Summer Birds & Sooty Falcon Census

At Amaala, in addition to Osprey, we recorded breeding pairs or colonies of six species (see table). The most abundant species were Lesser crested terns and Bridled terns, and the location of their breeding colonies is shown for Awandia and Nabqiyah Islands.

Notably, 17 Sooty falcon breeding pairs were observed at Amaala – all on An Numan Island (nest locations shown on map with Osprey nests).

For TRS, results from 2022 can be compared with our counts for most species we surveyed in 2021. However, for operational reasons, Osprey and Caspian and Saunder’s terns were not surveyed at TRS in 2022.

Of species surveyed at TRS in both years, populations were generally stable – some a little higher, some a little lower, but there were no dramatic changes. As populations are naturally variable from year to year, it’s important to survey these species over several years to get good data on any population trends.

Table: Breeding pairs at TRS of species surveyed in both 2022 & 2022

(Note: We were unable to survey some southern TRS islands)

(*) accurate estimate not possible due to breeding pairs nesting in thick vegetation; the range of population estimate is 2678-5356 breeding pairs (average 4017)

(**) comparison in breeding pairs not possible due to the different survey effort