This update incorporates, inter alia, intriguing conclusions from several heavyweight papers on: The Common/Long-legged/Upland/Mountain Buzzard superspecies. Divergence between Middle Spotted Woodpecker populations between Asian Turkey and continental Europe. (I have illustrated my blog post with images of the...
Champions of the Flyway is in its fifth year and the next Flyway Bird Race will be taking place, one again, at the end of March in Israel. So far these races and their sponsorship have raised over...
Martin Woodcock’s book collection is being auctioned by Dominic Winter Auctioneers on the 12th December. The collection includes scarce titles on Asian and African birds, and much else, and also a number of extra-illustrated “one-offs”, some with...
The 19th Turkey Bird Conference The 19th Turkey Bird Conference will take place on the 17th -22nd May 2019, in Mersin, Camliyayla. The conference will be organized by Doga, BirdLife Turkey, and Camliyayla Municipality and Kizilkaya Society, the...
This year one of the winners of the prestigious Midori Prize is our good friend from the Middle East, Assad Serhal, Director General of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (BirdLife Lebanon). Assad’s nomination...
The first International Bird Observatory Conference (IBOC) was hosted by Falsterbo Bird Observatory in Sweden over four days in August of 2014. This was the first attempt to bring together representatives from the world’s observatories at a...
Lebanon has the potential to be an excellent birding destination but there are currently few, if any, organised trips to check out the ornithological highlights. If anything, the country is better known for its high level of...
Range maps for all 4 Hyaena species including the striped hyaena, spotted hyaena, brown hyaena and aardwolf, have not been updated since 1998. Until the end of 2018, the IUCN Hyena Specialist Group is compiling observation records for all...
OSME’s Annual Report and Accounts were approved at our AGM at the BTO in Thetford, England at the beginning of July. They are being submitted to the Charity Commission, the Charity Regulator in due course for publication...
In 1968, The Ornithological Society of Turkey (OST) was launched, and in 1978 its geographical remit expanded to become the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, with the addition of The Caucasus and Central Asia in 2001....
Charlie Moores of Lush has recently done a series of excellent interviews with some key figures from the world of birdwatching and conservation in the Middle East region. They are available to listen to free from LushPlayer....
OSME has been approached to publicise opportunities for experienced ringers at the International Birdwatching and Research Centre, Eilat, Israel (IBRCE) in 2018. They are looking for experienced ringers to spend at least two months in Eilat during...
Recent publication by Jordan Birdwatch Association (JBW) – A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Madaba written by Fares Khoury. This describes 15 sites in the Madaba region which comprises a variety of bird habitats and scenic landscapes overlooking the...
Kerem Ali Boyla reports that Turkish birdwatchers have set up a committee to assess claims of rare bird sightings. The Turkish Bird Records Committee (TBRC) was formed in 2015. It is co-owner of the Turkish eBird Portal,...