The sighting of a great knot in Umm Al Quwain has yielded valuable information for a Russian conservation programme.
A small wader with light brown plumage, the bird breeds in Siberia and winters in Australia. The Arabian Gulf is at the westernmost extremity of its wintering range and UAE sightings are rare.
When Oscar Campbell visited Khor Al Beidah on January 20, he was thrilled to see about 20 great knots at the wetland. One of the birds had a yellow ring, engraved E1, on its leg. The Abu Dhabi resident, chairman of the Emirates Bird Records Committee, set out to find the scientist who put the ring on the bird.
He searched online for details about marking schemes and found Australian scientist Chris Hassell, to whom he emailed details about the bird.
“It was not one of their birds but he thought it was from a scheme in Russia and forwarded the mail to his contact there,” Mr Campbell said.
“Sure enough, an hour or two later, I got an email from Dmitry, the ringer.”
Dmitry Dorofeev works at the All-Russian Research Institute for Nature Protection. He is studying Great and Red knots, as well as other species in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
“These birds are declining in numbers because of tidal reclamation at the stopover areas in South Korea and China,” said Mr Dorofeev, whose study is partly supported by the Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund.
E1 was banded on July 28 at the Khairusova-Belogolovaya estuary, where birds gather at the end of June before migrating in late September. Mr Dorofeev last saw E1 on August 11.
“The sighting made by Oscar Campbell is interesting,” said Mr Dorofeev, who estimated that the bird must have flown about 13,000 kilometres, making several stops to refuel along the Yellow Sea coast and in India.
“Now we know at least a part of the Great Knot population that winters in the Gulf start their migration from Kamchatka estuaries,” he said.
For Mr Campbell, the sighting reinforces the conservation value of Khor Al Beidah.
The mangrove, which supports a great diversity of resident and migrant birds and other species, currently lacks formal protection.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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