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Sandgrousevolume 42(1) 2020 SandgrouseVOLUME 42(1) 2020 ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE EAST THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE EAST THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA For details of OSME’s aims, membership, meetings, conservation and research funding, OSMEBirdNet, OSME recommended bird taxonomy, Sandgrouse instructions for authors and news and tweets see www.osme.org. VICE PRESIDENTS (AS AT FEBRUARY 2020): Dr Sergey Sklyarenko (Kazakhstan), Dr Ali Adhami Mirhosseyni (Iran), Dr Azzam Alwash (Iraq), Melis Charalambides (Cyprus), Dr Nabegh Ghazal Asswad (Syria). COUNCIL (AS AT FEBRUARY 2020): Michael Blair ([email protected], ORL Listmaster) Dr Robert Sheldon ([email protected], Paul Donald ([email protected], Chairman) Sandgrouse editor) AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan Tomas Haraldsson (youthdevelopment@ ([email protected], osme.org, Youth Development Officer) Website management–co-opted) Ian Harrison Paul Stancliffe Chris Hughes ([email protected], Effie Warr ([email protected], membership@ [email protected], Joint Treasurer & Advertising) osme.org, Sales & Membership–co-opted) Georgia Locock John Warr ([email protected], Nick Moran Joint Treasurer–co-opted). Sajidah Ahmad ([email protected], Secretary) CONSERVATION FUND COMMITTEE (AS AT FEBRUARY 2020): Dr Maxim Koshkin (Convener), Dr Nabegh Ghazal Asswad, Mick Green, Sharif Jbour, Richard Porter. OSME CORPORATE MEMBERS: Avifauna Nature Tours, Birdfinders, Birdtour Asia, Greentours, NHBS, Oriole Birding, Rockjumper Birding Tours, Sunbird. Sandgrouse: OSME’s peer-reviewed scientific journal publishes papers and notes on the ornithology primarily of the OSME region. If in doubt email the editor (Dr Paul Donald, [email protected], BirdLife International and University of Cambridge, UK). Editorial Board: AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan (Kuwait), Vasil Ananian (Armenia), Dr Raffael Ayé (Switzerland), Jem Babbington (Saudi Arabia, photo consultant) Arnoud van den Berg (Netherlands), Michael Blair (UK), Chris Bradshaw (UK), Dr Gary Brown (Germany), Oscar Campbell (UAE), Peter Castell (UK), Peter Flint (UK), Dr Robert Flood (UK), Paul Goriup (UK), Jens Hering (Germany), Mike Jennings (UK), Dr Abolghasem Khaleghizadeh (Iran), Dr Fares Khoury (Jordan), Dr Alan Knox (UK), Andrew Lassey (UK), Dr Mike McGrady (Austria), Dr Stephen Newton (Ireland), Yoav Perlman (Israel), Aasheesh Pittie (India), Richard Porter (UK), Colin Richardson (Cyprus), Dr Manuel Schweizer (Switzerland), Dr Derek Scott (UK), Dr Robert Sheldon (UK), Arend Wassink (Netherlands), Geoff Welch (France). OSME and BirdLife International work together to conserve birds Registered charity no 282938 OSME, c/o The Lodge, Sandy, Beds SG19 2DL, UK ©2020 Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia www.osme.org Sandgrouse VOLUME 42 (1) 2020 2 The distribution and numbers of Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus 139 Obituary: Peter Cowan crispus on the Central Asian flyway between 1990 and 2015. (1947-2019). ROB SHELDON AIKATERINI CHRISTOPOULOU, ARIS MANOLOPOULOS & GIORGOS CATSADORAKIS 140 Obituary: Chris Naylor 29 The development of the Besh Barmag Bird Migration Count in (1961-2019) and Susanna Azerbaijan and its importance for the monitoring of Eurasian Naylor (1965-2019). migrant birds. MICHAEL HEISS, KAI GAUGER, CHRISTOPH HImmEL, PIA FETTING, BARBARA MEARNS TOmaS AXÉN HARALDSSON, GABRIEL CAUcaL, ZÜLFÜ F R CLI & ELCHIN SULTANOV 143 From the Rarities 46 A corridor of soaring bird migration in Lebanon on the Eastern Committees. IAN HARRISON Mediterranean flyway. BERND-ULRICH MEYBURG, IVAYLO ANGELOV & SamER AzaR (COMPILER) 59 The world’s largest gathering of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis 155 Letter from the Chairman. discovered in central Saudi Arabia. MISCHA KEIJMEL, JEM BABBINGTON, ROB SHELDON PHIL ROBERTS, MIKE McgRADY & BERND-ULRICH MEYBURG 159 Book review: Birds of Cyprus. 69 Assessing long-term changes in the raptor fauna of the Fertile MIKE BLAIR Crescent by reference to the nineteenth century works of Canon HB 162 Around the Region. Tristram. REENA SAEED & MazIN B. QUMSIYEH IAN HARRISON (COMPILER) 78 Status of breeding seabirds on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt Photo above: Lesser from 2012 to 2018. OHamED BRAHIM ABIB M I H Flamingos Phoeniconaias 84 An unprecedented influx of Black-throated Thrushes Turdus minor, March 2019, South of atrogularis to the United Arab Emirates in winter 2016/17. Jizan, Jizan Province, Saudi OScaR CamPBELL & MARK SMILES Arabia. The first attempted breeding of this species in 92 Additional data on African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus eximius in Saudi Arabia is discussed Saudi Arabia. EM ABBINGTON HIL OBERTS J B & P R in an article in this issue of 100 The first records of Paddyfield Pipit Anthus rufulus for the United Sandgrouse. © Phil Roberts Arab Emirates and the Arabian peninsula with notes on their Cover photo: Steppe Eagles identification. ScaR amPBELL ARK MILES IMON LOYD O C , M S & S L Aquila nipalensis, Ushaiqer 111 First successful breeding of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus dump site, Ushaiqer, Riyadh and first attempted breeding of Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor Province, Saudi Arabia, in Saudi Arabia. PHILIP ROBERTS & JEM BABBINGTON November 2019. These birds were part of the largest ever 115 Observations of White-faced Whistling Duck Dendrocygna viduata recorded aggregation of this in Iraq. UDHafaR ALIM amEEDH ASSIR ALwaN LI BED ICHARD ORTER M A S , W S Y , S A A , R P , globally threatened species, the MOHammED T JABBAR, LAITH ALI AL-OBEIDI, HAIDAR A HADI & ZamaN S HARBI discovery of which is described 118 Breeding of Saker Falcon Falco cherrug in Armenia. MIKHAIL KOREPOV & in this issue of Sandgrouse. KAREN AGHABABAYN © Jem Babbington 122 New nest sites of Black Stork Ciconia nigra in Khuzestan Province, Iran. MOSTafa YUSEFI, SEIFOLAH HASHEMI, KERamaT HafEZI & ALI T QASHqaEI 125 Kleptoparasitism by Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus of an unusual prey item of Sooty Falcons Falco concolor. MEIDAD GOREN & SHLOMI SEgaLL 128 ESSAY: Historical bird identification – reflections from a Cyprus perspective. PETER FLINT Sandgrouse 42 (2020) 1 The distribution and numbers of Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus on the Central Asian flyway between 1990 and 2015 AIKATERINI CHRISTOPOULOU, ARIS MANOLOPOULOS & GIORGOS CATSADORAKIS Summary: The countries of Central Asia hold 50-80% of the global population of the Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus but the breeding distribution and population size are only poorly known. We thus made a systematic effort to collect, compile and map all the breeding information available from a variety of publications and databases for the period 1990-2015. We located 260 different sites with counts of Dalmatian Pelicans. The species breeds regularly or occasionally at 54 sites, 41 of which are situated in the countries of the former USSR. A rough approximation of the overall breeding population in this part of the world for the period 2000-2010 lies between 3000 and 4366 pairs, with a possible increase of the order of 46%-120% since the 1980s. The present un-weighted geographical centre of the breeding distribution in the countries of the former USSR has shown a north-eastwards shift of c767 km compared to that of the 1970-1980s. Colonies in the southern and more arid parts of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan) have been abandoned and new sites colonised further north, probably due to milder winter and spring temperatures. INTRODUCTION Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus is a species of global conservation concern, recently downlisted from Vulnerable (VU) to Near Threatened (NT) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2018). Its geographical distribution is limited to the Palearctic biogeographic region, from Montenegro to China (Catsadorakis et al 2015). In 2018 the world population of the Dalmatian Pelican was estimated to be between 22 000 and 27 000 individuals and 7350-9000 breeding pairs (Catsadorakis & Portolou 2018). During the last 30 years the species has been recorded as a breeding species more or less regularly in Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, the Russian Plate 1. Dalmatian Pelicans Pelecanus crispus, Lake Kerkini, Greece. © Giorgos Catsadorakis 2 Sandgrouse 42 (2020) Federation (hereafter Russia), Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and irregularly in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran (Catsadorakis & Portolou 2016). Recently it has also bred in Kuwait (OSME 2019), and it also occurs as a non-breeding summer visitor, winter visitor and passage migrant in North Macedonia, Iraq, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. The world population of the Dalmatian Pelican is divided into three more or less distinct population groups belonging to three different flyways, each with different features. The Black Sea/Mediterranean flyway group consists of c16-18 well-known breeding concentrations (colonies and groups of interconnected colonies) and the birds are short-distance migrants overwintering within a radius of less than 1000 km from their nesting colonies (Crivelli et al 2000, Catsadorakis et al 2015). The overall size of the Black Sea/Mediterranean flyway population is estimated at about 2800-3000 pairs (Catsadorakis & Portolou 2018). The East Asian flyway population breeds in Mongolia and winters in China. Its size is not accurately known but it is less than 100, and the nesting colonies in Mongolia are only partly identified, as are the wintering sites in China. This is clearly a long-distance migratory population that is threatened with extinction
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