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Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay

Birdwatching in Kuwait Bay in July. Jahra Pools Reserve, Doha Spur and Sulaibikhat Bay.

Text by Stam Zogaris - photos by Aris Vidalis

Kuwait Bay at high noon in early July, with an incoming sand-storm and temperatures just over 40 oC. Even at the oddest times, it could be rewarding to take a drive 20 minutes west of Kuwait City, for some birdwatching! We visited without a guide, even without a scope, just binoculars and a camera. And we were impressed. In fact, the "Autumn migration" had already begun for some waterbirds, and we were surprised to find concentrations of post-breeding flocks even this early, this far south. At Jahra Pools Reserve, we realized that we had found the jewel-in-the-crown of Kuwait’s birding hot-spots.


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At 11 am on the second of July 2011 we arrived at Jahra Pools Reserve (c. 35 km west of Kuwait City). It was high tide and a strong shore-ward north wind was blowing. Amazingly there is freshwater here! The water is artificially provided by a sewage treatment outfall, but within proximity of the vast sabkha salt flats and natural mudflats at the southwest corner of the Bay. The ponds and Phragmites reedbeds created by the water are oasis-like. Green reed-beds and muddy shallows surrounded by sand flats, and a hint of the escarpment’s desert hills in the distance. And this is now to some degree, a protected-area, partially fenced in (but the fence does have holes in it). Two guards greeted us kindly and allowed us to enter. Apart from a few older shot-gun cartridges scattered at the site, it seems that the birds are rarely disturbed here. Obviously visitors to Kuwait, even locals, rarely come here. In just one hour we spotted 22 bird species and made some interesting observations on fall migration start-time and breeding potential of this small wetland.

First the breeding potential of the site. Kuwait is a desert country with very few breeding birds. We noticed that at least 5 species showed evidence of having bred at this site, and these include Black-necked Stilt, Purple Gallinule, Moorhen, and Kentish Plover. We also observed and photographed juveniles of both Lesser Sand-Plover and Greater Sand-Plover and are still unsure if these species could possibly breed here.

Second, the start of migration. Kuwait Bay is at the southeastern extremity of the Western Palaearctic region, so it is immediately interesting for bird biogeography and migration – little is published about the specific passage dates of many species, especially during the long hot arid summer months. Our luckily-timed visit during high-tide at Jahra showed that many south-flying migrants reach Kuwait even as early as the beginning of July. We saw impressive numbers of fall migrants during July 2 2011, including: mixed flocks of Greater and Lesser Sand-Plovers, several terns in flocks and no less than 6 sandpiper species (Tringa spp). Total numbers were also rather impressive, especially the stilts – with several locally-fledged juveniles (see Table 1).

Next we went to Doha Spur (near Power Plant outfall) in Sulaibikhat Bay a few kilometers east of Jahra. This is also a nature reserve, marked only by new green sign. Here we find another artificial water outfall, presumably this time a major outlet for seawater coolant used by the Doha power stations. It is an estuary-like situation – the water pours out like a river into the vast tidal flats. On this visit, the tide was still high and the birds were forced to gather upland near the outfall’s narrow bay, including about 245 gulls and terns. The visibility was poor and here you really do need a telescope. Between 12:35 and 13:10 we spotted 14 taxa, several unidentified to species, but tantalizing. It was beautiful out there on the flats.

Next site, also in Sulaibikhat Bay but closer to Kuwait City was accessed via Granada road, one of the few points of easy access that was perceptible to us on a heavily modified coastline that is slated "to be developed". Here we did not find good habitat or large numbers of birds- the coastline has largely been in-filled with soil and construction-site debris, and the choppy sea was a dark dirty brown. The only really special bird was a flashing glimpse of a Terek Sandpiper in flight. A few Greater Sand-Plovers also flitted along the beach; the wind strong, visibility was worsening. Garbage was strewn everywhere along the beach and the artificial shoreline - obviously the natural coastal Sabkha has been completely filled-in here– it really looked like a wasteland. We had to leave, the sandstorm was closing in…

 

Table 1. List of birds and site counts. Nomenclature follows the The OSME Region List of Bird Taxa (ORL) (Richard Porter, Simon Aspinall, Steve Preddy & Mike Blair, 2/2011). * Refers to breeding evidence.

 

English Name

Scientific Name

Sites

     

Jahra Pools

Doha Outfall

Sulaibikhat Granada

 

PELECANIFORMES: Ardeidae

     

1

Gray Heron

Ardea cinerea

 

1

 

2

Western Reef-Heron

Egretta gularis

 

1

 

3

Squacco Heron

Ardeola ralloides

1

   
 

Egret sp.                                      Egretta sp.

 

1

 
 

GRUIFORMES: Rallidae

     

5

Purple Swamphen

Porphyrio porphyrio

2*

   

6

Eurasian Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

4*

   
 

CHARADRIIFORMES: Charadriidae

     

7

Lesser Sand-Plover

Charadrius mongolus

7+

10+

 

8

Greater Sand-Plover

Charadrius leschenaultii

7+

5+

2

9

Kentish Plover

Charadrius alexandrinus

30*

   

10

Little Ringed Plover

Charadrius dubius

4

   
 

Sand-Plover spp.

Charadrius mongolus /leschenaultii

27

40

 
 

Charadrius plover sp.

Charadrius sp.

   

2

 

Plover species                              Charadriidae sp.

 

5

 
 

CHARADRIIFORMES: Dromadidae

     

11

Crab Plover

Dromas ardeola

 

2

 
 

CHARADRIIFORMES: Recurvirostridae

     

12

Black-winged Stilt

Himantopus himantopus

60*

   
 

CHARADRIIFORMES: Scolopacidae

     

13

Terek Sandpiper

Xenus cinereus

   

1

14

Common Sandpiper

Actitis hypoleucos

1

   

15

Green Sandpiper

Tringa ochropus

11

   

16

Spotted Redshank

Tringa erythropus

1+

   

17

Common Greenshank

Tringa nebularia

25

5

 

18

Marsh Sandpiper

Tringa stagnatilis

1

   

19

Common Redshank

Tringa totanus

 

1

 

20

Unidentified Sandpipers

Tringa spp.

 

5

 

21

Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquata

 

3

 

22

Black-tailed Godwit

Limosa limosa

2

   
 

CHARADRIIFORMES: Laridae

     

23

Slender-billed Gull

Chroicocephalus genei

 

115

 

24

Little Tern

Sternula albifrons

60

20

2

25

Caspian Tern

Hydroprogne caspia

 

6

 

26

Black Tern

Chlidonias niger

7

   

27

White-winged Tern

Chlidonias leucopterus

8

   

28

Whiskered Tern

Chlidonias hybrida

2

   

29

White-cheeked Tern

Sterna repressa

3

   

30

Sandwich Tern

Thalasseus sandvicensis

 

15

 

31

Lesser Crested Tern

Thalasseus bengalensis

 

20

 2

 

COLUMBIFORMES: Columbidae

     

32

Rock Pigeon (feral)

Columba livia (domestica)

   

15

33

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Streptopelia decaocto

25

 

25

 

PASSERIFORMES: Hirundinidae

     

34

Bank Swallow

Riparia riparia

5

   

35

Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

20

   
 

PASSERIFORMES: Acrocephalidae

     
 

Reed-Warbler sp.                   Acrocephalus sp

1

   
 

PASSERIFORMES: Sturnidae

     

36

Common Myna

Acridotheres tristis

   

1

 

PASSERIFORMES: Passeridae

     

37

House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

100*

 

50

 

Resources

 

A Al-Sirhan (compiler) 2010. Kuwait Annotated Checklist of Birds. Kuwait Ornithological Rarities Committee. Available at: http://www.hawar-islands.com/blog/media/blogs/kuwait/2010/check_list/Kuw...

Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay
Summer waterbirds on Kuwait Bay