Bird flyways and stopover conservation sites in the Arabian Peninsula

Abstract

The Arabian Peninsula is important for migratory bird species crossing between Africa, Asia and Europe. Implementing the flyway approach to conservation, the key sites in the Arabian Peninsula should be identified and protected. In this study the important sites were identified using information published on the migration strategies of individual populations and the data available on the Important Birds Areas (IBA) published in 1994. The results showed that the bottlenecks sites, IBA in the coastal areas, and islands with breeding seabirds are probably the priority sites need argent attention and protection. Factor negatively affecting the migratory species need to be identified and removed. The Wing Over Wetland (WOW) project could be one of the possibilities for miratory birds conservation, as it supports coordination between contries in the flyway and is in the legal framework of international conventions such as Ramsar and AEWA.

Key words:

• Bird migration
• Important Bord Area (IBA)
• migration bottleneck
• winter quarters