UAE -A hub for migratory birdsby | 14-05-2016 13:49 |
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 Dubai?s strategic location has helped the emirate forge one of the busiest airports in the world, an international crossroads through which millions of passengers migrate to far-flung locales across the globe. But before giant jet-powered birds streaked trails across the blue yonder, Dubai and the UAE were already an international hub, of sorts, for millions of birds migrating north and south in the annual autumn and summer seasons. Down through time, the UAE has long been a preferred rest stop for exotic avian world travellers given the country?s rich marine food sources, mudflats, lagoons and sabkha (mud flats) sanctuaries. Coastal shallows, inland waterways, mangroves and salt marshes are critical layovers for birds fleeing icy snowbound regions of the Asian and Siberian Arctic on their quest to seek warmer climes in Africa. An estimated three million birds call upon the UAE?s 83,600 square kilometres annually through four aerial flight corridors which form part of what?s called the Palaearctic-Asian Flyway. To pay homage to one of the greatest natural marvels in the world, wildlife experts, ornithologists and amateur birdwatchers in the UAE fan out to important bird areas across the country on May 10 to observe World Migratory Bird Day. The event is held every year to boost awareness of migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. This year?s theme is ?Stop the illegal killing, taking and trade of migratory birds?. Extensive conservation measures to protect one of Dubai?s most well-known bird areas, Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, is a good example of responsible environmental stewardship by UAE government officials committed to helping migrating flocks. Over the years, covered public viewing areas known as blinds or hides have been constructed in the Ras Al Khor watershed to witness with minimal interference migrating birds in the thousands such as the Greater Flamingo, the elegant pink birds which blanket the creekside marsh as part of their many hops every year. The sanctuary is protected and is recognised as one of 19 ?important bird areas? in the UAE under the Ramsar Convention, signed by the UAE in 2007, a global intergovernmental treaty. One of the best places and most easily accessible places of the UAE is the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. During autumn and spring passage migration time, it is not unlikely to see nearly 10,000 waders roosting here. The Abu Dhabi coast and some islands supports over 100,000 birds at a time during summer migration. The flamingoes are only a few of the wild passengers taking a rest in Dubai. Birds that pass through the UAE in the thousands include almost all species of small and big-sized waders such as plovers, stints, snipes, sandpipers, godwits, curlews, whimbrels, turnstones, ruffs, all species of gulls barring the Sooty Gull that is partly resident and mostly migratory, ducks, teals, Great Cormorant and terns. Despite coastal development throughout the Gulf, UAE?s protection measures combined with awareness measures such as World Migratory Bird Day are helping to offset myriad threats to flocks ranging from water pollution, habitat loss, power lines, hunting, and harvesting. Source The Gulf News
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