Overview
The State of Kuwait, lying at the head of the Arabian Gulf, is in the extreme south-eastern corner of the Western Palearctic avifaunal region and in the north-eastern corner of the Arabian peninsula. It is also on a crossroads of two main migration routes: central Asia - Africa and western Asia - Indian sub-continent. Many bird species and subspecies that are difficult to encounter elsewhere in the Western Palearctic are relatively easily seen in the state. For these reasons, and because it is now easy for tourists to visit, Kuwait has become a Western Palearctic birding hotspot. Trips to the state in winter and spring have become essential for Western Palearctic listers.
Birds
Notable Species
In the urban and suburban areas White-eared Bulbul and Common Myna are widespread and common residents, while Red-vented Bulbul and Bank Myna are more localised. Indian Silverbill has bred. African Collared Dove, Crested Myna and Desert Finch are potential colonists.
Basra Reed Warbler probably breeds in various reed-beds, and is otherwise a regular passage migrant. Red-wattled Plover and Common Babbler breed at Abdali Farms. Chestnut-shouldered Sparrow breeds at various sites. Egyptian Nightjar occurs in all months and probably breeds.
Larks that breed or have bred include Black-crowned Sparrow-lark, Dunn’s Lark, Temminck’s Lark and Bimaculated Lark. In the restricted border area with Iraq, Pharaoh Eagle Owl, Desert Lark and Trumpeter Finch probably breed annually.
On the islands Crab Plover, Lesser Crested Tern, Greater Crested Tern, Bridled Tern and White-cheeked Tern breed annually. Socotra Cormorant and Saunders's Tern occur offshore from spring to autumn.
Annually-occurring passage and wintering species include Shikra, Pacific Golden Plover, Caspian Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Indian Roller, Grey Hypocolius, Red-tailed Wheatear, Kurdish Wheatear, Upcher’s Warbler, Isabelline Shrike and pallidirostris Southern Grey Shrike. Great Knot is, no doubt, regular in winter on Bubiyan Island, but at sites difficult to access.
Rarities
Two new Western Palearctic species, Forest Wagtail and Purple Sunbird, have been seen in Kuwait recently. Other Western Palearctic rarities in the last few years have been Little Curlew, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Eversmann’s Redstart and Oriental Reed Warbler. In addition rare or difficult to see Western Palearctic species have included Lesser Flamingo, Sacred Ibis (wild, not feral), Oriental Turtle Dove, Black-throated Thrush, Hume’s Wheatear and Radde’s Accentor.
Check-list
Main List (Wild Species and Established Species of Captive Origin): Mute Swan (vagrant), Greater White-fronted Goose (vagrant), Greylag Goose (rare), Ruddy Shelduck (rare), Common Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Common Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Marbled Duck (vagrant), Common Pochard (rare), Ferruginous Duck (vagrant), Tufted Duck, Red-breasted Merganser (vagrant), Common Quail, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Horned Grebe (vagrant), Black-necked Grebe, Audubon’s Shearwater (vagrant), Red-billed Tropicbird (vagrant), Great Cormorant, Socotra Cormorant, Pygmy Cormorant (vagrant), Great White Pelican, Dalmatian Pelican (vagrant), Great Bittern, Little Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Cattle Egret, Western Reef Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Black Stork (vagrant), White Stork, Glossy Ibis, Sacred Ibis (vagrant), Eurasian Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo (vagrant), Eurasian Honey Buzzard, Crested Honey Buzzard (rare), Black-shouldered Kite , Black Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Eurasian Griffon Vulture, Eurasian Black Vulture (rare), Short-toed Eagle, Western Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier (rare), Pallid Harrier, Montagu’s Harrier, Northern Goshawk (rare), Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Shikra, Levant Sparrowhawk (rare), Common Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Spotted Eagle (rare), Greater Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Golden Eagle (vagrant), Booted Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle (rare), Osprey, Lesser Kestrel, Common Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon (vagrant), Merlin, Eurasian Hobby, Sooty Falcon (rare), Lanner (rare), Saker (rare), Peregrine, Barbary Falcon (vagrant), Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Little Crake, Baillon’s Crake, Corn Crake, Common Moorhen, Purple Swamp-Hen, Eurasian Coot, Common Crane (vagrant), Demoiselle Crane (vagrant), Macqueen’s Bustard, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Crab Plover, Stone-Curlew, Cream-colored Courser, Collared Pratincole, Black-winged Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Caspian Plover, Eurasian Dotterel (rare), Pacific Golden Plover, European Golden Plover (vagrant), Grey Plover, Spur-winged Lapwing (vagrant), Red-wattled Lapwing, Sociable Lapwing (vagrant), White-tailed Lapwing, Northern Lapwing, Great Knot, Red Knot (vagrant), Sanderling, Little Stint, Temminck’s Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dulin, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Ruff, Jack Snipe, Common Snipe, Great Snipe (rare), Eurasian Woodcock (rare), Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Little Curlew (vagrant), Whimbrel, Slender-billed Curlew (vagrant), Eurasian Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Red-necked Phalarope, Red Phalarope (vagrant), Pomarine Skua, Arctic Skua, Long-tailed Skua (vagrant), Pallas’s Gull, Mediterranean Gull (vagrant), Little Gull (vagrant), Black-headed Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Mew Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Gull, Armenian Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake (vagrant), Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Greater Crested Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Arctic Tern (vagrant), White-cheeked Tern, Bridled Tern, Little Tern, Saunders’s Tern, Black Tern (vagrant), Whiskered Tern, White-winged Tern, Spotted Sandgrouse, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse (vagrant), Black-bellied Sandgrouse (rare), Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Rock Dove (ferals only), Stock Dove (vagrant), Common Woodpigeon, African Collared Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, European Turtle Dove, Oriental Turtle Dove (rare), Laughing Dove, Namaqua Dove, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Great Spotted Cuckoo (rare), Common Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Pallid Scops Owl (vagrant), European Scops Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Little Owl, Long-eared Owl (vagrant), Short-eared Owl (rare), European Nightjar, Egyptian Nightjar, Alpine Swift, Common Swift, Pallid Swift, Little Swift (rare), White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, European Bee-eater, European Roller, Indian Roller, Eurasian Hoopoe, Eurasian Wryneck, Black-crowned Sparrow-lark, Dunn’s Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Desert Lark, Greater Hoopoe Lark, Thick-billed Lark (rare), Calandra Lark (vagrant), Bimaculated Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Wood Lark (rare), Eurasian Skylark, Oriental Skylark, Temminck’s Lark, Sand Martin, Rock Martin (vagrant), Eurasian Crag Martin , Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Common House Martin, Richard’s Pipit (rare), Blyth’s Pipit (vagrant), Tawny Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit (rare), Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Red-throated Pipit, Water Pipit, Buff-bellied Pipit (vagrant), Forest Wagtail (vagrant), Yellow Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail, White-eared Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Grey Hypocolius, Winter Wren (vagrant), Dunnock (vagrant), Black-throated Accentor (vagrant), Radde’s Acentor (vagrant), Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Black Scrub Robin (vagrant), European Robin, Thrush Nightingale, Common Nightingale, Bluethroat, White-throated Robin, Eversmann’s Redstart (vagrant), Black Redstart, Common Redstart, Whinchat, Common Stonechat, Isabelline Wheatear, Northern Wheatear, Pied Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Desert Wheatear, Finsch’s Wheatear, Mourning Wheatear, Kurdish Wheatear, Red-tailed Wheatear, Hooded Wheatear (vagrant), Hume’s Wheatear (vagrant), White-crowned Wheatear (rare), Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Blue Rock Thrush, Ring Ouzel (vagrant), Common Blackbird, Dusky Thrush (vagrant), Dark-throated Thrush (rare), Fieldfare (rare), Song Thrush, Redwing (rare), Mistle Thrush (rare), Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola (vagrant), Graceful Prinia, Common Grasshopper Warbler, River Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Sedge Warbler, European Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warbler (vagrant), Basra Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler (vagrant), Clamorous Reed Warbler, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Booted Warbler (vagrant), Syke’s Warbler, Upcher’s Warbler, Olive-tree Warbler (vagrant), Icterine Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Barred Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Asian Desert Warbler, Ménétries’s Warbler, Greenish Warbler (rare), Yellow-browed Warbler (rare), Hume’s Leaf Warbler (vagrant), Wood Warbler, Mountain Chiffchaff (rare), Common Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Semi-collared Flycatcher, Common Babbler, Great Tit (vagrant), Eurasian Penduline Tit, Purple Sunbird (vagrant), Eurasian Golden Oriole, Isabelline Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike (vagrant), Lesser Grey Shrike, Southern Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Masked Shrike, House Crow, Rook (vagrant), Brown-necked Raven, Common Starling, Rosy Starling, Common Myna, Bank Myna, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Dead Sea Sparrow (vagrant), Pale Rockfinch, Chestnut-shouldered Sparrow, Indian Silverbill, Common Chaffinch (rare), Brambling (rare), European Goldfinch (rare), European Siskin (rare), Common Linnet (rare), Desert Finch (vagrant), Trumpeter Finch, Common Rosefinch, Yellowhammer (vagrant), Rock Bunting (vagrant), Cinereous Bunting, Grey-necked Bunting (vagrant), Ortolan Bunting, Rustic Bunting (vagrant), Little Bunting (rare), Common Reed Bunting (rare), Red-headed Bunting (rare), Black-headed Bunting, Corn Bunting. Captive Origin List (Non-Established Species): Chuckar, See-see Partridge, Black Francolin, Grey Crowned Crane, Bruce’s Green Pigeon, Alexandrine Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Budgerigar, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Bearded Reedling, Black Drongo, Common Magpie, Brahminy Myna, White-vented Myna, Crested Myna, Glossy Starling, Streaked Weaver, Red Avadavat, Zebra Waxbill.
Other Wildlife
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Site Information
History and Use
The two Gulf Wars have been devastating but it is hoped there has been little long-term damage to the region's birdlife although it may be many years before birders return to the area. The more inland parts of the country have also suffered extensively from effects of overgrazing.
Areas of Interest
Kuwait Bay
The best birding areas lie around the shores of Kuwait Bay and in particular Sulaibikhat Bay and Jahra Pool where crakes, waders and reedbed warblers occur. Broad-billed Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper and Terek Sandpiper are possible here and Dead Sea Sparrow has recently been recorded at Jahra. Warblers here can include Eurasian Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Clamorous Reed Warbler, Basra Reed Warbler and Marsh Warbler among others.
Kubbar
Kubbar is an offshore island to the south-east where various terns including White-cheeked Tern and Bridled Tern can be seen and Saunders' Little Tern may be a rare but regular passage migrant in Kuwait. Boat-trips to this and other islands can be very productive.
Wadi Al-Batin
Inland areas under cultivation that were worth exploring before the Gulf War include Wadi Al-Batin, once home to Macqueen's Bustard, Al-Abraq and Al-Khabari.
Jal Az-Sor
The Jal Az-Zor ridge is an eighty km long escarpment which has breeding Brown-necked Raven.
Access and Facilities
Tourists are rare in Kuwait and birders rarer still but accommodation is available, although expensive and mainly in Kuwait City. Car-hire is also expensive but necessary as public transport is poor.
Contact Details
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External Links
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Content and images originally posted by Steve
