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 37 (1) Spring 2015 Cover photo: Egyptian Nightjar Caprimulgus a. aegyptius , Sabkhat Al Fasl, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, 22 August 2014. © Jem Babbington
2 Birds of Wadi Sayq, Dhofar, Oman: British Exploring Society expeditions January–March 2012 and 2013 . Lawrence Ball, Waheed Al Fazari & James Borrell 13 Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus , first breeding in Kuwait and the Arabian peninsula . Khaled Al-Ghanem & AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan 16 Plumage and wing biometrics of the juvenile Cyprus Warbler Sylvia melanothorax in its Cypriot breeding grounds . Clive Walton 22 First evidence of colonization by Common Myna Acridotheres tristis in Jordan, 2013–2014 . Fares Khoury & Mohammed Alshamlih 25 Two overlooked specimens of Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris from Turkey . Andrea Corso, Justin JFJ Jansen & Guy M Kirwan 26 First record of a drongo Dicrurus in Arabia . PWP Browne 28 An annotated checklist of the birds of Turkmenistan . Eldar A Rustamov 57 The first Ruddy-breasted Crake Porzana fusca for Oman and the Middle East . Peter Olsson 60 Migrating and wintering birds feeding on berries of Arabian Boxthorn Lycium shawii bushes in Kuwait . AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan 71 Artificial waterbodies in Sarakhs county: important stopover sites for migratory waterbirds in northeastern Iran . Ali Khani, Elham Nourani, Anooshe Kafash, Sayyad Shaykhi Ilanloo, Javad Alipour & Masoud Yousefi 79 Proving the occurrence of Common Swift Apus apus pekinensis in the United Arab Emirates . Huw Roberts & Oscar Campbell 87 Common Myna Acridotheres tristis , a new invasive species breeding in Sinai, Egypt . Basem Rabia, Mindy Baha El Din†, Lina Rifai & Omar Attum 90 A white Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii (Jacquin, 1784) in Saudi Arabia . M Zafar-ul Islam, Ahmed Boug & Hein van Grouw 94 Singing Willow Tits Poecile montanus : Sino-Japanese song type recorded in the southern and western Altai, Kazakhstan, June–July 2013 . Thijs Peter Mathias Fijen 97 Photospot: Egyptian Nightjar Caprimulgus a. aegyptius . Jem Babbington 102 From the Rarities Committees Ian Harrison (compiler) 108 Obituary: Michael Desmond Gallagher . 111 Obituary: Phil Hollom . 113 News & Information . Dawn Balmer (compiler) 115 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 Identification Consultants Arnoud van den Berg, Chris Bradshaw, Andrew Lassey, Richard Porter
