Sabah Al Ahmad City New Flying Resident
By the end of the 1st Quarter 2014 we had recorded an impressive total of 151 birds species around the Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City project. In this first quarter we recorded 67 species of which many were visiting birds that winter in Kuwait and these include a large variety of White-headed Gulls along with many Great Cormorants, as well as resident birds that are establishing themselves in and around the project.
As winter slowly subsided toward the end of February we recorded Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrines) breeding for the 2nd successive year in Phase A3 Trench in March and noted the arrival of a few early Spring migrants.
More exciting though was the discovery of 3 new bird species for the project in the form of;
 Common Gull |
 White-spotted Bluethroat |
- Common Gull (Larus canus) in Phase A4. This species is a rare winter visitor to Kuwait and is likely to be the first record from the south of Kuwait
- White-spotted Bluethroat (Luscinia s. cyanecula) on island # 1 in Phase A1. This sub-species is a scarce passage migrant and an uncommon winter visitor. It is a sub-species of the more common Red-spotted Bluethroat that has been found more regularly on the Phase A1 islands
- Dead Sea Sparrow (Passer moabiticus) in Phase A5 desert area. This is a rare passage migrant and winter visitor and is only the 18th record of this species in Kuwait. This male bird was first found by a local birder in a breeding colony of House Sparrows where it successfully built a nest. Unfortunately it did not find a mate and I believe finally left after continued pressure and harassment of the resident House Sparrows