Monday, January 29, 2007

A Field Guide to the Birds of Iraq

The first Field Guide to the Birds of Iraq, published by Birdlife International and Nature Iraq, was released on the 26th of January! The book describes and depicts the 387 bird species that are recorded as residing in Iraq. Importantly, during the surveys conducted prior to the publication of this book researchers have found that no bird species have gone extinct since the last major survey in the 1970s. Conversely, it seems that some conservation efforts have improved the situation in the important bird habitat of the Mesopotamian Marshes. Former marsh dwelling people have been returning to the area in large numbers and have re-flooded significant areas of formerly drained marsh.

For more information, visit the Birdlife International site here.

By the way, I'm keen ... anyone up for a bird-watching trip to Iraq?

2 comments:

Meredith said...

bird watching in iraq, hey. are you going to go train surfing while you are there? i wonder if you share the latter with john stott too...

peter j said...

bring on the points contest. watch out though, byron's blog is my house baby