lists.

Card covers. 56 pages, 147 x 210 mm. £2 (1 Omani
Rival). Published by the Oman Bird Records
Committee. Distributed by the Historical
Association of Oman, P.O.Box 6941, Ruwi , Oman.

A Fi eld Guide to the Uaders of Britain and Europe
mi th North Africa and the Middle East by P. Co lston
& P. Burton (1988)

Waders are an attractive group of bi rds but some
species are amongst the most difficult to identify
of any birds. The observer in Arabia coul d come
across any of the 63 general 1 y accepted species
(plus another dozen unsubstantiated) on the
Arabian list and might well be confused. This
book is about all the breeding waders of Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East and includes
regular visitors to these regions, plus a few
rarities that have only occurred on a few
occasions and one that is believed extinct. A
total of 83 species are deal t with in detail, wi th
references to a further dozen or so. The authors
claim that their book fills a gap between the
various whole-world wader guides which are
necessarily rather skimpy in coverage of
individual species and tomes such as Birds of the
Uestern Palearctic which are far too cumbersome to
take into the field. In line with most other
books that claim to be about Mi ddl e East birds ,
this book does not include much of the Arabian
Peninsula. The only part of Arabia that is
covered is the bit north of a line between Kuwait
and the southern tip of Sinai, i.e. above about
27°N. This is a curious division as, by any
definition, biological, geographical, or
political, Arabia is part of the Middle East. One

10

suspects that a shadowy cartel of orni thol ogi cal
publishers have conspired to exclude central and
southern Arabia from the Middle East, because it
would make their thumb-nail maps of species
distribution an awkward shape! This book is much
more than a field guide. The species accounts are
very thorough and give detailed and authoritative
information, voice, habitat, distribution,
movements, feeding, social and breeding behaviour ,
as well as nest, eggs and young. The text is,
unfortunately, rather small and one gains the
impression that the book has been condensed to its
present size from a larger format as a production
economy. The names of each bird are given in
Dutch , German, Swedish, French and Spanish, as
well as the English and scientific name, and there
are indexes to these names. Each species account
is illustrated by a drawing but the main
illustrations are a set of 23 truly beautiful
colour plates by Phillip Burton. A twenty fourth
plate gives an illustrated key to the main
families and even this is to a standard not
usually reached by the main illustrations in other
good field guides. One especially attractive
plate is reserved for the downy chicks of 18
ap®ei»B. Unlike the text, the plates do not give
the impression that they have been cramped down
from something larger and are particularly
attractive with, on average, one or two large
paintings for each species, and two or three other
small sketches of birds in flight or in different
plumages, etc. The Ruff gets 17 paintings. There
are 52 distribution maps (6 per page) showing,
where appropriate, the breeding range and/or
winter range of each species. These are generally
very good but like other breeding distribution
maps of Eurasia are extremely detailed in Western
Europe but get vaguer and vaguer going eastwards,
so that central Russia tends to be either all
black (species occurs) or all white (species does
not occur). This attractive book is recommended
to all those who regularly watch shores and
wetlands in Arabia or merely enjoy a well
illustrated field guide.

Hardback. 224 pages, 132 x 200mm. £9.95.
Published by Hodder & Stoughton, 47 Bedford
Square, London WC1B 3DP. ISBN 0 340 39936 S.

The Birds of Ancient Egypt (Volume 1 o f The
N atural History of Egypt) by P.F. Houlihan an d
S. M. Goodman (1986)

The ancient Egyptians reached a peak of
representational bird art not surpassed for some
3000 years until the Renaissance in Europe. This
book is about the carvings, paintings and other
artefacts of birds which are abundantly scattered
through the tombs and other monuments of ancient
Egypt. Birds were very important to the ancient
Egyptians being a source of food and of religious
and symbolic status, they were placed in tombs as
victuals for the dead, and were hunted and kept in
aviaries by the nobility. The aim of this book is
to provide a systematic survey of all the bird
life depicted in the art of ancient Egypt and to
sketch the role of birds in the secular and
religious affairs, from the early dynastic period,
approx i matel y 3000 BC, to the days of the Roman
Empire about 395 AD. It also attempts to compare
the present distribution of species with those at
the time of the Pharaohs. As might be expected a
good many of the species covered are not found in
present day Egypt. The book is arranged with an
extensive reference list at the front (almost 600
titles) which comprises an extensive bibliography
of both ancient and modern Egyptian birds and, one
suspects, a great part of the study of Egyptology.
This is followed by accounts of all the bird
species specifically identified (139 pages)
amounting to some 72 species or groups (Bats are
dealt with as a tail piece). Each species
account, which is illustrated by one or more
photos of actual art work depicting the species,
is divided into notes on the criteria the authors
have used to identify each species, distribution,
including th® present day distribution of th®
species in the Middle East and Egypt and comments.
The comments paragraph deals with, for example,
the frequency with which species are illustrated.

art techniques used and the degree of correctness
in the illustration. There are two appendices,
the first of which lists some 54 species for which
bird remains have been found in tombs or have been
mummified. The second is a full check list of the
present day birds of Egypt, detailing
nomenclature , occurrence, status and distribution
and very often the Egyptian Arabic name and other
notes. In all some 408 species are dealt with.
There is an index of English and scientific names,
199 text figures (mostly black and white
photographs) and one colour plate.

Laminated card covers. 221 pages, 237 x 203mm.
£2B Distributed by La Haule Books Ltd., West
Lodge, La Haule, Jersey, Channel Islands, U.K.
Published by Aris and Phillips, Warminster,
England. ISBN 085668 - 283 - 7.

Bottleneck Areas for Migratory Birds in t h e

Nediterr anean Region by R.G.Bijlsma (1987 )

This book is an assessment of the problems of bird
migration in the Medi terranean areas with some
recommendations for action and is published as
ICBP Study Report No. 18. Twice every year some
5,000,000,000 birds move between Africa and Europe
and back. Most of these are passerine species
moving on a wide front, however, certain birds,
mainly soaring species such as storks and raptors,
concentrate their movement at well known sites
around the Medi terranean . These places of
concentration are as well known to hunters as they
are to ornithologists and unfortunately many birds
are shot and caught during their period of
exposure and vulnerabi 1 ity as they pass these
sites twice each year. The report documents 18
places in 14 countries around the Medi terranean ,
from Gibraltar in the west to Turkey and to
Hurgada on the Red Sea in the East. For each site
information is given on its importance, the
numbers and routes of birds migrating there,
changes in status of species over the years,
threats both present and future, and conservation
action. Each site account is backed up by an
extensive list of references. It seems that
Lebanon is the blackest spot for birds moving
through the Middle East, with Malta and Cyprus a
close second. The report contains 36 maps and
diagrams and 30 tables.

Card covers. 135 pages, 207 x 292mm. £4.
Available from ICBP, 32 Cambridge Road, Girton,
Cambridge, CB3 OP J , England.

Thr eatened Birds of Africa . and Related Islands by
n'. J. Collar & S.N. Stuart (1985)

And now the bad news Africa is a vast

continent with the highest population explosion in
any part of the world. This book focuses on the
173 species of birds in that continent which are
thought to be extinct, endangered, vulnerable, or
under some degree of threat. It is a call for
action in respect of some of the most poorly known
bird species in the world. The text primarily
concentrates on the birds; it is not about
conserving habitats and ecosystems as such but the
authors are at pains to point out that
establishing biotope reserves and preserving
original habitat for these, mainly African endemic
species, is the most effective key to their long
term survival. The book is the first part of the
third edition of the ICBP/1UCN Bird Bed Data Book
and offers a totally new format to such works
(other regional parts are in prepar at i on ) . The
introductory chapters set the African scene (a map
of the continent would have been very useful but
is lacking), and explains the methods of compiling
and publishing Red Data Book information, and the
categories of threat referred to. Of the species
that are dealt with in detail, there are accounts
under the headings of distribution, papulation,
ecology, threats, conservation measures taken,
conservation measures proposed, remarks, and
references. For many species, so little is known
that barely a page is filled, including
references. Coverage varies greatly, however, and
for the Northern Bald Ibis we find that there are
44 pages of information. This species is,
incidentally, the only bird dealt with in the book

11

which also breeds outside o-f the African
continent. The Arabian connection with this book
is that it covers the island o-f Socotra (PDRY)
situated o-f-f the Horn o-f A-frica. On Socotra there
are a number o-f very poorly known endemic species
which, because o-f the restricted size o-f the
island, are automatically a cause -for concern.
The Socotra birds dealt with are the Socotra
Cisticola, which is unaccountably uncommon, the
Socotra Cormorant, endemic to the shares o-f
southern Arabia and the Arabian Gul-f, Socotra
Warbler, Socotra Sunbird, Socotra Bunting, Socotra
Grackle (Starling) and Forbes-Watson ' s Swift. The
latter is one of the candidates fcr the, as yet
unidentified, swift breeding on coastal cliffs of
southern Arabia. Illustrations within the book
are limited to 12 exquisite, full colour ,
portraits by Norman Arlott of some of the rarest
birds in the world. Some of these plates
illustrate species that have never been
illustrated before in colour and others that have
not been seen for decades. There is endless scope
in this book for those planninq serious
expeditions to the continent in search of species
whose status is very poorly known. This book is
recommended to all those seriously interested in
African birds or to the visiting ornithologist who
intends to venture into remote areas.

Hardback. 796 pages, 164 x 238mm. £24.00 (post
free). Published by the Internati onal Council for
Bird Preservati on , 32 Cambridge Road, Girton,
Cambridge, CB3 OP J , England. ISBN 2 88032 604 4.

Th e S kuas b y R.W . Furness (1987)

"The first Pomarines arrived on the 24 July 1987
and built up to more than 60 by the 26 August.
The first Arctics appeared on the 30 June ....".
This is not an extract from the log of some
draughty Hebridean observatory but North Beach,
Masirah Island, Oman (J. Bryan, Oman Bird News 3,
1988). These two skuas are regular around the
shores of Arabia and occur erratically inland at
all seasons. The Long-tailed Skua has been
recorded on several occasions in the Red and
Arabian Seas whilst the South Polar Skua visits
the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea in the summer,
the Antarctic winter. Surprising as it may be to
some, a book on the skuas is very relevant to the
bookshelf of Arabian ornithologists.

Skuas are fascinating birds to watch as they
agilely chase and harry any gull or tern which
they think may be carrying food. The author has
been fascinated by them for many years and this
thoroughgoing, authoritative, and attractive work
is the result of his labours. His long chapter on
the migration and movement of the six species that
he recognises explains the rather peculiar
occurrences of representati ves of this group in
the Arabian area. Three of the northern Skuas,
the Long-tailed, the Pomarine, and the Arctic,
have a circumpolar breeding distribution whilst
they all winter in the southern oceans. Many of
them, it transpires, must cross the central
Eurasian landmass en route to winter quarters in
the Indian Ocean or the South Atlantic. On the
other hand, the South Polar Skua, a close relative
(some say a race) of the northern Great Skua,
visits the Arabian Sea during the southern winter.
Indeed, in other parts of its range, it goes right
to the north of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
and claims the world record for the longest
migration of any species. The book tells us of a
bird ringed in the Antarctic which was recovered
by an eskimo in the Arctic. Other major chapters
in the book deal with breeding distribution and
populations, behaviour, food and feeding and
pollution and conservation, whilst subjects
particularly relevant to skuas, such as reversed
sexual dimorphism, kl eptoparasi t i sm , and plumage
polymorphism, are dealt with in particular detail.
This book is embellished by 30 black and white
photographs, 35 vignettes (by John Busby), 100
text diagrams (including maps, graphs and
histograms) and 65 tables of data. It is
supported by a very thorough list of references
(over 400) and a good index. An excellent
monograph from the renowned Poyser stable.

Hardback. 363 pages, 164 x 240mm. £18.00.
Published by T.& A. D. Poyser, Townhead House,
Calton, Waterhouses, Staf f ordshire, U.K. ISBN 0
85661 046 1.

Population Ecology of Ra ptors by I. Newton (19 79)

This book immediately became a classic among books
on raptors, and its many accolades have included
British Birds "Book of the Year" 1980. It is
concerned with all aspects of population
regulation in diurnal birds of prey, their social
behaviour, breeding, movements, mortality, threats
and conservati on . Very well written, its style
being authoritative and lucid. The text is full
of maps, graphs and diagrams (50 text figures)
which are easily interpreted and some of which are
classics in their own right. For example, the
figure showing the eggshell thinning of
Sparrowhawk eggs from 1870 to 1975 and identifying
the abrupt drop in thickness in 1947 when DDT was
widely introduced. Another map which shows
correlations between Buzzard numbers and density
of gamekeepers in 1954 tells a whole story of its
own. The main text is supported by 68 tables in
an appendix, a very thorough 16 page index and a
most comprehensi ve bibliography of 750 references.
The author has, in fact, produced a synopsis of
all the good work published worldwide on raptors
in this one cover. Information is largely drawn
from British material but there is much relevant
to raptors in North America and Africa as well as
in many other parts of the world. Illustrated
with lovely line drawings by Jim Gammie which are
scattered, uncaptioned, throughout the book. In
addition there are 32 black and white plates (up
to 4 photos per plate). This book is essential
for anyone seriously interested in raptors.

Hardback. 399 pages, 162 x 240mm. £16.00
Published by T.& A. D. Poyser, Townhead House,
Calton, Waterhouses, Staf f ordshire, ST10 3JQ, U.K.
ISBN 0.85661.023.2

Biological diversity in North Africa , the Middl e
East and South Uest Asia s A Directory of
organisations and institutio ns by K. Montague an d
B . B ruun (1987)

A catalogue, by country, of all the environmental ,
conservation, biological, and natural science
institutes, organisations and societies to be
found in the Middle East - or, to be precise,
those that could be found by the authors. The
book has the objective of publishing details of
these bodies to facilitate the exchange of
information between them and for individuals and
organi sati ons outside of the Middle East to make
direct contact with research bodies and societies
that may help them. The authors contacted some
500 organi sations in the area of coverage and
although the response rate was nowhere near
complete, the authors do promise that future
editions of the directory will be more
comprehensi ve and authoritative. The countries
covered are those from Morrocco to Pakistan,
including Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, all north African
states bordering the Mediterranean and the whole
of Arabia. Data scheduled for each country
includes basic information on location, area,
language (s) and population, as well as the
international conventions which it has signed,
details of national parks and reserves, government
and non-government conservation and environmental
organisations and academic institutions
specifically engaged in envi ronmental /biol ogi cal
research. One gap apparent in this very valuable
resource is that no organi sati ons which have a
general interest for the whole of the Middle East
are listed. For example, the Ornithological
Society of the Middle East is nowhere to be found
and, worst of all, the Atlas of the Breeding Birds
of Arabia is not mentioned either. Also absent
are those international organisations which have
on-going environmental projects in the Middle East
such as IUCN, ICBP and the World Wildlife Fund.
The directory is published by the Holy Land
Conservation Fund with the assistance of the US
Agency for Internati onal Development and the US
Fish and Wildlife Service.

Card covers. 134 pages, 215 x 278mm. *10

12

(including postage). Available -from HLCF, c/o 969
Park Avenue, New York, NY10028, U.S.A.

Encyclopedia of Indian Natural H istor y edited by
R. E. Hawkins (1986)

For those who already have the compact edition of
the Hand book of the Birds of India and Pakistan
here is another nice big book to put alongside it!
This magnificent undertaking marks the centenary
(1883-1983) of the Bombay Natural History Society,
Asia's oldest and premier natural history society.
It has been specially published by Oxford
University Press. It is a book which the Society
can be justly proud of, being the product of the
work of some 100 or so different authors who have
prepared in all approximately 550 articles. Each
article illustrates one aspect of the hugely
diverse and rich natural history, wildlife and
biology of the Indian sub-continent. The
Society's area of interest represented by this
book is India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal
and Sri Lanka. Articles are of course all
arranged alphabetically but there is a very
helpful and useful cross checking index. There
are some 22 main subject headings dealt with
including anatomy, behaviour, climatology,
conservation, disease and geography as well as all
the regular divisions of animals and plants. The
publishers, as is usual, make claims of 'lavish'
i 1 lustrations , and in this case it is justified.
There are 40 high gloss plates (34 of which are in
full colour) each of which comprise up to four
sub-plates, plus about 800 black and white photos
and a similar number of line drawings in the text.
Two coloured end papers show the Indian region and
an evolutionary tree of life. Some of the black
and white half tones are unfortunately a little
poorly printed but not enough to mar either the
enormous achievement or considerable attraction of
this book. It is a wonderful thing to browse
through and is highly recommended to anyone who is
going to or is interested in nature of the Indian
region, whether they are a specialist or a
generalist. All will find it a very readable and
attractive reference source for all manner of
aspects of natural history.

Hardback. 631 pages, 217 x 293mm. £25.
Published by Oxford University Press, Walton
Street, Oxford, 0X2 6DP, U.K. ISBN 0-19-561623-5.

Mammal s of the Southern Gulf by C . Gross (1987)

Probably one of the most attractive books on any
aspect of Arabian wildlife to come on the market
in recent years. It deals mainly with the larger
mammals of eastern and southern parts of the
Arabian Gulf states. Subjects include gazelles,
wild goats, wild sheep and carnivores that roam,
or to be more precise used to roam, the Emirates.
Like all accounts of mammals in Arabia this book
lurches from one tale of woe and extinction of a
magnificent mammal to another depressing story of
exploitation and massacre. There is no large
mammal in the whole of the southern Gulf area that
has not been exploited or exterminated and shot at
on sight in the last few decades. The book tells
of the near catastrophe of the Arabian Oryx,
details the extremely rare and intriguing records
of ibex, wild sheep, wild goats, hyaena, jackal ,
wolf, leopard and lynx that have occurred in the
area. Now all are so rare that if one person gets
a glimpse of just one of these animals in several
years of field work he should count himself lucky.
Against all the odds, however, the author has
collected together many notes and photographs of
these animals from a variety of sources and
presented them to beautifully illustrate a very
readable non-specialist introduction to the
subject. Even his colour pictures of the skulls
of various Arabian mammals are attractively done.
Unfortunately, due to the rarity of many species
many photos have had to be taken in collections in
captivity, however the author has been extremely
careful to avoid pictures of bars, chains and the
like and presents his subjects in as natural a
situation as possible. One hideous picture of a
dead Caracal Lynx hanging in a tree in the
northern Emirates is extremely effective when set
beside a picture of a beautifully sleek, live
animal and makes us all realise what a stupid
thing it is to shoot such creatures. The book
also deals with some contenders for the future
wildlife of Arabia such as the donkey, which now
runs feral in many parts of the peninsula.
Surprisingly, the camel has never become feral in
Arabia although it is now wild in many other
desert areas of the world. A few pages are
devoted to the smaller mammals including the
porcupine and other rodents. There is a tail
piece on dolphins and dugongs by Anthony Preen.
Christian Gross has spent some eight years in the

Fig 6 Egyptian
Vultures records to
date.

® Confirmed breeding

• Probable breeding

• Other records

13

Emirates studying the wildlife o-f the area which,
in the mammals, is a wonderful mixture of African,
Asian and European elements. A very attractive
and recommended book.

Laminated card covers. 80 paqes, 198 x 272mm.
Price not known. Published by Motivate
Publishing, P.O.Box 2331, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. This is a title in the Arabian heritage
series and is published with the support and
encouragement of Shell Markets (Middle East) Ltd.

Sharks of Ar abia by J.E .R andall (1986 )

Forty four species of shark live or, should one
say, lurk in the seas and gulfs surrounding the
Arabian Peninsula. They are part of a larger
family of about 350 species worldwide which
inhabit all seas from the tropics to the polar
oceans, as small dogfish to huge whale sharks,
from the deepest troughs to surface waters. Some
are speedy, some are sluggish, some feed on sea
urchins, some sieve plankton and others, as we
know them best, attack much larger prey. Some lay
eggs and some give birth to live young. A very
diverse group of animals indeed whose common name
strikes a mixture of fear and fascination in all
of us humans. The author is a marine biologist
with forty years experience in the tropics, he
tells us of the evolutionary history of sharks,
their anatomy (including some very peculiar
features of their skin and teeth) and interactions
with man. There are some very interesting
statistics in the latter section. Did you know
that there are, worldwide, less than 100 shark
attacks each year? More attacks, proportionally,
are made at night than during the daytime; 62/C of
attacks are in water 1.5 metres or less deep; 907.
of victims are on or near the surface and
swimming; strangely, 92/C of human victims are
males (apparently reflecting the male's more
ambitious and energetic marine pursuits); victims
in light coloured swimming costumes are preferred
to dark ones and bathers and snorkel lers with open
wounds are definitely more attractive than others.
The most important part of the book deals with the
classification of each of the species occurring
around Arabia, giving a diagnosis of each family
and the characteristics of each species, providing
identif ication features, remarks on distribution,
food, habits, reproducti on , and, the bit we all
want to know about, the degree of danger that they
represent to man. Illustrated by 98 text figures,
half of which are full colour photos, about
one-third black and white photos with the
remainder line drawings. The latter include
i 1 1 ustrat i ons of the dentition of many species
which is one of the very few methods of obtaining
a positive identification, for example of a shark
that might be hooked fishing or found on the
beach. This book will be attractive to anyone
interested in the marine environment or who enjoys
a gripping read.

Hardback. 148 pages, 215 x 302mm. £26.00.
Published by Immel Publishing, Ely House, 37 Dover
Street, London W1X 3RB, U.K. ISBN 0.907151.09.4.

Insects of Eastern Ara bia by D.H.Wa l ker
& A. R. Pi ttaway (1987)

Those fascinated by bugs and creepy crawlies or
with a kindling interest in Arabian insects will,
until now, have been unable to progress beyond the
i nterested-but-i gnorant stage because there have
been no relevant reference sources. It is true
there are one or two books on butterflies of
Arabia, but so far, for all the other branches of
this huge class of animals there are no books at
all. Ones only references are esoteric papers on
confusing family groups, tucked away in obscure
journals. This attractive little book changes all
that - it is a well researched, well illustrated
introduction to all the insects likely to be found
in eastern Arabia. Above all, however, it is a
very readable book and even those with not the
slightest interest in this class of animals, would
find it hard to put down without a thorough flick
through. The book covers that area of eastern and
northern Arabia drawn roughly by a line from
Jordan through the Nejd Plateau, west of Riyadh,
to the Arabian Sea, including all the Gulf States

and northern Oman. It will have a special appeal
to families, especially those with parents wanting
to encourage nature-minded children. This guide
allows everyone to really get to grips with the
wildlife of Arabia without ever moving from the
shade of a tree. Introductory chapters are kept
to the necessary minimum, e.g. the classif ication
and anatomy of insects. Thankfully high-brow
language is avoided throughout. Altogether, some
366 species are dealt with, of 309 genera in 92
families. The authors concentrate on the larger,
more apparent species and groups and so beetles,
bees, flies and dragonflies are very well
represented. About a third of the text is devoted
to that most attractive and noticeable group, the
butterflies and moths. Each species account
(short paragraph) includes the scientific names
and an English name, as well as habits, habitat,
food and other notes. Alongside each species,
there is a thumbnail map of the Arabian Peninsula,
showing the known distribution of each species for
the whole of the peninsula, not just in eastern
Arabia. Against the map, details are given of the
months of occurrence of the adult stage of the
insect. All species dealt with are illustrated
very attractively by A. J. Walker, usually
life-size, and often with larval and/or pupal
stages with some habitat vignettes included in the
text. This book is recommended to everyone with
an interest in nature in Arabia. Its simplicity
of approach, yet authoritative handling of each
species, will be found a pleasure by the absolute
beginner and the more serious entomologist who is
new to Arabia.

Card covers. 191 pages, 115 x 186mm. £6.95.
Published by Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire, RG21 2XS , U.K. ISBN 0 333 43214 2.

Un derota ter Guide: Red Sea Fishes by H.Debeliu s
(1 987 )

This guide is a collection of some 300 or so
colour photographs of Red Sea fishes taken in
their natural habitat. It is a beautiful
introduction to Red Sea fishes both for the
ichthyologist and the scuba diver. It makes no
claims to be fully authoritative as it covers only
150 species of the approximately 1,000 total
species occurring in the Red Sea. It does,
however, concentrate on the larger and medium size
species that most scuba divers would expect to see
around coral reefs. Text, in bath German and
English, is minimal and limited to a few sentences
on the habits and food of each species as well as
warnings about any particular dangers they present
to scuba divers. The species accounts are
embellished by pictograms of the habitat, daily
period of activity and depth of distribution of
each. Introductory paragraphs deal with the
physical features of a fish, a short introduction
to the natural history exploration of the Red Sea
and notes on the structure of the Red Sea coast
line. Recommended.

Card covers. 167 pages, 147 x 210 mm. DM44.
Published by Verlag Stephanie Naglschmid,
Augustenstr . 61a, D-7000 Stuttgart, West Germany.
Also available from Underwater Photography
Magazine, 4 Greyhound Road, London W6 8NX , U.K.
ISBN 3-925342-18-4.

Red Sea Inver tebr a t e s by P.Vine (198 6 )

More than any other recent title, this book
epitomises the beauty, colour and diversity of
life in the Red Sea. Every openinq of the book
has very high quality, full colour plates of
startling, fantastic, even surreal , life forms.
Some, such as the nudibranchs (sea slugs),
fanworms and corals, are truly unbelievable when
portrayed in full colour close-up photography.
Apart from some books on shells (see Phoenix 4) ,
there are no other books which cover Red Sea
invertebrates so this title fills a very large
gap. The author's approach to the subject is
along taxonomic lines. Obviously, with the huge
numbers of invertebrate species in the Red Sea
(e.q. at least 1,000 molluscs and 200 corals
alone), coverage can only be superficial. The
basic taxonomic unit chosen for much of the text
is the family. A generalised description, habit.

14

and habitats are given -for those -families
mentioned, and as an illustration to the -family,
notes are also presented on individual species.
Among the groups of animals dealt with in the book
are sponges, jellyfish, corals, anemones,
vermiform animals (worms), crustaceans, molluscs,
starfish, sea urchins and sea slugs. Each group
is dealt with most professionally by the author, a
marine biologist with 20 years experience of
diving on coral reefs. Throughout the book there
are many line drawings by Jane Stark. These
include 43 numbered text figures and probably
another 200 other drawings, all beautifully and
technically executed. It is complete with a
glossary of specialist terms, a reference list for
further reading (200 odd titles) and a thorough
index. This book will need to be on the bookshelf
of any self respecting Red Sea scuba diver, as
well as those who just like to beach comb and
investigate rock pools. Highly recommended.

Hardback. 224 pages, 220 x 300mm. £39.50.
Published bv Immel Publishing, Ely House, 37 Dover
Street, London W1X 3RB. ISBN 9.907151.11.6.

Gold en Days in the Desert: Hi Id Flowe r s of Sa udi
Arabia by B. A.Lipscombe-Vincett ( 1 984 )

A full -col our introduction to some of the commoner
plants found throughout Saudi Arabia. The author
makes no pretension to science but presents her
subject through extremely attractive, artistic
photographs. The book is arranged, generally,
under the different habitats to be found in this
huge Kingdom and the plants peculiar to each of
these general habitats. On the hot, dusty Tihama,
which is often very saline but in other places
surprisingly well watered, one finds the beautiful
Delonix elata tree, the grotesque Aden i urn obesum
as well as the wierd Euphorbias which characterise
this region. In the nearby Asir Mountains, cool
and wet and luxuriant, there are the juniper
forests, the delicate little Abyssinian rose,
aloes, lilies and, surprisingly gladioli. Also
the many aromatic herbs that make a visit to that
part of the world so memorable. Travelling north
in the Hijaz and Midian regions one moves into
acacia dominant zones, with their attractive
Lor anthus parasites and the special plants of the
sandstone districts such as Silene. Here also are
the peculiar Caraluma succulents which are
pollinated when flies are attracted to them by
their foetid smell. One is surprised to learn
that perhaps the most common plant of this region,
the attractive little Mexican poppy, is, in fact,
an introduction. In the Nejd region,
predominantly of limestones, typical species
occurring are the sodum apple Calotropis procera .
the Rhaziya stricta (looks a bit like a small
oleander and is equally poisonous) the Maerua
crassifolia tree, which attracts clouds of
butterflies when in bloom. and Pancratium and
irises which spring up after desert rains and are
everybody's favourite. Plants typical of the
Eastern Province, include the parasitic Cistanche
which has the apt common name of desert hyacinth,
the peculiar bright green mat, dodder, which
climbs over small herbs as well as several
salt-loving plants found near the coast. At the
end there is a very helpful bibliography ajid
index.

Hardback. 172 pages, 216 x 304mm. £28. Immel
Publishing, Ely House, 37 Dover Street, London W1X
3RB. ISBN 0.907151.22. 1.

Key E nvironments: Red Sea by A. J. Edward s and

s Tm. H ead (1987)

Reliable information is essential in combatting
exploitation and pollution but the total available
information on any one finite area is usually
scattered around a multitude of books, reports and
records of individuals in many different
disciplines. Very rarely do we find a collection
of environmental information on one geographical
area. This series prepared bv IUCN in
collaboration with Pergamon Press aims to remedy
that. The Red Sea is a major environment of
global ecological importance. This book is a
thorough survey of the fauna and flora of the Red
Sea basin with suggestions for effective
management and, where appropriate, conservation

strategies. After a lengthy introduction to the
ecology of the area covering such subjects as
faunal affinities and endemics as well as the
scientific exploration of the region, there are 18
major essays contributed by experts in their
field. These chapters include basic geology,
geography, climate, oceanoqraphy , fisheries,
pollution, human settlement and conservati on .
There are twelve chapters on animal groups ranging
from plankton and deep trough benthic animals to
corals, molluscs and other i nvertebrates. There
are also chapters on the vertebrates. The bird
chapter covers 23 pages and is divided into
sub-sections on the ecology of Red Sea seabirds,
status and distribution of species as well as
threats to seabirds, including exploitation,
pollution and habitat destruction. The book is
illustrated throughout with black and white
photographs (about 200) as well as many maps,
tables, charts and sketches. The whole has been
very expertly put together and is extremely well
referenced. Very interesting and recommended as a
valuable reference to a wide range of readers
including academics, envi ronmental i sts ,
conservationists, ecologists and geographers.

Hardback. 450 pages. 190 x 250 mm. £22.
Available from Pergamon Press, Headington Hill
Hall. Oxford, 0X3 0BW, U.K. ISBN 0.08.028873.1

Fig 7 Olive Pigeon. A species new to Arabia,
and possibly breeding. One of the fine line
drawings by Ian Willis illustrating Birds of the
Middle East and North Africa.

BIRD BOOKS IN ARABIC

Game Birds of the Arab Nor Id by A ssad Serhal
< 198 6)

A very nicely produced book with full colour
fieldguide style i 1 1 ustrati ons taken from Arthur
Singer's drawings for the Country Life Guide to
Birds of Britain and Europe. The introductory
chapters (30 pages) deal with government hunting
organisations, the law concerning closed hunting
seasons in Lebanon and 'ten commandments' for
hunters. The definition of game bird for this
book is somewhat wider than elsewhere and includes
not only ducks, partridges, pigeons and sandgrouse
but also rails, bustards, several waders.
Nightjar, all the larks, starlings and thrushes.
Each of the 60 species accounts has five sub
headings dealing with general distribution in the
Arab world, a more detailed distribution in
Lebanon and Syria, description, breeding, and
habits and food. There is a strong bias in the
species dealt with to those occurring in Lebanon,
as might be expected from a book prepared in that
country and various introduced game bird species
are also covered. The text is entirely in Arabic
but English common names are given and a
systematic list in the appendix gives English.
Arabic and scientific names. There is also an

15

Arabic index and English bibliography. It is a
pity to see such unsporting birds as larks and
thrushes included in this book as -fair game and a
book such as this is a little surprising as a
subject for publication by a nature society.
However it is a very useful and attractive book
and one which many Arabic readers interested in
ornithology will want to have on their bookshelf.
It has been published with the support of the
U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service Office of
Internat i onal Affairs and the Holy Land
Conservation Fund.

Laminated card covers. 182 pages, 161 x 228mm.
Price not known. Published by the Society for the
Protection of Nature and Natural Resources in
Lebanon, P.O.Box 11-5665, Beirut, Lebanon.

NEW PERIO DICALS

Zoology in the Midd l e East , Volume 1 <1 986 )

R . Kinzelbach and M.Kasp arek (Editors)

Recognising the inadeguacies of existing journals
which cater for animal life in the Middle East the
editors have introduced this new international
publication to publish zoological papers for the
whole Middle East area. The Middle East is
unfortunately - or probably deliberately - not
defined by the editors but seems to include the
whole of Arabia, North Africa and east to Iran.
The first volume aims to present short
communi cati ons on morphology, zoogeography,
faunistics, systematics, animal biology and
ecology. Papers concerning vertebrates dominate
the first issue but in future issues it hopes to
cover all branches of zoology. This periodical is
clearly something of a gamble by the editors. One
must wait to see whether the scientific community
supports its launch by a supply of papers for
future issues and subscribes to it. It is not
linked to a society or any definable organisation.
The contents of the first issue are rather
incestuous as no less than 17 of 32 vertebrate
papers have been written by one or other of the
editors. Professor Kinzelbach has also
contributed six additional papers out of a total
of 17, on various invertebrate groups. The short
communicati on format of the journal is easily
readable and one can enjoy skipping through a
broad spectrum of interesting notes on, for
example, historical records of the lion and
gazelles in Turkey, sperm whales in the eastern
Medi terranean , porcupines in the Middle East and
newts in Anatolia. There are 14 papers on birds,
12 concerning Turkey and mainly about rare or
unusual records of individual species in that
country. One documents the Brown-necked Raven
first appearing in eastern Turkey in 1985. This
first volume of this new journal is prepared to a
high standard with numerous text figures and
photographs. If it is broad based enough it will
be subscribed to by a wide spectrum of those
interested in zoology, the environment and
conservation in the Middle East.

Card covers. 156 pages, 225 x 155mm. Published
by Max Kasparek Verlag, B1 ei chstr asse 1, 6900
Heidelberg, West Germany. ISBN 3-925064-02-8.

Asian Uetl and News

Wetlands are not immediately associated with
Arabia, however. Arabia is very important for the
feeding and resting of many thousands of migrant
and wintering waders and Wetland birds. Of the 63
species of waders, 23 ducks and 26 species of
large wading birds which have occurred in Arabia,
a significant proportion of the world population
of some pass over the peninsula each year.
Indeed, in recent years Arabia has been the focus
of several coastal wader studies which have
revealed enormous numbers of birds using coastal
areas. Inland wetlands are limited and mostly
man-made, but they are so attractive to birds that
a number of local initiatives have started to
conserve and enhance these sites for birds. The
Asian Wetland News is the twice yearly organ of
the Asian Wetland Bureau. The AWB was founded in
1987 being mainly spawned from the work of
' Interwader ' , the East Asian Pacific Shorebird
Study Project. The new organisation has widened
its scope considerably to include interest in

fisheries, botany, environmental assessment and
education, as well as providing services to help
government and non-government agencies formulating
environment policy and the management of wetland
reserves. Although the AWB's main base and
activities so far have focused on South-East Asia
it seeks to have an interest in all wetland issues
throughout the Asian continent, including Arabia.
The first issue is dated January 1988 and contains
a round-up of all the issues and projects that the
AWB is currently involved in, plus articles on
wader migration in South-East Asia, the Ramsar
Convention on international wetlands, conservation
in Sarawak, Nordmann's Greenshank Trinqa guttifer
and the birds of Lake Shengjin in China. It is
especially pleasing to see a good number of notes
and articles on wetlands and birds in China, a
country which, until very recently, was a blank on
everybody's map. Issue No. 1 has 20 pages (A4
size), with full colour photos on the back and
front covers and a number of illustrations inside.
Subscription rates for those outside of Asia are
US$10 (Air Mail) or US$7 (Surface). It seems that
the newsletter is issued free to those resident in
Asia (including Arabia). Those interested should
ask for a sample copy.

Address: Asian Wetland News, Asian Wetland Bureau,
c/a Institute of Advanced Studies (IPT),
University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai , 59100 Kuala
Lumpur , Malaysia.

Fig 8 76,000 Steppe Eagles crossed the Bab al

Mandab from Arabia to Africa in Autumn 1987. See
'Expedition News'.

Taur aco

The first issue of Taur aco, billed as the journal
of Af ro-tropi cal ornithology, appeared in March
1988 and included papers on Pal earcti c-Af r i can
warbler migration, ringing recoveries of migrants
in Africa, taxonomy of tauracos, the avifauna of
Angola and Kenya and Indian Ocean island birds.
The journal, which is planned as a twice-yearly
event, will publish articles in English and French
relating to Af ro-tropi cal birds (i.e. south of the
Sahara) including those which relate to the birds
of south-west Arabia. Clearly this journal is
going to contain much of general interest to those
studying Arabian birds but will be especially
relevant to birds occuring in the south western
region. Annual subscriptions are £12.00 (US$25).
Further information from (and subscription orders
to) Mrs J. Oglethorpe, Tauraco Press, 27
Fieldside, Ely, Cambr i dgeshi re , CB6 3AT, UK.

16

EXPEDITION NEWS; DJIBOUTI XII

Djibouti is the tiny ex-French colony on the
African side of Bab al Mandab, the narrow southern
entrance to the Red Sea. Geoff and Hilary Welch
have organised three expeditions in recent years
to this little studied corner of Africa. Their
last expedition, from 23 September to 11 November
19S7, concentrated on the raptor passage across
the southern Red Sea from Arabia into Africa.

There have been no previous studies in depth of
this leg of the Eurasi an— Af r i can migration
although a considerable passage of large birds of
prey across this narrow strait has long been
suspected. Until the Welches' preliminary studies
in 1985 there had been no confirmation that there
was indeed a mass movement short sea crossing.
The Welches had spectacular success on their most
recent expedition, recording in all some 246,478
raptors of twenty six species coming out of
Arabia. Their most impressive count was 76,586
Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis which, they say,
is the highest recorded Middle East movement of
this species at any one place. Considering that
they had in addition 27,922 unidentified Aguila
eagles and missed vital days observations, then
probably some 100,000 Steppe Eagles enter
northeast Africa at this point in Autumn. Other
notable observations in their impressive list were
554 Egyptian Vultures but only 3 Griffon Vultures,
1,202 Short-toed Eagles and 1,123 Booted Eagles
Hieraaetus pennatus . Arabian rarities passing in
small numbers were 15 Honey Buzzards Pernis
apii/orus (the authors suspect that the main
movement of this species was probably missed in
early September) , 7 Levant Sparrowhawk Acc i p iter
brevipes , 31 Lesser-spotted Eagles A. pomar ina , 20
Spotted Eagles A.clanqa and 70 Imperial Eagles
A. he l iaca.

The Welches and their team did much good work
locally for birds and ornithological public
relations by helping with local conservation
projects, including talks on wildlife to the local
population at schools and colleges. They were
also lucky enough to appear on the Djibouti
television station. Surprisingly they made some
good contacts with the local military authorities
who, it seems, unlike many other parts of the
Middle East, actually helped them with their
studies. The Welches' work in Djibouti has done a
lot to establish a local nature reserve and put
the small country on the map as far as
international migrants are concerned.

A preliminary report is available and a full
report is being prepared for Sandgrouse. Details
of the Djibouti expeditions so far, plus future
plans for the area, can be obtained from Geoff and
Hilary Welch at 21a East Delph, Whittlesea,
Cambridgeshire, PE7 1RH, U.K.

CONS ERVATION IN SAUDI ARABIA

The Arabian peninsula has witnessed the extinction
or decimation of several species in the recent
past. Hunting and habitat destruction on the one
hand and increasing pressure on rangelands coupled
with the fast pace of development on the other,
have brought about this species loss and
environmental degredation. A growing concern for
wildlife heritage in Saudi Arabia has, however,
precipitated efforts to reverse the trend and
protect the life support systems and ecological
processes. In less than three years the National
Commission for Wildlife Conservation and
Development, Riyadh (NCWCD) has gone a long way in
building the basis for the conservation and
sustainable use of natural resources of the
Ki ngdom.

Striking biod iver s ity

Placed at the junction of the Oriental, Palearctic
and Afrotropical realms, the Arabian Peninsula in
general, and the Kingdom in particular, offers a
considerable diversity of animal and plant life.
Although the legendary Arabian Oryx and the
majestic cheetah have gone the way of the Dodo the
latest count of mammal species stands at 62. As
for birds, 450 species have been recorded and the
country is part of a major migratory route for

species moving between the three adjacent
bi ogeographi cal regions. The reptilian fauna
comprises over 75 species, 5 of them endemic. The
invertebrate group is also rich and varied
expressing a high degree of endemism. For
instance over 2.000 species of insects are
recorded from the various aguatic and terrestrial
habitats, as high as a guarter of them being
endemic. A total of about 2,500 flowering plant
species belonging to 130 families are distributed
across the Kingdom, and of these 25 species are
endemi c .

Habitat Protection

A programme of the NCWCD is developing protected
reserves in biologically important areas,
following a holistic approach to the entire
habitat. The concept of protected areas, however,
is not new in Saudi Arabia. The country has a
history of sustainable use of rangelands by
designating them protected, either through law or
convention. These traditional reserves, known as
Hemas, were widespread until the recent past.

Through extensive reconnai ssance surveys of the
wildlands the NCWCD has identified the areas for
protection and is currently embarked on a
programme to establish and maintain protected
areas, basing its criteria on the principles of
the traditional Hema system, as well as the world
conservation strategy. Incidentally, the
principles of these two sources are greatly
compatible. Six areas, about 50,000 sguare
kilometers in extent and covering a variety of
habitats and focal species, have already been
declared protected and compr ehensi ve habitat
management plans are being pursued. Groundwork is
progressing to bring seven other areas under
protection .

The protected areas have already started yielding
results. In Harrat al Harrah , in the north, the
improvement in vegetation is glaringly obvious.
Al Hawtah, a Nubian Ibex habitat south of Riyadh
is also showing good signs of amelioration. In
Farasan, a Red Sea archipelago and an important
bird refuge, hunting and habitat destruction have
been brought to a check. The birdlife of the Al
Hair watercourse in the Riyadh environs - although
not a statutory protected area - has been greatly
enhanced, thanks to the attention and protection
provided by the NCWCD in cooperation with the
Riyadh pr i nci pal i ty .

Captive Breeding

Habitat protection measures alone are not
sufficient to restore viable populations of the
critically endangered species, and hence the need
for captive breeding to augment the wild
populations. Towards this end the Commission has
set up two captive breeding and research centres.
The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) at
Taif, a major component institution of the NCWCD,
focuses its captive breeding programmes on the
Houbara and native ungulates. The Center has a
good population of Houbara either caught as chicks
from the wild or raised from eggs collected.
These birds, now in their early period of sexual
maturity are expected to breed successfully soon.
The captivity behaviour and biology of the birds
are intensively studied and efforts are underway
to keep them under semi -capti vi ty , simulating the
natural environment. Concurrent 1 y , habitat based
studies, employing satellite tracking methods, are
also progressing. The captive propagation of the
naturally extinct Arabian Oryx was initiated with
animals obtained from the private collection of
the late King Khalid and they are showing
promising signs of breeding success. The once
common Nubian Ibex is now reduced to a precarious
number and confined to a few packets. The NWRC
captive breeding programme on the Ibex is expected
to help the comeback of this species. The three
species of endemic gazelles are also fast building
up captive stocks, for eventual rei ntroducti on.

The King Khalid Wildlife Research Center (KKWRC)
at Thumamah near Riyadh was set up by transforming
the late King's private wildlife farm. The Center
conducts captive breeding programmes on the native
species as well as maintaining several exotic

17

species. The Center holds a large captive
collection of Sand Gazelle (Rheem) , a species
decimated in most of its former range.

On the move

Building the legal framework for the protection
and rational use of the natural resources is yet
another task the NCWCD is striving to achieve.
Separate but complementary legislative measures
are in the pipeline to acquire and develop nature
reserves, checking hunting, and regulating the
trade in wildlife species. The NCWCD has
established strong working relations with the
CITES and negotiations are underway for accession
to the Convention.

The NCWCD s programme on environmental education
has stimulated a new interest amona the public in
conservation. Apart from using the mass media,
the NCWCD produces and widely circulates various
kinds of environmental education resource
materials on different themes. The intensive
media coverage of the Arab Environment Dav,
observed on October 14 was an indication of the
growing public interest in conservati on .

Some of the research and survey projects other
than the ones mentioned above include extensive
studies on the mangrove habitats on the Red Sea
coast: a long term research project on the nearly
extinct Arabian Bustard: sponsoring the Atlas of
the Breeding Birds of Arabia (ABBA) and Phoenix,
and so on. The NCWCD has also taken up the
sponsorship of the Fauna of Saudi Arabia series.
Ground has been broken to build a national natural
history museum in Riyadh. And for meeting the
manpower needs, a new cadre of Saudi biologists is
being trained in the various projects of the
NCWCD.

As everywhere else in the world, nature
conservation in Saudi Arabia is facing heavy odds.
Nonetheless, the momentum gathered by the NCWCD in
the last two years, under the direction of HRH
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Manaqing Director, and
the enthusiasm of Prof . Dr . Abdul az i z H.Abuzinada.
the Secretary General, is a certain indication
that nature is at last going to get a chance in
this historic land.

Faizi S.Hameed

Fig 9 Over-grazing by domestic stock deprives
Houbara of food and cover for nesting. See
article on former breeding distribution.

KUWAIT AVIF AUNAL SURVEY

In March 1985 I was fortunate enough to obtain the
generous financial support of Kuwait's Environment
Council (EPC) to conduct a country-wide avi faunal
survey of the Kuwait mainland. Initially, the
proposal was to carry this out for one year as a
pilot study to a long term project. However, the
Council enthusiastically and generously encouraged
its continuing for a second year.

The survey had several aims, the principal one
being to establish a clear picture of which

species occur in Kuwait and whether breeding takes
place here. Rapid i ndustri al i sati on and
urbanisation have produced, and are producing,
dramatic changes in the country and these are
certain to affect the occurrence and status of
avian species. Inevitably, some environmental
changes will be detrimental to the avifauna but
others, such as the government-backed
af f orestati on programme and support for increased
horti cul tural activities, will be highly
beneficial. The EPC is a government agency and is
directed by Amiri decree to take action to protect
flora and fauna that may be endangered. Thus, in
order to function effectively, the Council
recognised the need to conduct extensive,
appropriate surveys.

The project was originally planned to start in
January 1985 in order to coincide with the launch
of the ABBA venture, but for unavoidable reasons
it was delayed until April. It was my intention
to have at least one observer in the field
full-time for three months throughout each spring
period. In the event, the survey encompassed the
late spring of 1985, the whole of that of 1986 and
most of that of 1987. The work of the full-time
observer was supplemented by three additional
observers at weekends. Throughout the remainder
of the year, field work was conducted at weekends
only and regular visits were made to the same
selected sites in alternate weeks.

The half-degree grid of the ABBA scheme is too
large for systematic recording in Kuwait, so a
compatible grid based on units of 10' x 10' was
adopted, which gave a survey unit of approximately
16 x 18 km. The mainland of Kuwait occupies 50%
or more of the area of each of 63 squares and
except for two in the north-west, all were covered
in the survey. In all squares we recorded every
bird seen, with identification to species and sex
where possible. In the second year of the survey
a trapping programme was pursued in order to
resolve some difficulties with identification of
certain Sy lv i idae . Breeding activity was noted
and coded in accordance with the classif ication
used by ABBA. Quantitative data were collected by
means of driven or walked measured transects,
depending on the area and its habitats.

The survey recorded a total of 251 species between
April 1985 and April 1987, 221 of which were noted
in the first year. Of these, only 14 species were
confirmed breeders. Five species were new to the
Kuwait list and the breeding of Red-vented Bulbul
was confirmed for the first time. An interesting
finding was that 24 vagrant species were recorded,
in some cases in both years of the survey. This
raises the old question; to what extent is status
a matter of observer cover?

The Final Report is currently under consideration
by the Research Committee of the EPC and I
anticipate that it will agree that a full account
of the results should be published before the end
of this year. I hope that the report will be
available for general distribution then.

Prof .C.W.T. Pilcher

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

DA TA PASSE D ON

Due to the necessarily extended period over which
information for the Atlas is being collected it is
important that the data bank be available for use
by all who need it. Information, including draft
maps and other breeding data, on individual
species, groups of species or the birds in finite
areas can be provided on request and indeed
enquiries are welcomed. Enquiries have so far
come from ABBA contributors wanting historical
records to "write up" the birds of their local
area: researchers from around the world, but
especially Africa or Asia, working on groups of
species occurring also in Arabia and those
interested in general aspects of Middle East
ornithology. Information passed on in the twelve
months since the issue of Phoenix 4 has gone to
Birds of the Uestern Palearctic final update for
Vol.6, 16 draft maps Fan-tailed Warbler to Great

18

Grey Shrike and update tor Vol . 7 , 13 species

Maqpie to House Buntings Dr M. Delibes (Spain),
Lammerqei er ; M. D . Gal 1 agher (Oman), Spotted

Thi cknee and Stone Curlew; D. Le Mesurier (k'SA) ,
Bonelli's Eagle; C. Richardson (Dubai), breeding
species in UAE and comments on dratt breeding maps
prepared tor book on UAE birds; Dr C.Ryall
(Kenya), Indian House Crow; P . Symens (KSA) ,
Lappet -faced Vulture, Sooty Falcon, Tutted
Gui neatowl and Houbara; Dr P Vine (Ireland) lists
ot breeding birds tor Qatar and Kuwait. In
addition individual items ot intormation have been
provided to a large number ot correspondents .

Intormation that can be supplied at present is
limited only by the manual record system in
operation. Once the intormation bank is automated
a much more comprehensive intormation service will
be available. Contributors provide records to the
project on the understand! ng that their records
may be passed on to anyone who has a legitimate
use tor them. However, the tacility does exist
tor contributors to place an embargo on individual
records, e.g. it they wish to protect a rare
breeding species or where they intend to publish
their own intormation exclusively.

FOR T HCOMING EV ENTS

Second Mediterranean Seabird Symposium - Majorca,
Spain, March 19 89

The Mediterranean Marine Bird Association
(MEDMARAVIS) is to hold its second symposium at
Parma di Milorca on 21-26 March 1989. The
symposium will concentrate on the status and
conservation ot seabirds, ecogeography and an
action plan tor the protection ot Medi terranean
seabird species. Four ditterent sessions are
planneds-

-status and distribution of breeding populations
-post-nuptial distribution
-recent ecological research

-habitat conservation and Medi terranean action
plan

Other activities include two boat excursions,
poster sessions, specialist workshops and
audio-visual presentati ons. For futher

information please contact MEDMARAVIS, 20 rue
St. Martin, 75004 Paris, France.

I CBP Conference and Symposium; Adana, Turkey .

M ay 1989

The XVIIth ICBP European Continental Section
Conference will take place at Adana on the
southern Medi terranean coast of Turkey, 15-20 May
1989. Provisional topics for discussion include
migration bottlenecks. Slender-billed Curlew
Nunen ius tenuirostris and important bird areas.
Two days are set aside as a symposium on important
bird areas in Turkey and palearctic migrants in
Africa. There is also a one day excursion,
although it is not known which of the many good
bird sites locally will be visited. Details are
available from the ICBP Secretariat, 32 Cambridge
Road, Girton, Cambridge, CB3 OP J , U.K.

Ornithological Society of th e Middle East AGM

The 1989 Annual Meeting of OSME will take place on
15 July 1989 in the Lecture Theatre of the British
Museum (Natural History), South Kensington in
London. If previous AGM ' s are anything to go by,
members and guests will have a very full and
interesting afternoon of talks, films and
discussion. Details from the OSME Secretary, c/o
The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL, U.K.

SOCIETY N EWS

This item aims to keep readers up to date with the
activities and publications of those societies,
organisations and groups who are concerned with
the birds and natural history of Arabia.

Ornithological Society of Egyp t

Anyone thinking of birding in Egypt should contact
Mindy Rosenzweig who is working for ICBP in Cairo
and attached to the Egyptian Wildlife Service.
She says that the next issue of Courser, the OSE
journal, is in a late stage of production. Write

to her;— ICBP Coordinator, c/o Eqyptian Wildlife
Service, Giza Zoo, Cairo. Egypt.

S inai Ne ws letter

The Sinai NeNsletter has, until now, been a rather
narrow publication specifically interested in
conservation in the biblical Holy Land . It has
recently widened its area of interest to include
the whole of the Middle East area. The most
recent issue (vol. 6, no. 1 , June 1988) has notes
and articles on Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, UAE, Syria
and Djibouti, as well as on subjects as diverse as
nature reserves, CITES, trade in animal products,
conservation education, reviews and raptor
migration. The newsletter is published by the
Holy Land Conservation Fund, Editor: Bertel Bruun ,
969 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10028, U.S.A. Ask
for a sample copy.

Emirates Natural Hist ory Gr oup (Abu Dha bi )

The Group is now under the patronage of UAE
University Chancellor Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al
Nahyan, and has been allocated permanent rooms in
the old fort (Qasr al Hisn) in Abu Dhabi, home of
the country's Centre for Documentation and
Research. A small natural history museum is being
established. The new (and hopefully permanent)
address is: ENHG(AD), P.O.Box 2380, Abu Dhabi,
U. A.E.

Nature and Orni thol oqi cal Society of Yemen

This group which extends its interests over the
PDRY and YAR seems to have had problems in holding
together recently. It is still alive but does not
seem to be kicking very hard. NOSY can be
contacted by writing to Mrs Margaret Higgins, c/o
British Veterinary Project, F.C.0. (Sana a,
Y.A.R.), 14 King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH.

ANNO UNCEMENTS & REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION
Breeding b i rds in th e U.A. E.

Work is currently underway on the preparation of a
birdwatching guide for the U.A.E. It will
concentrate on the status and distribution of all
species recorded there, and will include breedinq
maps of all nesting species. If anyone has any
breeding information which has not been submitted
to the ABBA coordinator, particularly of common
species in more remote areas, no matter how old,
it will be very gratefully received. Information
should be sent to Colin Richardson, P.O.Box 2825,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Carb o n-dati ng of Ostrich eggshell -fragments from

Arab i a

A project is proceeding to establish the aqe of
the numerous Ostrich eggshell fragments which have
been found in the Arabian Peninsula. A paper on
the subject is planned. The authors wish to
receive Ostrich eggshell fragments for
carbon-dat i ng , or information concerning the
whereabouts of such samples in private

collections, etc. The ideal weight of samples

should be in the order of 10 g or more but smaller
samples would also be acceptable. Readers with
Ostrich eggshell fragments from Arabia, or

information about where such samples are held,
should contact the senior author. Professor

William Buttiker, Lanzenberg 21, 4465 Magden ,

Swi tzer 1 and .

Insects of Eas tern Ar abia

Enclosed with this issue is a brochure advertising
this new book, see review above. Those who are
unable to find a copy locally can order one direct
from the publishers, Macmillan Publishers,
Houndmills, Basingstoke, RG21 2XS, U.K.

For Sale

A few copies of a report prepared on an

orni thol ogi cal survey of the Asir National Park ,
Saudi Arabia (76 pages) , summary reports on 6 ABBA
surveys and some other items are available from
the Co-ord i nator . See slip enclosed with this
newsl etter .

!9

BIRDS AND WILDLIFE OF
NORTH YEMEN 13th-27th OCTOBER 1989

NOfHI^^OURI

See and photograph unforgettable images.

North Yemen is a beautiful and fascinating country rich
in birds, flora and landscapes with a unique architecture
and friendly colourful people.

Come with us on our third tour of this relatively
unexplored country. We will be looking for Arabian
Bustard and many other rare and exciting birds and flora
and see incredible landscapes all observed and
photographed on previous visits.

Whatever your interest you will see and record images
that cannot be seen anywhere else in the World. North
Yemen is still undisturbed by a developed tourist industry-
vet has so much to offer.

ROD MARTINS is our
experienced and professional
tour leader on his fourth tour
to Yemen.

Comfortable hotel accommodation.

For tour brochure and
further information contact
Hosking Tours, Hunworth,
Melton Constable, Norfolk.

Tel: (0263) 713969-
Tlx: 975458.

Fax: (0263) 711120.

RECORDS WANTED

SMITHSONIAN LIBRARIES

3 9088

894 0395

Readers who have records o-f Arabian birds, however
old, and whether published or not, and who have
not vet received the "Instructions to
Contributors" and a set o-f report forms, are urged
to make contact with the co-ordi nator . Old
records are especially valuable in assessing
population changes and range expansions and
contract! ons. Although the project concerns
resident and breeding species, it is not only
proved breeding information that is sought:
presence, possible and probable breeding
information is just as valuable. Information on
exotics and escaped species, ringed birds and
habitats is also needed.

of Arabian birds for five years. Any profit on
sales and subscription orders goes towards ABBA
admi ni strati ve costs.

DONATI ONS, SPONSORSHIP & FIN ANCE

Atlasers, correspondents and supporters have
continued to be extremely generous and the ongoing
costs of the project have again be largely met by
donations from individuals and societies totalling
£750 in the last 12 months. This help is very
gratefully acknowledged. Total project costs
since the issue of Phoenix 4 (including Phoenix 4
but not No. 5) have totalled £1130. Major costs
have been postage and telephone £350, typing and
other services £360 and printing of Phoenix 4,
£215.

Much gratitude is extended to the National
Commission for Wildlife Conservation it
Development, Riyadh, for meeting a proportion of
the administrati ve expenses of the project by
financial sponsorship totalling £300. Also many
thanks are due to the Ornithological Society of
the Middle East for their generous donation of
£200 towards project costs. Individual donations
have been received from the following during the
last 12 months: Anonymous (5) £91; J.S.Ajarem
(KSA) £3; G. Bates (KSA) £9; L.Boxberger (YAR) £10;
I. J. A. Brown (Oman) £8; J.Eriksen (Oman) £5;
P.Goriup (UK) 40 SR; T.M.Gullick (Spain) £10;
P. Hoi t (Switz) £10; A.D.Inglis (UK) £10; D.R. James
(KSA) £15; D.Le Mesurier (KSA) £10; V.Mellish
(KSA) £15; E.Moller (W. Germany) £15; R. Nation
(Qatar) £8; M.Shihab (Kuwait) £8; S. Smith (Hong
Kong) £3; A.J.Stagg (KSA) £25 and J.H. Thompson
(UK) £15. Sincere thanks to all these people.

Gifts in kind are also acknowledged with much
gratitude. Many people provided assistance in
diverse ways with two atlasing surveys by the
Co-ordinator to Saudi Arabia in 1988 and this is
much appreciated. The help of Dr.Abdulaziz
Abuzinada, the Secretary General of NCWCD Riyadh,
who provided official sponsorship for the visits,
made all logistical arrangements and met travel
costs to and within Saudi Arabia was invaluable.
Once again many thanks to Mrs Effie Warr for much
help in the preparation of Phoenix 5 and with the
project throughout the year.

PHOTOS NEEDED F OR PHOE NI X

Photos of habitats, Arabian breeding birds, nests
and eggs etc. are welcomed and reguested for
inclusion in future issues of Phoenix. Photos may
be printed with just a caption, for their
aesthetic value, or can be submitted to illustrate
notes and papers. Photos should be black and
white (glossy or matt) with good contrast and a
width of at least 12 cm.

CONTRIBU TIONS TO PHOENIX

Short articles relevant to the aims of the ABBA
project are welcomed, especially notes on the
avifauna of specific areas or studies concerning
particular species. Consi derat i on should be given
to offerring more lengthy papers to the journals
or newsletter of local or regional natural history
groups and societies. Scientific papers on the
ornithology of Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle
East may be offerred to Sandqr ouse the journal of
the Orni thol ogi cal Society of the Middle East, c/o
The Lodge, Sandy, Bedf ordshi re , SG19 2DL , England.
Notices, reguests for information and
advertisements of reports etc. are inserted in
Phoenix free of charge. All submissions should be
typed, double spaced, with wide margins.

HOW TO OBTAIN PHOENIX

The Phoenix is issued free to all current
contributors to the ABBA project and is sent to
benefactors and recent correspondents. A bundle
of every issue is also passed to each society or
group active in Arabia. It is available on
subscription for a single payment of £15 ($30) for
the next five issues, i.e. numbers 6 to 10.
Subscribers receive a reminder when their next
subscription is due. Phoenix nos 1-4 are
available at £2 each. Those leaving Arabia might
be interested in placing a subscription order as
the price represents a small sum for all the news

CREDITS

Logo, Keith Brockie; Indian House Crow, Franklin
Coombs; Olive Pigeon, Ian Willis; Thick-billed
Lark, Houbara, Steppe Eagles, map base it Phoenix 5
title-page layout, Hilary Welch; Fig 3, Colin
Richardson; other maps M.C.J.

Fig 10 Namagua Dove found for the first time in
northern Oman in 1987.

ADDRESS

All correspondence for the Atlas of the Breeding
Birds of Arabia and Phoenix should be sent to
Michael C. Jennings, Co-ordinator ABBA, Moonraker
Cottage, 1 Eastcourt, Burbage, Wiltshire, SN8 3AG,
Engl and .

20