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 44 (1) Spring 2022
Special feature: Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Advancing the Conservation of the Great Bustard in Asia’ (Editors: Mimi Kessler & Nigel J Collar)
Cover photo: Western Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in display in Parndorfer Platte, Austria. © Franz Josef Kovacs. This issue contains a special section presenting the Proceedings of the International Conference “Advancing the Conservation of the Great Bustard in Asia”
| 3 | Proceedings of the International Conference “Advancing the Conservation of the Great Bustard in Asia”: Editors’ preface. |
| MIMI KESSLER & NIGEL J. COLLAR | |
| 6 | Status of the Western Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Asia and its significance to an updated estimate of the global population of Great Bustards. |
| MIMI KESSLER | |
| 14 | The Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is faced with extinction in Iran. |
| RAHIM ABDULKARIMI | |
| 19 | The Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is Critically Endangered in Turkmenistan. |
| ELDAR ANVEROVICH RUSTAMOV | |
| 26 | The historical and current status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Uzbekistan, a key winter refuge. |
| ROMAN DANIILOVICH KASHKAROV, YULIA OLEGOVNA MITROPOLSKAYA & ANNA GENNADYEVNA TEN | |
| 35 | The historically abundant Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is almost extirpated from western Kazakhstan. |
| MIMI KESSLER & FEDOR GRIGORIEVICH BIDASHKO | |
| 40 | The diminished status of Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in central Kazakhstan. |
| MAXIM KOSHKIN, ALEKSEI TIMOSHENKO & ALBERT SALEMGAREEV | |
| 44 | Southern Kazakhstan is crucial to the survival of Central Asia’s remaining Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations. |
| GEORGIY SHAKULA, FEDOR SHAKULA, VLADIMIR SHAKULA, SVETLANA BASKAKOVA & MIMI KESSLER | |
| 59 | A comprehensive review of records shows eastern Kazakhstan has multiple opportunities to conserve the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda year-round. |
| GEORGIY SHAKULA, FEDOR SHAKULA, SVETLANA BASKAKOVA & MIMI KESSLER | |
| 79 | Breeding and migratory Great Bustards Otis tarda tarda persist in the Zaisan lake basin, eastern Kazakhstan. |
| KONSTANTIN PAVLOVICH PROKOPOV | |
| 80 | The near-extirpation of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda as a wintering and breeding species in Tajikistan. |
| RUSTAM SHARIFOVICH MURATOV & KHURSAND MIRZOSHOEVICH TALBONOV | |
| 83 | Status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda in Kyrgyzstan. |
| SERGEI V KULAGIN | |
| 86 | The urgent need for a transboundary steppe zapovednik to secure the last Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations in western Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. |
| ALEKSANDR ALEKSEEVICH NEFEDOV | |
| 97 | The diminishing status of Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Xinjiang province, north-west China. |
| MUYANG WANG & WEIKANG YANG | |
| 101 | The loss of wintering Great Bustards Otis tarda tarda from the steppes of Azerbaijan. |
| ZULFU FARAJLI | |
| 107 | The steady decline of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in the Russian Caucasus. |
| VIKTOR FEDOSOV & GADZHIBEK DZHAMIRZOYEV | |
| 113 | Unconventional habitat choices by some Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations in Turkey. |
| İBRAHİM KAAN ÖZGENCİL, MELİSA SOYLUER, MEHMET MAHİR KARATAŞ & FERDİ AKARSU |
Other articles
| 122 | Tracking of an Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus as it transitions from being a floater to a territory-holder. |
| MICHAEL MCGRADY, MATTHIAS SCHMIDT, ZAHRA ELAHI RAD & BERND-ULRICH MEYBURG | |
| 134 | Breeding of Icterine Warbler Hippolais icterina in the North Caucasus. |
| PAVEL V KVARTALNOV & YURY E KOMAROV | |
| 143 | Migration dynamics of soaring birds between autumn 2015 and spring 2019 at the Belen pass and associated threats. |
| MELTEM ÜNAL ALTUNDAĞ | |
| 157 | Recent status of Caspian Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus caspius and Black-headed Penduline Tit Remiz (pendulinus) macronyx in Azerbaijan. |
| MICHAEL HEISS & CHRISTOPH HIMMEL | |
| 161 | Updates on the avifauna of the State of Palestine. |
| SIMON AWAD, MICHAEL FARHOUD & BASHAR JARAYSEH | |
| 169 | First breeding records of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis in Turkey in the twenty-first century. |
| MÁRTON HORVÁTH, IGOR KARYAKIN, TIBOR JUHÁSZ, LUDMILA ZINEVICH, BÉLA KALOCSA & LÁSZLÓ HARASZTHY | |
| 175 | Significant breeding bird records from the United Arab Emirates from 2020 and 2021, including the first confirmed breeding record of Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica. |
| OSCAR CAMPBELL, AHMED AL-ALI & MOHAMED ALMAZROUIE | |
| 186 | First evidence of breeding White’s Thrush Zoothera aurea in Kyrgyzstan, with notes on additional records. |
| PAUL VAN ELS & CARMEN HIDDES | |
| 189 | Birds of Kazakhstan – an update. |
| AREND WASSINK | |
| 201 | First documented record of Namaqua Dove Oena capensis in Armenia. |
| LUIS MARIO ARCE & ALEXANDER RUKHAIA | |
| 206 | Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse in southern Oman: Pterocles lichtensteinii ingramsi is not endemic to Yemen. |
| JUAN ANTONIO RABANAL & STEPHEN MENZIE | |
| 209 | From the Rarities Committees. IAN HARRISON (COMPILER) |
| 220 | Letter from the Chairman. ROB SHELDON |
| 226 | Obituary: Alexey Valentinovich Koshkin (1958–2022) SN EROHOV & VV KHROKOV |
| 227 | Obituary: Michael John Everett (1941–2021) RICHARD PORTER |
| 227 | Obituary: Andrew Grieve (1947–2022) ANDREW LASSEY |
| 229 | Obituary: DIM Wallace (1933–2021) ANDREW LASSEY |
| 232 | Around the Region. IAN HARRISON (COMPILER) |