Under the patronage of the Minister of Social Affairs, Family and Childhood, Her Excellency Dr. Amthal Al-Huwayla, the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection organized the World Winter Bird Count event at the popular café in Sulaibikhat with significant governmental and community participation. The head of the society, Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, explained that “the event comes within the scope of the society’s contribution to international environmental events aimed at supporting the environmental movement and enhancing its community roles, in addition to consolidating environmental awareness among the public about the importance of preserving the country’s wealth of migratory or resident birds.” She added that “the event included several workshops to convey the most important goal, which is the need to protect and clean the beaches and reduce waste of all kinds, especially plastic, in order to preserve the biodiversity in this environment.”.
Ministry of Social Affairs
In this context, Dr. Al-Aqab praised the patronage of Her Excellency Dr. Amthal Al-Huwayla for the event, commending her quick response to the request for sponsorship and guidance to overcome any difficulties facing the work teams that implement the International Winter Bird Count Day, and her kindness in directing that the popular cafe in Sulaibikhat host the activities of this day. Al-Aqab also praised the keenness and support of the Director of the Department of Civil Societies at the Ministry, Professor Iman Al-Anzi, in providing all forms of logistical support to the association.
The popular cafe in Sulaibikhat
Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, President of the Environmental Protection Association, expressed her appreciation and gratitude to the management of the popular cafe in Sulaibikhat and her team dedicated to cooperating and participating with the association’s teams on this day.
Ministry of Interior and Emergency Medical Services
She praised the Ministry of Interior for its commitment to participating in maintaining security, and the Environmental Police Department for performing their environmental awareness role from a legal perspective, as well as the Medical Emergency Department in anticipation of any emergency.
Strategic partner
Dr. Al-Aqab praised the international strategic partner, represented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and BirdLife International.
diplomatic participation
She indicated that the diversity of participation from government agencies, civil organizations, volunteer teams and groups, and the large numbers of young people, youth, and families in the bird counting event reflects and reinforces the interest in the environmental dimension in Kuwait. She added that the field activities attract members of the diplomatic corps, including ambassadors from sister Arab countries and friendly foreign countries, and a large segment of participants of different ages and categories, which is what the association seeks to achieve through many programs and activities that attract different age groups.
Participating entities
She noted that the association organized its annual celebration of World Winter Bird Count Day with the participation of bird watchers, enthusiasts, environmental experts, as well as representatives of government agencies, civil organizations, volunteer teams and groups in the country, photography enthusiasts, student groups from the fourteenth season of the Green Schools Program, the Youth Environmental Team, the Friends of the Environment Team of the association, and the general public.
December and January
For his part, Mohammed Shah, head of the bird monitoring and protection team at the association, confirmed that the date and time of the bird count varies from country to country according to what may affect the possibility of their presence in a stable manner and therefore the possibility of monitoring and counting them, noting that the best time to count birds is during the appropriate time period for the winter count of birds in Kuwait, in which there is no or less bird migration, i.e., during the months of December and January.
Call for volunteers
Shah noted: “In Kuwait, we started this event in 2012 for only one day. This period is not enough to know the exact count, but it helps in knowing some of the types of birds that are present at the event site. We are striving to develop this event so that the count will be broader in the coming years, through a specific mechanism in which volunteers are invited to register on a special platform for this winter count.”.
winter countdown
Mohammed Shah stated: “This year, as a bird monitoring and protection team, we have adopted adding more than one day to the count, as was the practice in previous years, because one day and one location is not enough to know the numbers and types of birds that settled in Kuwait during the winter. Therefore, it was agreed with the team members to record and document everything that can be seen of birds starting from the beginning of this year, i.e., from January 1st to January 18th, with monitoring to be carried out throughout Kuwait.”.
He added: “The team made a great effort to document the numbers of birds, which resulted in numbers of some birds that were observed for the first time in these numbers. For example, observer Mohammed Al-Hadina was able to observe 300 Syrian or Northern Lapwings in the farms of Al-Sulaibiya on January 15, three days before the date of the celebration. Likewise, observer Talal Al-Muwaizri was able to observe 7 Purple Sunbirds in the Bnaider area, which feed on flower nectar. This is considered the first observation in this number, and it was seen in previous years as only one bird in Al-Shaheed Park. This is evidence of the spread of this type of bird in our beloved country, Kuwait.”.
Methods of counting birds
Regarding the counting methods and mechanisms employed by the team during the World Bird Count celebration, Mohammed Shah explained that they were distributed across monitoring stations and incidental observations. He noted that thousands of birds were documented during the event, specifying that the birds observed included Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Herons (including Grey and Rock Herons), Kentish Plover, Common Crane, and Common Crane. A brown-necked crow was also observed at the monitoring site. He added that the counts revealed the presence of numerous wintering bird species that remain in the country throughout January during their annual migration.
high tide
He explained that “the association intended to organize the World Winter Bird Counting Day event, which the team organizes annually on the second Saturday of January each year, but this year it came on the third Saturday of January, due to the high tide, which allows wading birds and seabirds on the shore to approach the closest possible point to be monitored and counted correctly and easily, as the tide exceeds 3 meters.”.
Multiple activities
Mohammed Shah, head of the bird monitoring and protection team, concluded his statement by praising “everyone who was able to attend and participate in this event organized by the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of birds to our Kuwaiti environment. The Society took care to prepare fixed viewing platforms such as binoculars, in addition to other activities prepared by the Society that accompanied the bird counting event, including a photo exhibition of birds, as well as cleaning the beach. Children also had their share in this event, as the Society provided them with booklets that introduced them to the types of birds by coloring their pictures in the booklet, and other accompanying activities.”.
Photo Gallery
An exhibition of photographs of Kuwait’s birds of various types of prey (marine, aquatic, wading, etc.), both resident and migratory, was organized to introduce the public to the beauty and diversity of these birds, reflecting the diverse landscape of the State of Kuwait.
“Environmental Youth and Friends of the Environment
The Youth Environmental Team and the Friends of the Environment Team of the association were involved in supervising and implementing many of the accompanying events, as they participated in the organization and supervision of the awareness workshops included in the event, in addition to carrying out the process of cleaning the beach and the area surrounding the event, where about 30 members attended and welcomed representatives of the participating bodies and organizations, as well as participants from the general public, school students and children.
KIT BAG Company“
The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection expressed her thanks and appreciation to “KIT BAG” for its donation and support of the Society’s awareness activities by providing multi-use fabric bags.
Workshops:
Several workshops were organized with the aim of education, awareness, and training, including:
The first workshop was an activity of coloring Kuwaiti birds. A group of birds with different characteristics were chosen to show the diversity of bird species found in the State of Kuwait, and some scientific information was included on the same page that was being colored.
The second workshop involved coloring wooden houses for small birds to help the birds nest and make it easier to find a suitable place to make nests. The child colors the houses during the activity and receives simple information about them and their importance, and then takes them with him and hangs them in the garden of the house to receive the birds in them.
The third workshop was about identifying types of feathers. One of the most important pieces of information that the children learned was how to differentiate between a feather if it was from the right wing, the left wing, or the tail. This activity was very enjoyable, as the child learned, through some characteristics in the shape of the feather, how it was located if it was from the right wing, the left wing, or the tail.
The fourth workshop: a workshop on coloring multi-use cloth bags, to raise awareness of the importance of not using plastic bags, which are one of the biggest causes of pollution on beaches. Using cloth bags will definitely reduce plastic waste. In the bag workshop, visitors color pictures of the flamingo, which is the most prominent bird on this beach during this time of year.
“Counting birds globally”
Mohammed Shah said, “World Winter Bird Count Day is a truly global occasion. Many international civil society organizations concerned with environmental and bird affairs organize and celebrate it. However, each country has its own date, depending on what it deems appropriate for counting birds, based on the stability and presence of birds. Most often, these dates are in January of each year.”.
In the Arab Republic of Egypt, this event is organized annually by the Nature Protection Society in Aswan under the name “The Big Day for Counting Winter Birds”.
In the Kingdom of Morocco, it is called the “Winter Census of Waterfowl” organized by the Research Group for the Protection of Birds.
In India, due to its large area and the abundance of its birds, the annual winter count of Asian waterbirds is held in January. This year, their event began on the sixth of this month and will continue until the beginning of next February.
As for North America, in the United States each state has its own dates, and this event is called the Christmas bird count, and it usually takes place from December 14 to January 5 of each season.
In Canada, it is also called the annual Christmas bird count, and it lasts for three weeks every winter. Thousands of volunteers across Canada participate in a research project in which they spend a day counting every bird they see.
According to Birds Canada, the annual Christmas bird count is the longest-running citizen science project in North America, having started in 1900 and continuing to this day, making it almost 120 years old.
