Birds of Kuwait - A Comprehensive Visual Guide

KUFPEC presents the first for Kuwait;

A Comprehensive Photographic Guide for all the birds of Kuwait

A monument of world class bird photography that combines scientific accuracy in a large-format, luxurious presentation, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) proudly presents the “Birds of Kuwait: A Comprehensive Visual Guide”. Conceived, approved and published within 8 months, this book aspires to educate both residents of and visitors to Kuwait on the abundant wealth of bird species living in or passing through its territory. 391 species are featured in the book, with 95% of the photographs taken within the country limits, by 18 very talented and dedicated Kuwaiti or Kuwait-based amateur birdwatchers and photographers.

An elaborate introduction on the country’s birding sites and general birding information precedes the species pages of the birds. The individual species plates comprise photos accompanied by a concise and precise description together with English, Scientific and Latin names as well as IUCN status for each.

Very sensitive to environmental issues and aware of the threats faced by biodiversity in Kuwait, the Chairman of KUFPEC generously distributes copies of this natural history monument to all stakeholders concerned, such as public authorities and educational facilities. This book aspires to increase awareness and promote respect of the avian diversity, proactive conservation measures and improved legislative frameworks discouraging uncontrolled hunting and illegal trade, which interfere with natural processes and may lead to severe threats to the survival of some species.

According to the Chairman and Managing Director of the sponsoring company, Mr Nizar M. Al-Adsani “KUFPEC is fully committed to preserving and protecting the environment. It is with extreme honor and utter joy that KUFPEC has provided this priceless book to showcase the beauty and diversity of the birdlife that exists here in our beloved Kuwait. It is our responsibility to the community, and our personal duty to safeguard and conserve the fragile habitat that sustains both the resident and migratory birds. This book will hopefully be a valuable tool to raise public awareness of the need to protect the birds and their habitat so as to ensure they continue to visit and pass through Kuwait safely and unharmed each year.”

Some sample images of this unique publication are shown below:

Stam Zogaris and I were the Editors of the book and I would like to take this opportunity to add the note below, as thanks to all the birders, but specifically local birders with whom I am friends and of course the team I worked with to produce Birds of Kuwait

The formal launch of this limited edition Birds of Kuwait was held at KUFPEC on 16 September 2012 for their staff and later for all the Kuwait birders who had contributed images to this first of a kind publication for Kuwait and indeed the Gulf.

One of the aims of the book is to increase public awareness at all levels of the beauty and diversity of Kuwait's birdlife which is part of Kuwait's natural heritage. This in the hope that more conservation measures will be taken to improve and protect diminishing habitats and the environment for better  bird protection and to ensure that this great diversity of species we are seeing now, will still be with us for generations to come.

Over 95% of the images were taken in Kuwait by local birders/photographers as well as some of the visiting international birders. All in all 43 photographers (male, female, young and old) from 10 countries with the youngest being 9-years old contributed to the 1300+ images in this mammoth publication. 

This high quality coffee table book comes in at a hefty 3.5kg has been extremely well received locally and internationally and the first print run has already been depleted; so an additional print run has been commissioned.

This visionary project was sponsored by KUFPEC and the book was produced and delivered in 8-months; an unprecedented timeline for a book of this quality. 

This milestone was achieved through the cooperation and collaboration of both local birders/photographers and other birders outside of Kuwait who have been extremely supportive of this project and in sharing their images, as it is the first book that covers all bird species ever recorded in Kuwait (at the time of publishing). 

Also the project team (Graham Whitehead of KUFPEC, the BioDiversity East Team of Nancy Papathanasopoulou, Aris Vidalis, Stam Zogaris, Vaso Vlami  as well as Abdulrahman Al Sirhan and I (in our spare time)), who through passion, commitment  dedication and professionalism were able to deliver this remarkable book in the contracted time period.

Although not available in retail outlets, a .pdf version will be available for download in due course and the links for these will be shared as soon as they are available. 

As a note to show how dynamic birding is in Kuwait, 3 new bird species have been added to the Kuwait Checklist since the launch on 16 September 2012 and this is primarily due to the growing number of birders out there who are passionate about this fascinating, interesting and enjoyable pastime. The more birders we can encourage to take up this hobby, the more chance we have of rallying support for changes in terms of conservation and protection for long-term sustainability.