By IPS Correspondents
DUBAI, Apr 30 2002 (IPS)

The exodus of visitors that had flown into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier has begun, but people here are not aflutter. They know that the visitors – the birds who flock to local shores — will be back in a few months, when summer gives way to autumn.

Indeed, when the birds swoop down on to the UAE’s shores by the thousands, they transform the desert landscape into a carpet of colour. Dark cormorants, serene flamingoes, broad-billed sandpipers, tiny owls, rare kingfishers — the list keeps growing every year.

And thanks to these annual migrants, the UAE can stake claim to being the premier bird-watching destination in the region. Its feathered abundance eclipses erstwhile favourites like Egypt and Turkey.

At times, ornithologists have identified more than 400 species of birds that have traveled hundreds of kilometres from three geographic regions — the Indo-Malayan, the Palearctic, and Africa.

Even rare bird species have been seen, such as the white-collared kingfisher. It is estimated that there are only 55 pairs of this species in the world.

“It is a wonderful place to find interesting migrants from Central Asia and its extensive coastal wetlands provide important wintering sites for thousands of waders as well,” says Colin Richardson, a Dubai-based professional bird-watcher.

“The UAE is an important ground for many migrant birds and a major staging post for migrating Arctic shorebirds,” he adds.

The government’s environmental programmes reflect its eagerness to cultivate the UAE’s edge as a bird-watching haven. Since the early 1980s, for instance, the government began declaring several regions as “eco-conservation zones”.

Included in these conservation zones are over 45 sites protected for bird-watching, of which eight are in Dubai, including the Khor Dubai Wildlife Sanctuary, the Safa Park and the Mushrif Park.

The most sought after bird-watching sites and wetlands in the UAE are Khor Dubai, Khor Al Beidah, the Emirates golf course, Al Wathba camel track, the Kalba coastline, Khor Al Jazeerah and Jebel Hafeet.

In fact, Dubai has built an artificial island for the thousands of flamingoes that have been visiting the Dubai creek for over three decades.

“A visit to Dubai would not be complete without a visit to the country’s largest bird sanctuary at Khor Dubai,” says Richardson. “At this huge natural tidal lagoon, you will see up to 1,000 wild flamingoes. The site hosts nearly 15,000 birds on any winter’s day, with the greater flamingo being the most abundant species.”

In Abu Dhabi, the environmental research and wildlife development agency (ERWDA) has set up as many as six major nature reserves to provide a haven for these feathered guests.

The Al Wathba Wetland Reserve, located 40 km south-east of Abu Dhabi, is the biggest reserve with 205 bird species having been spotted on the lake.

The Abu Dhabi’s Sir Bani Yas island has also been transformed into a testing ground to breed birds such as the Arabian Ostrich, which was on the road to extinction before the 1950s.

This natural abundance has not been lost on specialist tour operators. One of them, the British-based Wildwatch, is planning to include a Dubai bird-watching package from 2003.

These decisions hardly surprise Hamad Mohammed Bin Mejren of Dubai’s department of tourism. “Dubai is already famous in (Britain) as a paradise for bird-watching. The decision by Wildwatch to feature an extensive wildlife and photographic tour of the emirate will add to Dubai’s credentials as a multi-faceted tourist destination,” he said at a recent press conference.

Dubai as a bird-watching destination has also caught the attention of Japanese and Europeans too. “Bird-watching is a niche market. We have been showcasing this aspect all over the world and have made considerable progress in broadening this appeal,” Mejren adds.

Richard Mace’s travels strengths Mejren’s claims. Mace has chosen to spend his hard-earned money on a bird-watching journey across the Middle East and has come here all the way from the United States.

“It’s been such a worthwhile trip,” he says. “I have been able to see so many birds here that I don’t think I will go anywhere else.”

“Go to Khor Dubai and you can see western reef herons or greater flamingoes,” he raves. “Then there are pintail snipes, red-wattled lapwings and sand grouses at the Emirates Golf Club; desert eagle owls and red-tailed wheateaters at Qarn Nazwa; and Hatta stuns you with white-throats, Hume’s wheat-eaters and little green bee-eaters. What else do I need?”

But foreigners are not the only ones turning their gaze towards the visiting birds. Government bodies like the ERWDA have helped to spur local interest in bird-watching as well.

Says Ibrahim Majeedi, a Dubai resident: “I have now been an avid bird-watcher for over two years and have noticed that more and more locals are now interested in this beautiful exercise.”

Richardson hopes the local interest will prompt the government into setting up even more bird sanctuaries for the annual feathered visitors.

“If we encourage the local public to take more interest in bird-watching, we are in fact promoting conservation as well,” he says. “It will also induce the authorities to set up more sanctuaries.”

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