Records and photographs for Around the Region should be sent as soon as possible after the event to Around the Region, OSME, c/o The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, U.K.  You can also email records using the form below.

The following assisted in the compilation of this review: Alexander Abuladze, Mohammad Al-Shamlih, Marc Almécija, Vasil Ananian, Ian Andrews, Sherif & Mindy Baha El Din, Thierry Bara, Jamie Buchan, Tom Coles, Judy Dawes, Barbaros Demirci, Hugues Dufourny, Marc Duquet, Peter Flint, Benoît Gauquie, George Gregory, Andrew Grieve, Richard Hoath, Abolghasem Khaleghizadeh, Fares Khoury, Graham Lobley, Mark Moore, Hilary Nash, Yoav Perlman, Ian Philip, Ghassan & Mona Ramadan-Jaradi, Colin Richardson (on behalf of the Emirates Bird Records Committee), James P. Smith, Guilhem Tightens, Andreas & Maria Wenger, David Whaley and Sadegh Sadeghi Zadegan. Records were also taken from the BirdLife Cyprus Newsletter and North Cyprus Birds website.

A Gannet Morus bassanus at Ma’agan Michael on 2 August 2003 was an unseasonal record. An incredible passage of White Storks Ciconia ciconia occurred on 8 September 2003 at Kfar Ruppin, in the Bet Shean Valley, with c. 88,000 passing during the morning. Two Scaup Aythya marila at Kfar Ruppin on 12–27 December 2003 was the 17th record for Israel and the first since 1990. An adult Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus near Kfar Ruppin on 18–23 November was the seventh record. The first Amur Falcon Falco amurensis in Israel (if accepted) involved an adult male over Afula on 3 October 2003. The Northern Valleys autumn migration survey produced the following totals: White Stork Ciconia ciconia 203,684, Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus 311,316, Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus 11, Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus 6363 (a record), Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus 2054 (an autumn record), Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus 137 (an autumn record), Levant Sparrowhawk Accipiter brevipes 80,479 (highest-ever count in Israel), Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina 81,797 and Eleonora’s Falcon Falco eleonorae 12. Nine Sociable Plovers Chettusia gregaria at Kfar Ruffin, the Golan Heights and in the Hula Valley in September/October 2003 were significant. A Pintail Snipe Gallinago stenura or Swinhoe’s Snipe Gallinago megala was at Kfar Ruppin on 2–11 September 2003. A Bridled Tern Sterna anaethetus at Atlit and Ma’agan Michael on 7 August remained until 6 September 2003, the first Mediterranean record for the country. It was an exceptional autumn for Oriental Turtle Doves Streptopelia orientalis meena, with an adult at Kfar Ruppin on 2 September, the same or another on 8 September, a first-winter there on 12 October and another first-winter in the Hula Valley on 6 November 2003 (5–7th records if accepted). Space prevents us from mentioning the large number of records recently accepted by the Israel Records & Distribution Committee; these can be viewed at: www.geocities.com/birdingisrael/RC/Rarities_Committee.htm.