• International home
• About us
• Our work
  • Where we work
  • Conservation
  • Research
    • Our approach
    • Environmental monitoring
    • Key species
    • Species inventories
    • Bird ringing
    • Birds
    • Other vertebrates
    • Invertebrates
    • Plants and fungi
    • Ecosystems and environments
    • Reports
    • Archived research summaries
      • Hydrological studies at Aammiq
      • Lebanon's Pale Rock Sparrow
      • Lebanon's Waterbird Census
      • Surveying Lebanon's migrating raptors
      • Soaring Birds Seminar in Lebanon
      • Bird-ringing on the Minet site
      • Helping Czech Little Owls
      • Studying the Algarve's amphibians
      • Plant survey for a bio-park
      • Shifting sands and changing plants
      • Checking water quality in the Camargue
      • Bats about the Algarve
      • Bio-Parque Monchique
      • European Roller
      • 2003-2004 ringing results
      • Urban greenspace in the UK
  • Community
  • Environmental Education
  • Partnerships
  • News publications
• News
• Get involved
• Resources
• Contact us
• Donate

Soaring Birds Seminar in Lebanon

Bird ID course, March/April 2003

The challenge

Lebanon is on one of the world's major bird migration routes and many millions of birds fly northwards over it in spring and back southwards in autumn. The largest of these migrants are soaring birds, such as eagles, hawks and storks, and many of them have a threatened status at national or international level. With the growing international awareness of Lebanon's importance for migrating birds has come an urgent need to find what birds pass where so that conservation measures can be put in place. Yet identifying many of these birds can be very hard. They are flying overhead so you may have only a brief period to make an identification and many are at such heights that even with binoculars plumage details are impossible to recognise. Although visiting bird watchers have been used to identify birds on migration it is now recognised that the best way of getting data on soaring birds on a long-term basis is to train national observers.

The response

The first steps in training Lebanese nationals in the identification of soaring birds were achieved when A Rocha Lebanon, in cooperation with SPNL (Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon), held a three-day seminar (March 31 - April 2, 2003) on how to identify soaring birds. Twelve participants, representing eleven different NGOs and nature reserves throughout the country, attended the seminar.

The aims of the Soaring Birds Seminar were to

• Introduce the principles of bird identification.
• Provide materials to aid in the identification of soaring birds. This included a booklet created by A Rocha Lebanon on identifying the most common and most threatened birds in Lebanon.
• Give participants practical experience in identifying birds in the field.
• Discuss the major conservation issues facing soaring birds in Lebanon.

The training was held at A Rocha Lebanon's classroom located in Houch Aammiq, just south of the Aammiq Wetland protected area. Topics covered included basic bird anatomy, the classification of the soaring birds, the use of a field guide and field notebook, migration and conservation issues. A final section was the on-site identification of the most common and most endangered soaring birds in Lebanon. A quiz was given to determine the participants' progress.

Each class session was followed by one in the field where the participants were given the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned. These practical sessions were held in various locations throughout the Bekaa Valley and the seminar was timed to coincide with the peak period of migration for a number of different soaring birds. Excellent views of many species were obtained including White Stork, Black Stork, Common Crane, Black Kite, Steppe Buzzard, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Pallid Harrier, Lesser Kestrel and Kestrel. Large flocks of White Storks and a constant stream of Steppe Buzzards and Lesser Spotted Eagles impressed upon the participants the huge volume of birds that pass through Lebanon each migration season. Key identification characteristics were pointed out throughout the field sessions and the participants were encouraged to get a feel for the general impression of each particular species. Seminar participants were also taught how to count accurately the larger flocks of birds.

The way ahead

The response to the seminar was encouraging and participants clearly valued the combination of class and field sessions and the opportunities to apply their knowledge. By the end of the seminar it was obvious that participants were making correct identifications and that some were excelling in identifying soaring birds.

The seminar has been a key first step in training a group of Lebanese nationals in the skills of bird identification. These skills will subsequently greatly aid efforts to identify important bird areas in Lebanon. During the session there was much discussion on conservation and some strategies including education and improving public awareness were suggested that may well improve the chances of protecting Lebanon's wildlife. Ideas generated included forming a network whereby soaring birds can be reported accurately, and meeting regularly as a group.

A follow-up seminar is planned for this autumn. This will cover identification of major groups of non-soaring birds, with a focus on identifying species with threatened status in Lebanon.

***

The seminar was run by Andy and Laurel Sprenger and Chris Naylor of A Rocha and identification materials were produced by Andy and Laurel Sprenger. For further information on Lebanon, contact lebanon@arocha.org