Birds of Oman

14

Maps and status

As a quick guide, the status of each species in Oman appears to the right of the species header, using the

codes given below:

RB/rb – Resident breeder

MB/mb – Migrant breeder

PM/pm – Passage migrant

W V/wv – Winter visitor (Dec–Feb at least)

SV/sv – Summer visitor (non-breeding)

V – Vagrant (fewer than 10 records)

E/I – Escape or Introduction

Upper and lower case letters are used to indicate relative abundance of that species, upper case reflecting

larger numbers or greater abundance either at that season and/or in comparison with other closely related

species. When PM and WV (or pm and wv) share the same case the season when that species is the more

common will appear first, unless they are actually equally common at the two seasons.

The regional distribution maps distinguish between resident and migrant breeders and also show the

passage and/or winter range for all regularly occurring species. Vagrants are not mapped. Note that the

maps show current known ranges (not historical ones). Further details on status in the Middle East, to

complement the maps, are given as necessary under ‘Note’ at end of the species accounts.

Broad geographical divisions are sometimes used:

Near East – the eastern Mediterranean countries (excluding Turkey and Cyprus)

SW Arabia – Yemen and adjacent areas of Saudi Arabia

SE Arabia – Oman, UAE and adjacent areas of Saudi Arabia (east of the Qatar peninsula)

The breeding, passage and winter distributions of birds are now relatively well known for much of the

Middle East, although gaps still exist. Regrettably, it has not been possible at this time, even when appropriate,

to map passage and winter ranges separately. In any case, in the south of the region, where the seasons

are not clear-cut, autumn migration may continue, for example, until December, while spring migrants may

reappear as early as January. In general, however, a species shown by hatching across the entirety of Arabia

will generally be a passage migrant that is absent in winter or present then only in relatively low numbers.

Note that many non-breeding waterbirds, often immature birds, may be found year-round on the coast

or at inland wetlands, including in particular many different shorebirds, amongst them even arctic-breeding

species. Do not be surprised to see, for example, Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres or Sanderling Calidris

alba on the foreshore in Oman in mid-summer.

Some species mapped as breeding visitors may actually be resident in some areas, usually more southerly

localities, and/or perhaps involving only a small proportion of the population. (Interestingly, some classic

Palearctic–African migrants are now found wintering in newly vegetated areas of Arabia.) Moreover, as the

Tropic of Cancer traverses Arabia it is perhaps hardly surprising that the breeding season is not always the spring

and summer; winter breeding is the norm for some species, including migrant species which elsewhere otherwise

breed conventionally in summer. The breeding season of other species in Dhofar (southern Oman), including some

migrants from Africa, is regulated by the late summer monsoon and occurs in the ‘autumn’ months.

Extensive use has been made of the excellent maps prepared for the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of

Arabia, to which many individuals have contributed, and of the country avifaunas listed in ‘References and

Further Reading’ (pages 248–250). The mapping scale and accuracy varies from one country avifauna to

another, and at times we have had to extrapolate or interpret to the best of our combined knowledge those

maps produced with, say, a ‘broader brush’ approach.