Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.25, 193-200
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
193
Research Article Open Access
Census and Phenology of Breeding Waterbirds on the Islands of Khan,
Tahmadon, Om-Al-Gorm and Nakhiloo in the Persian Gulf, Iran
Behrouz Behrouzi-Rad
Islamic Azad University, Khuzestan Science and Research Branch, Ahvaz, Iran
Corresponding author email: behrouzirad@yahoo.com
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.25 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0025
Received: 02 Apr., 2013
Accepted: 01 May, 2013
Published: 06 May, 2013
Copyright
©
2013 Behrouzi-Rad, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Behrouzi-Rad, 2013, Census and Phenology of Breeding Waterbirds on the Islands of Khan, Tahmadon, Om-Al-Gorm and Nakhiloo in the Persian Gulf, Iran,
International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.25 193
-
200 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0025)
Abstract
There are 4 islands Khan, Tahmadon, Om-Al-Gorm and Nakhiloo in the Mond Protected Area in Boshehr province in the
Persian Gulf. This research was conducted in these islands from March 2008 to September 2012. Thirty four species of birds were
identified in these Islands. Nine species were breeders. Bridled Tern
Sterna anaethe
tus was dominant and indicates. The maximum
population of this species was 29461 pairs in 2006 in Nakhiloo. The Maximum breeding population of Lesser Crested Tern
Sterna
bengalensis
was 11783 pairs in 2012 in Nakhiloo, and Swift Tern
Sterna bergii
was estimated at 2500 pairs in 2008. We estimated 92
pairs of Western Reef Heron
Egretta gularis
and 2825 pairs of Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
in 2005 in Om-Al-Gorm. The other
breeders were Caspian Tern
Sterna caspia,
Gull-billed Tern
Sterna nilotica,
White-cheecked Tern
Sterna repressa
and Saunders’s
Tern
Sterna Saunders.
These four islands are the most important and sensitive habitat for breeding terns species
Sterna
sp
, Crab
Plover
Dromas ardeola
and Western Reef Heron
Egretta gularis
in the Persian Gulf. The islands have been identified as an
"Important Bird Area" by Birdlife International proposed for protection as a part of the Mond Protected Area, now part of National
Marine Park of Dayer, and suggested for to be classified as sensitive habitat for breeding seabirds.
Keywords
Breeding populations; Terns species; Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
; Persian Gulf
Introduction
Four islands of the delta of the Mond River (Figure 1),
host a breeding population of the Western Reef Heron
Egretta gularis
, seven terns species (Lesser Crested
Tern,
Sterna bengalensis,
Swift Terrn
Sterna bergii
,
Bridled Tern
Sterna anaethetus
, Gull-billed Tern
Sterna nilotica
, Caspian Tern
Sterna caspia,
White-cheecked Tern
Sterna repressa
, Saunders Tern
Sterna saundersi
and Crab Plover
Dromas ardeola
(Scott, 1975; 1995; Behrouzi-Rad and Tayfef, 2008;
Argayl, 1975; Evans, 1994). The islands hold over 1%
of the regional population of Crab Plover
Dromas
ardeola
of Middle East (Scott, 1995; Evans, 1994;
Behrouzi-Rad, 2013). Also they 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 Park of Dayer, and suggested for
classification 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
Turtle
Eretmochelys imbericata
(a globally threatened
species, Scott, 1995).
1 Methods and Material
1.1 Study Area
Four small, low-lying Persian Gulf islands located a
few kilometers offshore c. 40 km south-east of the
Mond River delta (Figure 1). Tahmadon (27°51'N,
51°27'E, 130 km SE of Bushehr) is 700 hectares with
a chain of low vegetated dunes along its south-west
margin and round the southern end (Figure 1).
Om-Al-Gorm (or Ummal Karam, 27°00'N, 51°33'E,
133 km SE of Bushehr), the easternmost island, lies
than 1 km off the main land and is c. 1.5 km long and
500 m wide (c.75 ha, Figure 1), with rocky shore in
the south, sandy beaches in the north, and extensive
dunes particularly in the west. The central basin of the
island is completely covered by low scrub. Nakhiloo
(27°49'N, 51°28'E, 133 km SE of Bushehr city,
Bushehr is the center of Bushehr Province) the westernmost