In a field tour aimed at issuing the final report on bird monitoring in the State of Kuwait for the year 2025, the bird monitoring and protection team of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society conducted a field tour in the Al-Abraq area and the surrounding areas in the northwest of the State of Kuwait, to follow up on the latest and most recent bird monitoring operations in the country, and to count the new species and numbers observed.
In this context, the team leader, Mohammed Shah, stated: “The tour began at eight o’clock in the morning at the meeting point on Al-Salmi Road, and continued until eight o’clock in the evening of the same day. Some objectives were set for the tour, which were a group of winter visiting birds, including the European robin and the song thrush (the sandgrouse), and other resident birds that are difficult to see during the day, such as the barn owl, and especially the sand cat, which was one of the most important objectives of the nine team members participating in the tour to see in nature.”.
Shah continued: “The team members, namely Mohammed Al-Hadheena, Ahmed Al-Shawaf, Dr. Fatima Dashti, Shatha Al-Hay, Alaa Al-Ruwaished, Talal Al-Muwaizri, Adhari Buhamad, Maryam Al-Mulla, and Mohammed Shah, continued searching for birds in the morning until noon, when we stopped for lunch and tea. We then continued searching until sunset, when we stopped for a second break, waiting for nightfall. We then began searching for the sand cat. After it was spotted and photographed, everyone headed to the Al-Sulaibiya farms area to see the barn owl that was waiting for us on the farm walls.”.
He added: “The team was able to monitor 24 bird species, most of which are winter visitors to the country. These numbers were distributed across four checklists in the global ebird program. As a result of this tour, the team will issue its annual report for 2025 on bird monitoring in the State of Kuwait, which included 424 bird species, adding five new species to the list of birds in Kuwait.”.
Mohammed Shah concluded, “It is noteworthy that in 2025, birds that had been absent for long periods of time were observed, then returned in large numbers in various areas of Kuwait. For example, the Red-shouldered Red-back ...
