Given the current extraordinary circumstances which have seen millions of people around the world confined to their homes, OSME has decided to make a pdf version of the Spring 2020 issue of Sandgrouse free for anyone to...
Given the current global coronavirus crisis, OSME have taken the decision to postpone this year’s Summer Meeting and AGM that was due to be held on the 27th June. We will wait to see what the situation...
Version 5.2 (available here) includes several species not previously recorded in the OSME region, such as African Crake Crex egregia (Eilat, Israel January 2020); its genus may change to Cecropis (Garcia-Ramirez et al 2020). More important, v5.2...
On the 18th February, OSME Chairman, Rob Sheldon will be giving a talk on the ‘Birds of the Arabian Peninsula’ for the International Association for the Study of Arabia, at the Institute for Archaeology, UCL (WC1H 0PY)....
OSME have been working with partners in Lebanon, and beyond, to develop youth Bird Camps which have now been held in October 2018, April 2019 and most recently in the autumn of 2019. This autumn’s Bird Camp...
The following short vulture updates from across the Middle East are reproduced with the permission of the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group. They are taken from the Vulture Specialist Group newsletter (issue 11). If you are interested in...
We’re delighted that after a period of significant trials we can now offer a digital edition of Sandgrouse free to all our members. It was enthusiastically welcomed at its Rutland Birdfair launch with many members requesting access....
Trevor Poyser was a giant of ornithological publishing, joint founder of the renowned publishers T & AD Poyser famous for their ground-breaking books, particularly the Species Monograph series. Trevor was also a keen supporter of OSME, as...
Photo: the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History The 11th European Bird Curators’ meeting (EBC) will be held between the 24th and the 26th of September, 2019. It will be hosted by the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History...
For the first time, OSME will be at the Spurn Migration Festival, celebrating the spectacle of autumn migration. Visit the stand for more information on OSME and the region that holds some of the most impressive migration...
OSME Region List 5.1 The OSME Region List has recently been updated and is now available on our website: https://osme.org/ORL IOC World Bird List v9.2 presents the difficult resequencing of the Non-passerine Orders, and the resequencing of many...
Turkey is home to one of the largest breeding populations of Egyptian Vultures in the world! An estimated 2000 pairs are living in Turkey – that’s around 25% of the global Egyptian vulture population. But also the...
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...