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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.25, 193-200
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
199
Table 6 Time table of breeding species of birds in the islands
Breeding Species
First arrival
First egg laying
First hatching
Start of migration
Western Reef Heron
Egretta gularis
Mid of March
End of March
First of May
End of August
Lesser Sand Plover
Charadrius mongolus
No Information
No Information
No Information
No Information
Saunders’s Tern
Sterna suandersi
End of April
First of May
No information
No information
Bridle Tern
Sterna anaethetus
Mid April
Early May.
Mid of May
Late August
Lesser Crested Tern
Sterna bengalensis
First of May
Mid of May
End of May
First of September
Swift Tern
Sterna bergii
First of May
Mid of May
End of May
First of September
White cheeked Tern
Sterna repressa
End of April
First of May
End of May
End of August
Gull-billed Tern
Sterna nilotica
Mid of April
First of May
End of May
End of August
Caspian Tern
Sterna caspia
First of May
Mid of May
End of May
First of September
Table 7 Species with important population proportions (1% or more of world population) breeding in the area
Species
Previous estimates (Evans 1,994) Recent estimate World estimate (Simon and Scott, 2002)
Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
1,500 pairs
maximum 2,825
pairs (2011)
60,000-80,000 pairs 1% level 700 pairs
Lesser Crested Tern
Sterna ben
-
galensis
1,000 pairs
maximum17,783
pairs (2012)
180,000* 1% 1,800 pairs
Bridled Tern
Sterna anaethetus
21,500 pairs
maximum 29,461
pairs (2009)
150,000 pairs 1% level 1,500 pairs
Species restricted wholly or largely to the Middle East
Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
1,500 pairs
maximum 2,825
pairs (2011)
60,000-80,000 pairs 1% level 700 pairs
White-cheeked Tern
Sterna repressa
535 pairs 300pairs Scott 1975
700 pairs in (2010) 600,000 1% level 6,000 pairs
Saunders’s Tern
Sterna saundersi
summer visitor 9 pairs 5 pairs scott1975 3 pair in (2010) 40,000 1% level 400 pairs
estimated world population of a species in order for
the area to be considered as internationally important
according to the criteria of the Ramsar Convention.
3 Discussion
Terns form the main animal group heavily dependent
on the islands for their continued existence. There are
many species of this seabird group in the Persian Gulf,
but three in particular nest in vest number on the
islands. These are the Lesser Crseted Tern
Sterna
bengalensis
, Swift Tern
Sterna bergii
and the Bridled
Tern
Sterna anaethetus
. All three species occur
together on most of the Persian Gulf islands (Tuck,
1974), but each has distinctive nesting habitats.
Besides terns, which breed in summer, several other
species of bird use the islands for breeding, notably
Crab plover
Dromas ardeola
, Reef heron
Egretta
gularis
, Caspian Tern
Sterna caspia
, Gull-billed Tern
sterna nilotica,
Lesser
Sand Plover
Charadrius
mongolus,
and land birds such as Crested Lark
Galerida cristata
(Harington, 1976). The Crested Lark
Galerida cistata
did not breed in 2008-2012 in
Om-Al-Gorm, Nakhiloo, Khan and Tahmadon islands.
This species is very common and breeder species at
Persian Gulf coasts. During spring and fall migration
the islands are visited by a number and variety of
shore and land birds (Table 1). The islands hold over
1% of the regional( Regional population in Middle
east) population of Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola,
Lesser Cressted Tern
Sterna bengalensis
and Bridled
Tern
Sterna anaethetus
(Scott, 1995; Evans, 1994;
Behrouzi-Rad, 2013). The islands have been identified
as an "Important Bird Area" by Birdlife International
(Evans, 1994), proposed for protection as a part of the
Mond Protected Area (Harington, 1976), now it is part
of National Marine Park of Dayer, and suggested for
to be classified as sensitive habitat for breeding
seabirds (Behrouzi-Rad, 2008). These four islands are
good representative examples of low-lying inshore
islands characteristic of the Persian Gulf. The islands
support important breeding colonies of seabirds and
are also important for nesting sea turtle, including
Hawksbill
Eretmochelys imbericata
, a globally threatened
species (Scott, 1995; Evans, 1994). Some terrestrial
animals also inhabit the islands. These include a
considerable variety of insects, spiders, which have