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 36 (1) Spring 2014 Cover photo: Cream-coloured Coursers Cursorius cursor , Judea plains east of Beit Kama, Israel, 26 September 2013. © Amir Ben Dov
1 Contents. 2 Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius in Syria during 2011: status, presence, habitat survey. Nabegh Ghazal Asswad 8 The populations and distribution of the breeding birds of the Socotra archipelago, Yemen: 2. Shearwaters to Terns. RF Porter & Ahmed Saeed Suleiman 34 Bird records from south-central Uzbekistan, 2010–2013. Thomas Edward Martin, Valentin Nivet-Mazerolles, Cecile Landsmann, Mathieu Guillemin, Jérôme Dubos, Frédéric Vallejo & Valery Dombrovski 50 Further records of Small Buttonquail Turnix sylvaticus and ‘mangrove white-eye’ Zosterops sp in southwest Saudi Arabia. Jem Babbington & Philip Roberts 53 Desert bird species found in the Afro-Arabian rift valley desert of the gulf of Aden and southern Red sea region. PJ Cowan 58 The mystery of the ‘Syrian’ Serins wintering in northern Iraq is solved. RF Porter 61 First record for Iran of Black-naped Monarch Hypothymis azurea , near Jask city, Hormozgan province. Ali Alieslam 63 Is the Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala displacing the endemic Cyprus Warbler S. melanothorax on Cyprus? Peter Flint & Alison McArthur 110 From the Rarities Committees. Ian Harrison (compiler) 117 Reviews. 119 OSME News. Robert Sheldon 124 News & Information. Dawn Balmer (compiler) 129 Around the Region. Ian Harrison & Chris Lamsdell (compilers)
Editor: Dr Peter Cowan OSME Editor , Department of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, University of Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman Editorial Advisors Vasil Ananian, Paul Goriup, Mike Jennings, Dr Fares Khoury, Guy Kirwan, Dr Mike McGrady, Dr Stephen Newton, Arend Wassink Photographic Editor Paul Doherty Reviews Editor Guy Kirwan Identification Consultants Arnoud van den Berg, Chris Bradshaw, Andrew Lassey, Richard Porter
