Category: Guest Blogs

Raptor Conservation in Oman

A guest blog by Maïa Sarrouf Willson about Oman’s efforts to conserve raptors The Sultanate of Oman is home to 39 species of raptors that occur as passage migrants, winter visitors or resident breeders. These include 21...

Conservation is Syria is thriving

A guest blog by Nabegh Ghazal Asswad on behalf of the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife The Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), concerned with the conservation of...

A Double-MEGA-twitch in Lebanon

Guest blog by Fouad Itani Lebanon has been in the news a lot in the past few years, a refugee crisis following the war in Syria, on-going economic crises and the depreciation of the Lebanese pound, a...

Turkey’s Largest Egyptian Vulture Breeding Area

Guest blog by Şafak Arslan of Doga The Egyptian Vulture is globally threatened and among the species in most rapid decline across its range including the Eastern Europe populations. Previous studies by Doga (the BirdLife Partner in...

Steppe-Whimbrel

Finding Steppe Whimbrel in Abu Dhabi

Guest blog by Oscar Campbell – with thanks to Simon Lloyd The start of it all. It was this image that really got us thinking seriously that we might, at last, have got the cigar. The underwing...

Helping European Rollers in Northern Cyprus

A guest blog by Amie Wheeldon on encouraging the re-establishment of European Rollers at breeding grounds in Northern Cyprus The European Roller Coracias garrulus is a charismatic species that was once more abundant in Cyprus, where it...

Tape lures maximise the slaughter of songbirds in Cyprus

Guest blog by Matteo Sebastianelli Crossing the Mediterranean Sea represents a crucial step for migrant birds every year as they travel between Africa and Eurasia. Mediterranean islands are the first landmasses sighted after hours of uninterrupted flight...

Common Swifts in Iran – a Conservation Project

A guest blog by Abraham Shokouhi I became very curious about the Common Swift Apus apus pekinensis in 2013 when I attended training courses for eco-tourism guides and birdwatching tour guides. It looked a very interesting and...

The Turkestan Ground-jay in Uzbekistan

Guest blog by Robert J. Burnside I have been working in the Kyzylkum desert, in Uzbekistan, since 2013 on the ecology and conservation of the Asian Houbara with the University of East Anglia, BirdLife International and the...

‘Mangrove White-eye’ Zosterops sp. indet. Either Mangroves, Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia, 2 June 2016 © Jem Babbington. Showing bright general colouration.

Update on the ‘Mangrove White-eye’ in Saudi Arabia

Guest blog by Jem Babbington The Abyssinian White-eye Zosterops abyssinicus occurs in the highlands of southwestern Arabia and eastern Africa in well-wooded areas above 1,000 m above sea level. Interestingly the discovery of mangrove dwelling White-eyes by...