Rare migratory bird found breeding in UAE

Friday, Mar 23, 2007

Dubai: The nest of a rare migratory bird to the UAE, the White-tailed Lapwing, was spotted in Dubai for the first time.

"This indicates the bird's successful breeding in this part of the region," said Dr Reza Khan, Head of Dubai Zoo, who spotted the nest recently in a Rhodes grass field off Al Warsan near the Sewage Treatment Plant of Dubai Municipality.

Four eggs were laid in a ground nest. Though the species are occasionally spotted in Dubai, this is the first time that a sign of its successful breeding has emerged.

"White-tailed Lapwing or White-tailed Plover [Vanellus Leucurus] is a wader in the Lapwing family of birds. The nest I found was in a mat grass bed in an open area.

"It was virtually devoid of any nesting material except a few tiny twigs and dry grass blades. But there was a slight depression on the ground made through pressing down the original green grass.

"The clutch contained four eggs, which were heavily blotched and more or less merged with the grassy background," said Dr Khan. He added that the Lapwing used to be a rare migratory bird to the UAE during the 1990s.

"Now we have a breeding population in the Pivot Field and Al Warsan Lake in Dubai. The total population in these areas could be over 50. Some specimens from these areas might venture into the neigbouring wetlands including the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary and Nad Al Sheba. Some others would frequent marshland or harvested crop and grass fields bordering the wetlands," he said.

Breeding

The bird breeds semi-colonially on inland marshes in Iraq, Iran and southern Russia. The Iraqi and Iranian breeders are mainly resident, but Russian birds migrate south in winter to south Asia, the Middle East and north east Africa. It is a very rare vagrant in western Europe.

"When I approached the nest, the incubating bird virtually remained flat over the nest and left it before I could be within 30 metres of it.