Guest blog by Keramat Hafezi Birgani The Siberian Crane is a critically endangered species of birds. There used to be three populations, of which the ‘central’ population was already extinct by 2002. Omid (in Persian “hope”) is...
Guest blog by Ahmed Saeed Suleiman On Yemen’s island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean we have held events to celebrate our Egyptian Vultures and other birds of prey for several years. This...
Guest blog by Abraham Shokouhi In the first guest blog about our Common Swift Apus apus Conservation Project in Iran in 2020 I mentioned that our work is greatly assisted by citizen science. We aim to continue...
Guest blog by Lyse Mauvais In April 2023, I travelled to northeast Syria to meet falcon hunters and traders, a little over a year after publishing my first piece on falcon trafficking in Syria. I’m no ornithologist, but as a...
Do you want to witness one of the world’s best bird migration spectacles? On the first of September the third full season of Besh Barmag Bird Migration Count kicks off in Azerbaijan. For three months until 30...
The Bird Conservation Fund in the US are working with OSME to raise funds for our colleagues in Uzbekistan to support conservation work on the Critically Endangered Sociable Lapwing. The Talimarzhan Reservoir area on the Uzbekistan and...
OSME will again have a stand at the Global Birdfair to be held at the Rutland Showground, Oakham, on the 14th to 16th July. If you are an OSME member please make sure you come and visit us on...
Our Youth Development Fund was launched in 2019 and has gone from strength to strength. To date, we have supported projects in Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Lebanon and Turkey. We’ve received feedback from a number of project...
The 2023 Trevor Poyser Species Conservation Fund has been awarded to WWF-Türkiye for the project “Back to the Migration for Northern Bald Ibis in Türkiye.” The Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) occurs as two disjunct sub-populations, with the...
Guest blog by Basma Sheta I am really pleased to write this account of a training programme in the basic techniques of bird monitoring that was undertaken at Lake Manzala, Egypt in autumn 2022 and funded by...
Guest blog by Robin Snape In October 2022, KUŞKOR was granted £1,500 by OSME’s Youth Development Fund, to organise and implement a second Autumn Bird Camp on Cyprus in partnership with BirdLife Cyprus. Seventeen young people from...
Guest blog by Gregory Askew The Graceful Prinia (Prinia gracilis) is a small, brownish, long-tailed warbler of damp habits in otherwise arid environments, including in and around anthropogenic sites. Where it occurs, it’s often quite abundant—nigh ubiquitous....
Guest blog by Korsh Ararat Iraq’s geographical location connects three continents: Africa, Europe, and Asia making it an important area for both resident and migratory bird species. There are approximately 412 bird species in Iraq, of which 19 are globally...
It is pleasing to reflect on what has been another successful year for OSME despite ongoing and emerging challenges. This annual review is much longer than usual due to the staggering amount of work we’ve supported over...
Download the Arabic field guide to the birds of the Middle East
Joint Regional Bird Club meeting at the Natural History Museum (London): 21st September 2024
OSME AGM: 26th October 2024
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