Species Appreciation No.24 summer 08 The Newsletter of the Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions Bird Watching: the Great Escape or the Great Connection? The first point to stress is that I am a bird watcher not an ornithologist. If any of you want to meet someone who really understands birds scientifically, then visit with Dr. George Tohmeh and Dr. Ghassan Jaradi. My knowledge is like that of someone who goes regularly to the cinema. I enjoy enormously what I see, but I do not know as much as I would like about the creatures that so delight me. I have been a bird watcher since the early 1980s when I first saw a malkite kingfisher at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. That tiny jewel kept me from paying much attention to elephants, giraffes, and lions. I have “birded “ ever since in New Jersey, California, Texas, Costa Rica, Peru, Ethiopia, Botswana, Tanzania, Morocco, Turkey, Armenia, France, and of course Lebanon in the last ten years. Few Lebanese I fear realize what a treasure lies at their doorstep, at least twice a year. Lebanon is on the great migration corridor leading from Northern Europe and Siberia to Africa. Millions of birds make this passage twice annually, sometimes 10,000 kilometers in either direction. Believe it or not, many of these birds, often exhausted from hundreds of kilometers of continuous flight, come down on our campus, seeking rest and food before resuming their voyage. A few years ago Mike Harrison photographed an exhausted common cuckoo outside his office in Corporation Yard. During migration in the fall and spring one can frequently see on our campus European bee eaters (war war in Arabic), black capped warblers, spotted flycatchers, song thrush, red starts, hoopoes, and very occasionally herons, and large raptors like buzzards. We also have birds that take up longer term residence like the spectacular Palestinian sun bird (photographed by Marwan Sabban along the road to the lower campus), the lesser white throated warbler, the black bird (in Arabic, shahrour), the common kingfisher Common Kingfisher at Marquand House. Photo by John Waterbury.
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Transcript
Spe
cies
App
reci
atio
nNo.24 summer08 The Newsletter of the Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions
Bird Watching: the Great Escape or the Great Connection?
The first point to stress is that I am a bird watcher not an ornithologist. If any of you
want to meet someone who really understands birds scientifically, then visit with Dr.
George Tohmeh and Dr. Ghassan Jaradi. My knowledge is like that of someone who
goes regularly to the cinema. I enjoy enormously what I see, but I do not know as
much as I would like about the creatures that so delight me.
I have been a bird watcher since the early 1980s when I first saw a malkite kingfisher
at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. That tiny jewel kept me from paying much attention to
elephants, giraffes, and lions. I have “birded “ ever since in New Jersey, California,
Texas, Costa Rica, Peru, Ethiopia, Botswana, Tanzania, Morocco, Turkey, Armenia,
France, and of course Lebanon in the last ten years.
Few Lebanese I fear realize what a treasure lies at their doorstep, at least twice
a year. Lebanon is on the great migration corridor leading from Northern Europe
and Siberia to Africa. Millions of birds make this passage twice annually, sometimes
10,000 kilometers in either direction. Believe it or not, many of these birds, often
exhausted from hundreds of kilometers of continuous flight, come down on our
campus, seeking rest and food before resuming their voyage. A few years ago
Mike Harrison photographed an exhausted common cuckoo outside his office in
Corporation Yard.
During migration in the fall and spring one can frequently see on our campus
European bee eaters (war war in Arabic), black capped warblers, spotted flycatchers,
song thrush, red starts, hoopoes, and very occasionally herons, and large raptors
like buzzards.
We also have birds that take
up longer term residence like
the spectacular Palestinian
sun bird (photographed
by Marwan Sabban along
the road to the lower
campus), the lesser white
throated warbler, the black
bird (in Arabic, shahrour),
the common kingfisher
Common Kingfisher at Marquand House. Photo by John Waterbury.
2 3
(photographed by me at
Marquand House), and
the European robin (rouge
gorge).
Then there are the permanent
residents, primarily green
finches, bulbuls, sparrows,
doves, and prinias. We have
also the feral (domesticated
animals/birds that have
returned to the ‘wild’)
such as the ring necked parakeet. Most visitors and residents are depicted in the
wonderful brochure prepared by Ghassan Jaradi on the birds of the AUB campus.
Unfortunately it is difficult to appreciate these birds without a good pair of
binoculars. Perhaps the University could look into establishing a pool of binoculars
that could be loaned out to interested students, staff, faculty and visitors so that
more AUBites can actually see what we have.
AUB’s campus is a very special place ecologically, a green and varied forest in
the heart of Beirut. It is an imperfect resting place given the dangers of the urban
environment. We also have our large resident cat population that we hope will
diminish naturally over time but which poses a threat to birds, especially those that
feed on the ground. However you will notice frequently doves and cats almost side
by side. We hope that full stomachs and advanced age will dull the cats’ hunting
instincts.
Birds are extraordinarily beautiful and extraordinarily strong. For me they are
my link to nature. They are also a sign of the health of the earth’s ecology. So
many bird species are
threatened by the loss of
habitat, hunters, and toxic
materials in their food from
pesticides and herbicides.
Their endangered status
is merely a prelude to
our own. I am happy that
the AUB campus does
something to slow the
process down.
Spotted Cuckoo. Photo by Mike Harrison.
Palestine sun bird. Photo by Marwan Sabban.JOHN WATERBURY
Ibsar power of planting initiative – ‘seeds of hope, trees for tomorrow’ special updates:
The gift of giving trees – 1,000 trees for 1,000 guests
Some gifts are precious – others are
priceless. Such was the wedding gift
of Zena el-Khalil, an environmentalist
and artist, seeking a meaningful
wedding gift for her brother. Rather
than presenting him with a traditional
wedding gift, she approached IBSAR
with hopes of finding something that
would make a lasting impression
while preserving nature. A mutual
agreement was made and the idea
emerged to have 1,000 trees planted
– one for each guest at the wedding.
This inspired IBSAR to continue
thinking of interesting ways in
which the Lebanese public, both
home and abroad, can have a native
tree planted as a gift to someone special. Learn more about our tree gift cards at
www.ibsar.org.
From left to right:
Arbi Sarkissian, Zena El-Khalil, Khaled Sleem.
ARBI SARKISSIAN
SIMBA RUSSEAU
Reducing wedding pollution with native trees
In July 2008, I posted an article on my blog I made for IBSAR called, “Tree Proposal:
Reducing Wedding Pollution with Native Trees” (http://simbarusseau.wordpress.