The Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection announced that the number of bird species in Kuwait has risen to 426, following the sighting of two new species for the first time in the country. Mohammed Shah, head of the Society's bird monitoring and protection team, revealed during his monthly meeting with team members that "during the first six months of 2025, birdwatchers in Kuwait spotted five new bird species. Similarly, this year, 2026, just days before the end of the first six months, they spotted two new species, bringing the total number of bird species in Kuwait to 426." Shah stated, “This occurred during a sea voyage in Kuwait Bay undertaken by birdwatcher Ammar Al-Juraibi. He spotted the first bird, a Cory's Shearwater, and filmed it with his mobile phone. The following day, birders Abdulrahman Al-Sarhan, Omar Al-Shaheen, and Hamoud Al-Shayji went to the bay to search for the same bird but were unable to find it. During their search, they spotted another bird, a Sooty Gull. This bird is not far from its usual habitat, as it is found in the Arabian Gulf region, extending to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and also in the Red Sea. This was the first time it had been seen in Kuwait.” He explained, “The Cory's Shearwater, however, is very far from its habitat in the Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends along the eastern shores of the ocean (Western Europe and Africa) and the western shores (Eastern Americas), sometimes reaching as far south as the Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar.” In a related context, Mohammed Al-Hadheena, a member of the bird monitoring and protection team at the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection, pointed out that “he conducted research and monitoring of the breeding birds in Kuwait, through which he was able to document the breeding of two types of birds that were not previously recorded or documented. After reviewing the Al-Sarhan site for Kuwaiti birds, it became clear that the number of breeding birds at the site reached 93 types of breeding birds in Kuwait. He then continued the research to find out the number of breeding birds in Kuwait, and through his follow-up with the head of the Kuwaiti Environmental Lens team, observer Rashid Al-Hajji, who published on social media programs the documentation of the breeding of two types of birds, bringing the number to 95 types. There are 3 other types of birds that were documented by observer Omar Al-Shaheen, bringing the number to 98 types.” The nursery included “the black-winged blackbird (Shuula al-Sawda) which was documented by a citizen in the Al-Wafra area, and the black-winged kite, whose breeding was documented by another citizen in the southern regions of Kuwait, and both of them were documented during the spring of last year 2025, and he contacted these citizens and verified the documents that they provided to him,” announcing “the completion of his research and his reaching an inevitable conclusion that the number of types of birds that breed in Kuwait is 100 types until this year 2026.”.
