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| NEWS & | INFORMATION compiled by Dawn Balmer |
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The aim of this section is to inform readers about events in the OSME
region. It relies on members and others supplying relevant news and information.
If you have anything concerning birds, conservation or development issues
in the OSME area please send it to News and Information, OSME, c/o The
Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, U. K. or use the email button
below |
| Cinerous Vulture tracking |
Satellite tracking of Cinereous Vulture: In August 2007 year two juvenile Cinereous Vultures Aegypius monachus from the Khosrov Reserve (the only breeding location in Armenia) were fitted with satellite tags. Monitoring and tracking of vultures via satellite is supported by the Lush Foundation (Lush Ltd). Additionally, juveniles were wing-tagged using blue patagial wing tags showing numbers '01' and '02'. Please submit any sightings to Mamikon Ghasabyan, Armenian Society for the Protection of Birds (ASPB), Aghbyur Serob 11/2, Yerevan, 0019, Armenia. Tel/fax: + 374 10 22 65 41. Email: armbirdsATyahoo.com |
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| Armenia web site |
New website: A new website has been launched by Vasil Ananian,
OSME's country contact in Armenia, and provides much information about
the country as well as its birds It contains a checklist and the latest
news. Take a look at:- |
CYPRUS
| Falcon massacre | Two men charged with Cyprus falcon massacre: Two men have been charged in connection with the 5 October 2007 massacre of 52 Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus in the Phasouri area of Cyprus/ within the Akrotiri British Sovereign Base Area (SBA). The accused, from the Limassol (Lemesos) area, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry penalties of up to three years imprisonment, a fine of £10 000 (€17 000), or both. The court set the first hearing for the trial for 8 Jan 2008. This shocking massacre of the migrating falcons -the worst incident of bird of prey killing ever reported in Cyprus - made headlines across Europe after BirdLife Cyprus released shocking pictures of the gunned-down birds. The two suspects, arrested on 12 Oct following a swift SBA Police investigation, appeared before an SBA court at Episkopi and were charged with deliberate killing of protected birds and unlawful possession of shotguns in a 'no hunting' area. After the October massacre, the SBA police and Cyprus Game Fund said they were stepping up joint anti-poaching patrols in the Akrotiri area. (Source: BirdLife International). |
| Illegal trapping continues |
Illegal bird trapping: Field data gathered under a continuing BirdLife surveillance programme showed that autumn 2007 was the worst autumn for illegal bird trapping in Cyprus for four years. An additional cause for concern is the overwhelming evidence of widespread availability of trapped birds (ambelopoulia) in local restaurants, selling for up to £3 (€5) per bird. Net trapping and limestick use have shown a marked increase in 2007, the estimated haul being of over 500 000 birds caught. The high price for ambelopoulia provides the main motivation for the remaining hard core of trappers, and for younger individuals now apparently joining their ranks. In many cases, authorities remove nets found at various locations, only for trappers to put new ones up within days. Action against restaurants appears to be sporadic, and so the top-level political will necessary to generate a concerted clampdown is absent. Furthermore, the penalties imposed by courts on convicted trappers continue below deterrent levels. (Source: BirdLife International). |
| Cyprus SPA's |
New SPAs designated in Cyprus: The BirdLife Partner in Cyprus has welcomed the decision that another twelve Special Protection Areas (SPAs) have been designated on the island, covering key habitats for Bonelli's Eagle Aquila fasciatus, Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus, European Roller Coracias garrulus and seven other priority species. The twelve designations are the product of a long BirdLife lobbying campaign and come four months after the European Commission sent a first warning letter to Cyprus about inadequate designation of SPAs. Only four of the new SPAs are Important Bird Areas (IBAs) listed in BirdLife Cyprus's 2004 inventory, the other eight being sites identified by the relevant government authority (the Game Fund) in close cooperation with BirdLife Cyprus, using more recent data. These new designations bring the number of SPAs in Cyprus to nineteen, but six IBAs still remain undesignated. Among the undesignated IBAs are three small wetlands important for breeding Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus and Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus; a coastal strip used by migrating Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii; and the Akamas peninsula, a vital migration staging post for hundreds of Little Egret Egretta garzetta, Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides and Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus. The reasons for the non-designation of these five key IBAs are plainly socio-economic, which grounds are impermissible under the EU Birds Directive, to which Cyprus is a signatory. (Source: BirdLife International). |
EGYPT
| Cairo heronry destroyed | Heronry destroyed: During early Sep 2007 one of the largest heron colonies in the Cairo area (and Egypt perhaps) was decimated. The colony is located at the southern tip of Dahab Island (just south of the Pharaonic village and visible from Muneib Bridge). The reed beds are home to one of Egypt's largest and most diverse heron breeding colonies right in the middle of Cairo (containing Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis, Little Egret Egretta garzetta, Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax, Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides and Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus. On Monday 3 Sep several large cranes were placed on floating barges to dredge the outskirts of the colony but two days later, the colony had been flattened, thousands of birds, mostly fledglings, being scattered and scrambling in the open. Many nests and eggs were destroyed. (Source: Sherif Baha El Din). |
GEORGIA
| Raptor survey to be carried out | Autumn raptor survey in Batumi: A raptor migration survey in Batumi is planned for autumn 2008. The count will take place between 20 Aug and 15 Oct. Batumi is well known for the huge numbers of raptors passing through. Migrating raptors will be counted from four stations along an east-west line. Volunteers are needed to help with this exciting project. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Brecht Verhelst (email: brechtverhelstATgmail.com). During autumn 2007, some 115 000 European Honey Buzzards Pernis apivorus were counted (between 28 Aug and 3 Sep), as were good numbers of harriers, Western Black Kite Milvus migrans and Booted Eagle Aquila pennata. |
IRAQ
| Eric Hosking bursary | Nature Iraq wins Eric Hosking bursary: Omar Fadil (on behalf of Nature Iraq) has been awarded an Eric Hosking bursary of £500 to help Nature Iraq make a photographic record of the Key Biodiversity Areas being surveyed in the Mesopotamian Marshes and Kurdistan. (Source: Richard Porter). |
| Country Contact gains BSc |
Mudhafar Salim: OSME would like to congratulate Mudhafar Salim, our contact in Iraq, on gaining his BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Al-Qadissiya. Mudhafar has been a key member of Nature Iraq's monitoring team that has now undertaken three winter and three summer surveys of the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the Mesopotamian Marshes. He is also senior author of the Arabic Birds of Iraq (published last winter) that OSME was proud to help sponsor. (Source: Richard Porter). |
| Iraq joins RAMSAR |
Wetland of International Importance: The Ramsar Secretariat welcomed the Republic of Iraq to the Convention at its 157th Contracting Party. In its formal communication UNESCO, the depositary of the Convention, confirmed that on 17 Oct 2007, Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs completed the necessary formalities for its accession to the Convention as amended in 1982 and 1987. Iraq's obligatory first Wetland of International Importance, "Hawizeh Marsh (Haur Al-Hawizeh)" (137 700 hectares, 31°25'N, 47°38'E), in the southern Governorates of Basra and Amara, is an integral part of the Mesopotamian marshlands complex centred at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. A trans-boundary wetland, some 75-80% being in Iraq, the remainder extending into the Islamic Republic of Iran, where they are known as Hawr Al-Azim. Representing the only significant area to have survived recent drainage actions and the most intact part of the original Mesopotamian system, they comprise a biodiversity reservoir of priority importance for conservation. The results of recent re-flooding have been promising so far, and many displaced Ma'dan or Marsh Arabs have returned to resume their traditional ancient ways of life. The site is of international importance as a staging and wintering area for at least 79 species of waterfowl and 9 species of birds of prey on their way between Western Siberia/Central Asia and eastern and southern Africa. The northern half of the marsh never completely dried out and is being used as a reference for monitoring the flora and fauna of the newly re-inundated southern sector. The effects of extensive drainage in the 1990s destruction in war and dam-building activities upstream in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, are seen as the chief potential threats to the site. An extraordinary number of national and international government agencies and nongovernmental organizations have played important roles in achieving such a very promising start to restoration, but the assistance to the Ministry of Water Resources by the government of Canada and the United Nations Environment Programme deserve special mention. |
KAZAKHSTAN
| Record requested | Further records requested: Following the publication of The Birds of Kazakhstan in April 2007, its authors request further information on status, distribution, habitat and migration for future updates and articles. Information may be in the form of trip reports, articles, good quality photographs of landscapes and birds. All material will be acknowledged. Please send your information to Arend Wassink, Postweg 64, 1795 JR, De Cocksdorp, Texel, The Netherlands. Email: arendwassink@texel.com |
LEBANON
| Email Group | Birdtalk Lebanon: Birdtalk Lebanon was set up in 2005, with the aim of encouraging any Lebanese birdwatchers and naturalists, and any foreigners living in or visiting Lebanon to post their sightings, or raise bird-related topics for discussion. OSME encourages anyone visiting, or considering visiting Lebanon, to join in and help develop interest in a country that, up to now, has had few birdwatchers, despite the superb migration spectacle that can be witnessed each spring and autumn. To join, go to birdtalk-lebanon-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and to post a message, to birdtalklebanon@yahoogroups.com |
SOCOTRA
| New Website |
Socotra website: The Socotra Conservation and Development Program
(SCDP) website has been upgraded and carries the latest information on
Socotra wildlife. The website is at:- |
TURKEY
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Good news for Sociable Lapwings |
Sociable Lapwing finds some friends: Hopes are rising for one of the world's rarest birds after the discovery of the largest flock seen for more than 100 years. More than 3000 critically endangered Sociable Lapwings Vanellus gregarius have been found in the Ceylanpmar district of south-eastern Turkey after a satellite tag was fitted to one of the birds migrating from breeding grounds in Kazakhstan. On 12 Oct, researchers from the Turkish conservation group Doga Dernegi found 1800 Sociable Lapwing in Ceylanpmar and a total of 3200 the next day. The tracked bird had flown more than 2000 miles from its traditional breeding grounds, where numbers of the species have plunged following the collapse of Soviet farming. The bird flew north of the Caspian Sea, then down through the Caucasus and south into Turkey. The RSPB's Dr Rob Sheldon, who tagged the bird in Kazakhstan, said: "It shows just how important both Kazakhstan and Turkey have become for the survival of this species. The next step is to protect the bird, both on its breeding grounds and at all the key sites on its migration route." In 2003, only 200 pairs of Sociable Lapwing were thought to remain, the bird being classified Critically Endangered (the highest level of threat) as a consequence. Nests at breeding sites were being trampled on livestock farms; elsewhere, vegetation was too dense for young chicks to survive. Breeding success has improved more recently, however. Conservationists feared that hunting and habitat change on migration routes would reduce the bird's numbers. The tagging project is partly paid for by the UK government's Darwin Initiative. Conservationists from Britain and Kazakhstan hope to win new funds to tag more birds in 2008. (Source: BirdLife International). |
TURKMENISTAN
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IBA Workshop |
Central Asian Important Bird Areas Conservation Strategy workshop, Ashgabat, December 2007: With data collection and analysis nearing completion and text preparation on schedule for publication of the three national inventories in time for BirdLife International's World Conference in Argentina in September 2008, the national IBA teams from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan met in Ashgabat at the beginning of December 2007 in order to establish the priorities for protecting the 231 sites, covering 19.6 million hectares, identified by the Central Asian IBA project. The main challenges and opportunities were: ensuring effective national nature conservation legislation and designation of sites; the development of site-based land management plans integrating the needs of local communities and wildlife; establishing a systematic identification and monitoring programme for sites and the exchange of information, and raising awareness of IBAs and the need for their conservation at all levels. National and regional IBA inventories are valuable sources of information but should be viewed as tools for achieving 'on the ground' conservation of sites and species and not as ends in themselves. Developing a strategy for using the inventories in policy and advocacy work is therefore an essential step towards the conservation of the rich natural heritage of this vast region. The Central Asian IBA project is being implemented by the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), the Uzbekistan Zoological Society UZS), the Ministry for Nature Protection of Turkmenistan (MNPT), the Turkmenistan Society for Nature Conservation (TSNC), and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB, UK BirdLife partner), with funding from the UK government's Darwin Initiative, the Centrum fur Internationale Migration und Entwicklung (CIM, Germany) and the RSPB. |
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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Migratory Agreement |
New agreement for migratory birds of prey and owls: International awareness of the plight of migratory birds of prey and owls across Africa and Eurasia received a major boost in October 2007. Countries from China to South Africa gathered in Scotland under the chairmanship of the UK and United Arab Emirates, to draw up a new agreement for concerted international conservation action. This is the first of two planned meetings at which governments will work alongside key conservationists under the auspices of the international Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). The process is driven by the findings two years ago that 50% of migratory birds of prey in the African-Eurasian region have a poor conservation status and many are showing rapid or long-term population declines. A variety of human-induced threats are driving declines in migratory birds of prey and owls, such as habitat loss and degradation, collisions with aerial structures and electrocution by power lines. Climate change is a further concern. Illegal activities such as shooting and poisoning are a key threat - a point emphasised by the massacre earlier that month of 52 Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus by poachers in Cyprus. |
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Migratory Agreement |
Satellite tracking of Greater Flamingos:
Six Greater Flamingos Phoenicopterus roseus are currently being satellite-tracked
on migration, after being tagged at Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi.
The programme was started in 2005 by the Environment Agency -Abu Dhabi (EAD).
This technique has provided new and interesting information on local movement
and wetland use patterns of flamingos marked in 2005 and 2007 and has also
clearly documented the origin and range of birds wintering in the UAE. You
can follow the movements of Sinbad the Flamingo on the EAD website: |
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New Reserves |
Three new Biosphere Reserves approved: In September 2007 three new Biosphere Reserves were approved. These were in Marawah (United Arab Emirates), J al Riane (Lebanon) and J al Reem (Qatar). (Source: Salwa M Abdelhameed) |
UZBEKISTAN
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New Bird Society |
New conservation organisation in Uzbekistan: After the required legal process, the Uzbekistan Society for the Protection of Birds (UzSPB) was formally established in November 2007 - this is the first ornithological NGO in the country and it is hoped that it will eventually become a partner of BirdLife International. The goals of the Society are: the conservation and rehabilitation of the gene pool of birds permanently and temporarily inhabiting Uzbekistan, and meeting the cultural, educational, spiritual and other non-material demands related to the aesthetic, cultural and cognitive value of birds. The creation of the Society will serve to unite ornithologists and increase the number of professionals and birdwatchers working in the national IBA programme. The Chairman of the Society is Uzbekistan's leading ornithologist Professor Oleg Mitropolsky and the Executive Director, and coordinator of the national IBA programme, is Dr Roman Kashkarov. Membership of UzSPB is open to everyone interested in birds, birdwatching and conservation in Uzbekistan. For more details contact: roman.kashkarov'AT'iba.uz |
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