Barr al Hikman is a large peninsula on the east coast of Oman that has been described as 'the most important wintering place for shorebirds in Oman'; it has been visited annually for bird counts since the mid 1980s. Over the winter of 1989/90 the West Asian Shorebird Survey (WASS) counted shorebirds there. That study confirmed the importance of the site as of international importance (See Table 1) for wintering shorebirds and laid a useful baseline of counts. In 2004 NR part funded a re-count of the area by WASS to see if it had remained important. In 2004, some 97,000 wintering shore birds were counted, over 20% more than were counted over a wider area in 1989/90 (Table 2).
In January 2007 NR again put money towards work on Barr al Hikman, supporting a WASS worker, Mick Green, and NRP's Andy Thorpe. They traveled to Oman and worked in conjunction with Dutch scientists. A report of that work will be out soon and we will update this page, but in the meantime you can visit the Working Group on International Waterbirds and Wetland Research's (WIWO) web site at http://www.projects.wiwo.org/ and navigate to the Barr al Hikman project page
Satellite image of Barr al Hikman and Masirah Island, Oman
Species at Barr al Hikman which exceed 1% of world population. From Eriksen (1996)
Species |
Barr al Hikman mean counts |
% of mean total Oman counts |
% of mean SW Asia totals |
% of mean Asia totals |
Crab Plover |
1175 |
66 |
38 |
34 |
L Sandplover |
3391 |
43 |
33 |
6 |
Dunlin |
30432 |
93 |
77 |
40 |
B-b Sandpiper |
2283 |
98 |
72 |
43 |
B-t Godwit |
26378 |
92 |
80 |
69 |
Flocks of wintering waders on Barr al Hikman, Oman
Total Waders - 6.5km stretch of east Coast
Total waders 1989/90 |
31523
26994 |
Total waders Filim Flats
Total waders 1989/90, over larger area |
20240
16712 |
Total Waders - West Coast lagoon
Total waders 1989/90 |
15172
15539 |
Total waders in four sections, 2004 - 97779 . Total over similar sections 1989/90 - 79100.
Care must be taken with the figures as shorebird counts within the Asian Waterfowl Census are known to be incomplete due to the difficulty of reaching potential sites in many countries. However, it is clear that Barr al Hikman is of international importance for a number of species and of regional importance for a great many more. It is possibly the single most important shorebird site in Arabia, to say nothing of gulls, terns, egrets, herons and flamingos.
Further Details: Andy Thorpe: Andrew.Thorpe@natural-research.org
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