Helping European Rollers in Northern Cyprus

A guest blog by Amie Wheeldon on encouraging the re-establishment of European Rollers at breeding grounds in Northern Cyprus The European Roller Coracias garrulus is a charismatic species that was once more abundant in Cyprus, where it...

Tape lures maximise the slaughter of songbirds in Cyprus

Guest blog by Matteo Sebastianelli Crossing the Mediterranean Sea represents a crucial step for migrant birds every year as they travel between Africa and Eurasia. Mediterranean islands are the first landmasses sighted after hours of uninterrupted flight...

OSME is now on YouTube

We have recently set up a YouTube channel to enable us to post video content that is relevant to the work of OSME and the birds of our wonderful region. The first video to be posted is...

Common Swifts in Iran – a Conservation Project

A guest blog by Abraham Shokouhi I became very curious about the Common Swift Apus apus pekinensis in 2013 when I attended training courses for eco-tourism guides and birdwatching tour guides. It looked a very interesting and...

The Turkestan Ground-jay in Uzbekistan

Guest blog by Robert J. Burnside I have been working in the Kyzylkum desert, in Uzbekistan, since 2013 on the ecology and conservation of the Asian Houbara with the University of East Anglia, BirdLife International and the...

OSME online Summer Meeting – programme & registration

OSME will be holding our first online Summer Meeting using Zoom on the 15th August. We have an exciting line-up of speakers from across the OSME region covering Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Socotra and central Asia. There will also...

OSME’s first online Summer Meeting – save the date!

Saturday 15th August: 10.30-12.45 (BST) One of the few positive things to come out of the global coronavirus pandemic is the rise of online webinars, meetings and conferences. Whether these will totally replace the face-to-face meetings that...

The OSME Region List of bird taxa v6.1

is now available here Version 6.1 follows the genus change in IOC10.2 of African Crake from Crex to Crecopis as predicted in v5.2 (Garcia-Ramirez et al 2020). A new species for the OSME Region was the arrival...

‘Mangrove White-eye’ Zosterops sp. indet. Either Mangroves, Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia, 2 June 2016 © Jem Babbington. Showing bright general colouration.

Update on the ‘Mangrove White-eye’ in Saudi Arabia

Guest blog by Jem Babbington The Abyssinian White-eye Zosterops abyssinicus occurs in the highlands of southwestern Arabia and eastern Africa in well-wooded areas above 1,000 m above sea level. Interestingly the discovery of mangrove dwelling White-eyes by...