Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab, President of the Kuwaiti Society for Environmental Protection, explained that organizing the World Winter Bird Count event comes within the framework 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 plastic waste in them in order to preserve the biodiversity present in this environment.
Dr. Wajdan Al-Aqab stated that the World Winter Bird Count event witnessed several strategic partnerships this year, with the National Guard being a national strategic partner. She praised the keenness of the Deputy Chief of the National Guard, His Excellency Sheikh Faisal Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to advance the cooperation between the National Guard and the Society, and commended his directive to provide logistical support for the World Winter Bird Count event, which is organized annually by the Society. Al-Aqab also praised Lieutenant General Engineer Hashem Abdul-Razzaq Al-Rifai, Undersecretary of the National Guard, for his keenness to participate in enhancing and ensuring the success of the event and all the Society's activities. She expressed her thanks and appreciation to the team of National Guard personnel participating in the field at the event, and commended the Ministry of Interior for its keenness to participate in maintaining security, and the Environmental Police Department for performing its environmental awareness role from a legal perspective, as well as the Emergency Medical Department in anticipation of any emergency.
Dr. Al-Aqab praised the technical strategic partner, DJI, which focused on demonstrating the capabilities of drones in environmental and scientific field monitoring, and the international strategic partner, represented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and BirdLife International.
She explained 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 celebration 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 of sisterly Arab countries and friendly foreign countries, such as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States, Jens Holtzneider, Minister Plenipotentiary Fatima Marzaq at the Moroccan Embassy, Dr. Ibrahim Salam, General Coordinator for Cultural Affairs at the Egyptian Embassy, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Iraqi Embassy, Rana Al-Mustaf, Counselor Firas Balawi, Deputy Ambassador and Consul of the State of Palestine, and the Romanian Ambassador, Majorel Ioan Stanescu, and a large segment of participants from different ages and categories, which is what the association seeks to achieve through many programs and activities that attract different age groups.
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 affiliated with the thirteenth season of the Green Schools Program, the association’s Friends of the Environment team, and the general public.
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. .
Shah added: “In Kuwait, we started this event in 2012 for only one day, and 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, and 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.”.
Regarding the counting methods and mechanisms employed by the team during the World Bird Count celebration, Mohammed Shah explained that they were distributed between counting at a monitoring station in various areas and conducting occasional observations. He noted that thousands of birds were documented during the celebration, specifying that the birds observed included Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Herons (including Grey and Rock Herons), Kentish Plover, Common Crane, and Common Eurasian Heron. A brown-necked crow was also observed at the monitoring site. He added that the counts also revealed the presence of numerous species of wintering birds that remain in the country throughout January during their annual migration.
The president 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. However, this year it came on the fourth Saturday of January because the middle of the lunar month coincides with this date, on which the moon is full and becomes a full moon, which causes high tide, allowing wading birds and birds on the shore to approach the closest possible point to be monitored and counted correctly and easily.
Mohammed Shah, head of the bird monitoring and protection team, concluded 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, as well as drones that enabled the attendees to see the birds and participate in counting them, 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.”.
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.
Friends of the Environment Team
The Society's Friends of the Environment team oversaw and implemented several accompanying events, including organizing awareness workshops on the environment and biodiversity in Kuwait, with a focus on birds. This activity was carried out by the Society's Friends of the Environment team, with approximately 30 members welcoming the participating children and providing education, awareness, and training through several workshops, 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.
Mohammed Shah stated that “World Winter Bird Count Day is a truly global event, as 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 the birds. Most of these dates fall in January each year. In the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Nature Protection Society in Aswan organizes this event annually under the name 'The Big Day for Winter Bird Counting.' In the Kingdom of Morocco, it is called the 'Winter Waterfowl Count,' organized by the Research Group for Bird Protection. The event was held on January 10th of last year, 2023. In India, due to its large size and abundance of birds, the winter count is dedicated to Asian waterfowl and is held annually in January. This year, their event began on the 6th of this month and will continue until the beginning of next February. In North America, in the United States, each state has its own dates, and this event is called the Christmas Bird Count, usually held between December 14th and January 5th each season. In Canada, it is also called the (Christmas Bird Count) The annual Christmas Bird Count, which lasts for three weeks every winter, sees thousands of volunteers across Canada participating in a research project where 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.
