The OSME Summer meeting and 41st AGM

The OSME Summer Meeting and 41st AGM will be held at BTO Headquarters, Thetford, Norfolk on Saturday 29th June. Doors will open at 10.00am for members and non-members to meet old and new friends over coffee and...

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...

Bird Camp Lebanon 2019 5-8 April

After developing the Bird Camp concept at Besh Barmag in Azerbaijan during 2016-2017 we did one in Lebanon in October 2018. Bringing youth together from different countries to learn about bird and nature conservation, and in the process exchange...

The wintering population of Egyptian Vultures in Ethiopia

Guest Blog by Volen Arkumarev During the second half of January 2019 a team from BSPB, RSPB, BirdLife Africa, EWNHS, SCF, NCF and APLORI**(full details below) conducted a field survey to establish the number of wintering Egyptian Vultures in...

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...

I LOVE NATURE 7

Guest blog by Leyla Muslim Hi. My name is Leyla. I live in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. Since 2010 I am a member and volunteer of Nature Friends (an NGO) in Azerbaijan. Our aim is to enlighten more...

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...

OSME Chairman’s report on 2018, and the year ahead

The year 2018 was a hugely significant one for OSME as we celebrated our 50th anniversary. In 1968, The Ornithological Society of Turkey (OST) was launched, and in 1978 its geographical remit expanded and became the Ornithological...

Azerbaijan and the Besh Barmag project

Guest blog from Gunay Behramzade Hello my name is Gunay and I’m an ecologist. Since my childhood I have a great passion for nature, but my great interest in birds started during my university years when I met German...

The Arabic App of Birds of the Middle East

A key focus for OSME over the last year has been the production of a smartphone App version of the Arabic field guide to the birds of the Middle East. In April 2018 we were able to...

Fighting illegal bird killing

A guest blog by Lloyd Scott The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) is a European bird protection NGO based in Bonn Germany. Each year, we bring together around 250 volunteers from across the globe to conduct strategic...

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...

Bird Camp Lebanon

A guest blog from Tomas Axen Haraldsson ”Are ALL those birds eagles you mean? But there are hundreds of them…!” Shouts of excitement and disbelief from Lebanese picnic tables as the spectacle of bird migration overwhelms local villagers during...