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From: sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird War Victims
Message-ID: <2367@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
Date: 22 Feb 91 19:37:00 GMT
References: <11153@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <297800002@peg>
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Organization: SCRI, Florida State University
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In article <297800002@peg> traffico@peg.UUCP writes:

 [from a report by the  World Conversation Monitoring Centre ]

>There are some very important wintering areas for waders in 
>Iraq, including tidal mudflats, marshes and deltas.  Much of 
>the Saudi coastline is sandy with no large populations of 
>waders, although Tarut Bay and the adjacent coast may have as 
>many as 30,000 wintering waders.  The Gulf coast wader 
>population in Iran is 130,000-200,000 birds.  The Shadegan 
>Marshes, on the border with Iraq have important wetland sites
>ranging from cultivated areas and freshwater marshes to 
>saltwater marshes and tidal mudflats ....
>
>(Copyright WCMC)
>
>Frank Antram

Summarized from a Dutch newspaper article, written bij a biologist employed
by the Dutch Government, about a study he had conducted for the IUCN and the
Saudi EPA :

There are 3000 km2 of tidal mudflats around the Persian Gulf. More than half
of that area is at the Northern end, especially Iran, but also Iraq and Kuwait.
Otherwise, there are significant amounts in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and
U.A.E.
Counts were done on wintering shorebirds on the Saudi tidal flats (approx
200 km2) in January and February of 1986. This is the same area and the same
time of the year as has been hit now by the oil spill.

Dunlin  (Calidris alpina)                                    116000
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)                                51000
Mongolian Plover (Charadrius mongolus)                        28000
Redshank (Tringa totanus)                                      9000
Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)                           8000
Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)                 8000
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)                             7000
Broad-billed Sandpiper (Limicola falcinellus)                  6000
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)                             6000
Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)                           6000
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)                            5000
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)                         4000
Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus)                               4000
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)                           3000
Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)                          1000
TOTAL                                                        260000

This is a bit more than the 30,000 reported by the WCMC above.
All the above birds are from the shorebird populations that breed in Western
Siberia. All of these species except Dunlin commonly winter further South :
East or South Africa or further East to India. Dunlin mostly winters at
this latitude, anywhere from the Red Sea to India (and, of course, many other
places around the world). 
Much larger numbers of shorebirds (of the same species) use the Persian Gulf
as a stopover on migration. It is the only shallow sea (i.e., with nice
mudflats) on the way to and from Western Siberia. These birds hit the Gulf
in May and August.

[End of summary]
Note that this concerns shorebirds only. As the WCMC report sys, there are
cormorants, gulls, and terns to be thought of (not to mention the dugongs).

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@scri.fsu.edu
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052  (904) 644-7045


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