Abu Dhabi: A survey by Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has revealed that the greater flamingo is the most abundant bird species in the UAE and over 15,000 birds were recorded from 15 sites.
The census was coordinated in collaboration with Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF), Emirates Bird Record Committee (EBRC) and Fujairah Municipality.
The International Waterbird Census (IWC) is undertaken annually during which millions of waterbirds are counted. Data from this count are used to analyse the bird population's status and trends.
For the census, 14 recorders covered 40 sites across the UAE for over two days. This accounted for around 53,000 birds. The count recorded 82 species of waterbirds from a list of nearly 150 waterbirds.
Al Wathba Wetland Reserve and Bu Al Syayeef area in Abu Dhabi emirate and Khor Al Beidha in Umm Al Quwain recorded the maximum number of birds ranging from 13,000 to 9,000 birds.
Conservation
"This census is a tool to help us conserve our wetlands and protect our waterbirds. When undertaken regularly, this census can help us better understand trends in the number of birds and also assess the status of sites on which they depend," said Dr Salim Javed, deputy manager of bird conservation at EAD and Coordinator of IWC in the UAE.
Dr Christophe Tourenq, EWS-WWF, said: "The project is a formidable illustration of the collaboration between environmental governmental agencies [such as EAD, Environment Protection and Development Department of Fujairah Municipality] and local NGOs [EWS-WWF, EBRC] to provide updated information on the status of waterbirds and wetlands of UAE."
Since 2000, when the last waterfowl census was held in the UAE under the International Waterfowl Census (IWC) scheme from Wetlands International, there has been no official waterbird count for the country with the exception of some references in some books like Terrestrial Wildlife of the Abu Dhabi Emirate published by EAD).
The status of the only endemic bird of UAE: the collared kingfisher (Todirhamphus chloris kalbaensis) inhabiting the only mangrove of the east coast, Khor Kalba, is still based on the 44 pairs counted in 1995 and a maximum of 15 birds in 2000! And this mangrove has been under a lot of human pressure lately.
Updates are necessary for the conservation of wetland habitats and species and the application of two main international conventions signed by the UAE: the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2000 and the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources in 2007.
