#OmanPride: Million plus shorebirds visit Oman's Barr Al Hikman and Masirah Island

More sports Sunday 10/July/2016 21:53 PM
By: Times News Service
#OmanPride: Million plus shorebirds visit Oman's Barr Al Hikman and Masirah Island

Muscat: More than 1 million shorebirds flock to the Barr Al Hikman and Masirah Island every year, according to experts.
Dr Andy Yaw Kwarteng, director, Remote Sensing and GIS Centre, Sultan Qaboos University, said this comprises about 3 per cent of the world’s flyway population. “It has now become a famous place for bird watchers in the Sultanate,” he stated.
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Both these places have been designated an Important Bird Areas (IBA) and are home to numerous bird species, both resident and migratory. “This factor is drawing tourists from all over the world,” said Vijay Kumar Handa, general manager of the Masirah Island Resort.
Located at the crossroads of some important bird migration routes, Masirah Island attracts birds from India and Pakistan in the east and from Africa in the west, and wintering birds from as far north as Siberia. “The island provides a perfect stopover point for travelling birds that cross more than one continent,” he said.
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Handa added that the island provide a perfect place for the migratory birds because of the inter-tidal and sub-littoral mudflats and the shallow coasts in the region. “Then, Masirah is also home to the Egyptian vulture, which is fast declining all over the world,” he said.
The other birds, which are found in these places, include Crab Plover, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Black-Winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Sociable Lapwing, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lesser Sandplover, Eurasian Curlew and many others.
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Recently, a team of professional bird catchers caught 10 bar-tailed godwits, ringed and fitted them with five gram Solar Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTTs). “All these birds are currently in the air,” Kwarteng said, adding that their tags have been properly fitted and are working properly.