Sandgrouse is published by OSME and contains papers and short notes on the ornithology of the OSME region, provides bird and conservation news from the region and a comprehensive round up of bird sightings in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Sandgrouse Volume 27 (1) Spring 2005
Black Bush-Robin Cercotrichas podobe taken by Hadoram Shirihai at Eilat, March 2002.
| 3 | OSME NEWS |
| 5 | REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION |
| 8 | NEWS AND INFORMATION |
| compiled by DAWN BALMER & GUY M. KIRWAN | |
| 9 | A long-term bird survey in the central Syrian desert (2000-2004): Part 1- |
| G. SERRA, M.S. ABDALLAH, A.K. ASSAED, G. AL QAIM, , A.K. ABDALLAH | |
| 24 | Distribution and habitat associations of selected breeding birds in Wadi Araba, Jordan |
| M. AL-SHAMLIH, K. NASSAR & F. KHOURY | |
| 30 | Will the real Sykes’s Warbler please stand up? Breeding data support specific status for Hippolais rama and H. caligata, with comments on the Arabian population of ‘booted warbler’ |
| P. CASTELL & G. M. KIRWAN | |
| 37 | Observations from Syria with notes on 11 new breeding species |
| D. MURDOCH | |
| 46 | Azerbaijan: a miscellany of recent bird observations (Status and occurrence of selected visiting species and amending known breeding ranges) |
| S. ASPINALL | |
| 53 | The breeding avifauna of the Umm Al-Qamari Islands protected area, Saudi Arabia |
| S. OSTROWSKI, M. SHOBRAK, A. AL-BOUG, A. KHOJA & E. BEDIN | |
| 63 | Bird observations from Iran in February–March 2001, including a new species for the Middle East |
| T. ROTH, R. AYE, R. BURRI & M. SCHWEIZER | |
| 69 | Ornithological observations from Lebanon during 2003–4 |
| G. RAMADAN-JARADI, S. P. WATERBURY & M. RAMADAN-JARADI | |
| 74 | First records of Yellow-throated Sparrow Petronia (Gymnoris) xanthocollis from Syria |
| D. MURDOCH | |
| 75 | The first American Golden Plover Pluvialis dominica in Oman and Arabia |
| A. GRIEVE, B. J. N. HILL, P. A. LASSEY & D. I. M. WALLACE | |
| 77 | Dunn’s Lark Eremalauda dunni – a first record for Syria |
| G. SERRA | |
| 79 | Phenology of Common Swift Apus apus in the Middle East – Tehran, Iran |
| A. KHALEGHIZADEH | |
| 82 | Phenology and Behaviour of the Common Swift Apus apus in Israel (Holy Birds, or the Common Swifts Apus apus of Jerusalem’s Western Wall) |
| U. TIGGES & H. MENDELSSOHN | |
| 88 | REVIEWS & RECENT LITERATURE |
| 90 | AROUND THE REGION |
| Compiled by DAWN BALMER AND KEITH BETTON |
| Editor: | Michael Blair OSME Editor |
| Features Editor | Situation Vacant |
| Assistant Editor | Dawn Balmer |
| Editorial Committee | Paul Goriup, Mike Jennings, Rodney Martins, Peter L. Meininger & Dr Stephen Newton |
| Photographic Editor | Paul Doherty |
| Design & Production | Harry I. Scott |
| Identification Consultants | C. G. Bradshaw,Arnoud B. den Berg & Steve Madge |