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,...
Guest blog by Mazin Qumsiyeh and Elias Handal The Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) started in Bethlehem University through volunteer effort with a mission of research, education and conservation for our environment. Our two dozen scientific...
More than 20 000 individuals of the Endangered White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) were recently recorded whilst on migration at the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn lake system in the Akmola region of Kazakhstan. This number of birds exceeds all the previous...
Northern Bald Ibis: updates on the Eastern population The conservation of Northern Bald Ibis has (for the first time in its history) been on a relatively positive trajectory in Morocco over the past twenty years, with almost...
Over the weekend of the 19th – 21st August NGOs, charities, tour groups and about 20,000 people interested in birds descend on Rutland Water for the annual British Birdwatching Fair, aka The Birdfair. It is always an...
The Batumi Birding Festival (Sept. 25th to Oct. 1st): Mass raptor migration, accommodation in a five star hotel, top speakers like Dick Forsman and the Urban Birder – what could be a better birding holiday? The Birding Weeks: the End of...
A Bridled Tern that turned up dead in Okinawa Prefecture had apparently flown 7,500 kilometers to Japan from a small island in the Persian Gulf, the first confirmed case of avian migration between the regions. According to...
OSME has received news that Pakistan Supreme Court has lifted the ban on the hunting of Houbara Bustard in the country. This controversial decision will please some people but horrify others. Each permit apparently allows the dignitary,...
The latest (October 2015) issue of Wings & Waves, the newsletter of SPNL/Birdlife Lebanon, is available at the following link: http://www.spnl.org/wings-waves-newsletter-october-2015/ Articles include: 1. SPNL participates in MAVA’s Strategic Planning Workshop for the Mediterranean Basin Programme From 17...
It has been known for some time that the veterinary drug Diclofenac has been the main cause of the unprecedented Asian vulture declines. OSME was therefore extremely pleased to learn of an important announcement made by Iran’s...
OSME has received exciting news from Birdlife International on the monitoring and tagging of Sociable Lapwing – which has been financially supported by OSME’s Conservation and Research Fund for a number of years. On 28 September, a...
OSME has received the welcome news that the Government of Iraq has recently designated the Central Marshes and the Hammar Marsh in the southern part of the country as Wetlands of International Importance (‘Ramsar Sites’) under the...
OSME has received news regarding the State of Kuwait becoming the 169th Contracting Party of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (on 5 September, 2015). On the occasion of accession to the Ramsar Convention, and in fulfilment of a...