Category: News

A radical change in the sequence of Non-passerine Orders and Families in the OSME Region (For example, sandgrouse move to 9th from the top of 58 from 17th from the bottom)

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...

We Invite You to Join the Sarımazı Raptor Count

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...

OSME Region List Update 4.4 (Available at https://osme.org/orl)

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...

Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus

Racing to help declining Vultures

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 auction

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 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...

Assad Serhal from Lebanon wins the Midori Prize

Assad Serhal from Lebanon wins the Midori Prize

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...

International Bird Observatory Conference 2019

International Bird Observatory Conference 2019

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...

Interested in an organised birding trip to Lebanon?

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...

Hyaena records from across the OSME region wanted

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 2017

OSME’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017

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...

The OSME Summer meeting and 40th AGM

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....

Podcasts from the OSME region

Podcasts from the OSME region

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....