Category: Guest Blogs

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...

Bird trapping in Cyprus – an update

Guest blog by Guy Shorrock  In April 2020, BirdLife Cyprus published the autumn 2019 bird trapping survey. This suggests that an estimated 440,000 birds may have been killed within the survey area over the autumn. Whilst still...

Namaqua Dove Oena capensis

Expansion of Namaqua Dove in the OSME Region

Guest blog by Łukasz Ławicki Expansion and range extension of Namaqua Dove Oena capensis in the OSME Region has been going on for several decades. But in the last decade, this process significantly increased in pace. In...