Database

The Oman Bird Database is an integrated system of comprehensive data and information about birds in the Sultanate of Oman, as it contains more than 16 million views of about 47 groups and 623 species of birds (2019), and this database adopts GIS to determine the spatial distribution of birds in more than 455 thousand locations.

The first record of bird watching in the Omani Bird Database dates back to the traveler Ibn Battuta (1304-1369), who visited the country in the early summer of 1329 when he sailed from the east coast of Africa to the Halaniyat Islands and reached the eastern coast of the Sultanate of Oman, or what is now "Muscat". On Hasakiyah Island, the traveler Ibn Battuta wrote of his sightings of black birds, most likely Socotra cormorants. To this day, Hasakiyah Island remains the only breeding site for this species. In the 500 years following Ibn Battuta`s writing, no other records of birds existed until British sailors One beganvisiting Oman in the 1830s.

This digital database provides a bio and geospatial information management tool through which bird specialists and observers manage, analyze and report on the breadth of their scientific knowledge of species. This data can be accessed through the Oman Birds website under the "Data" tab. The website allows users to query detailed information on bird species, their distribution, and related data.

  • 1971

    Work on initiation the Oman Bird Database began in 1971 through a catalogue of cards prepared by Evie Warer, who wrote on the first card: "This catalogue of cards began when I was in Oman in 1971 for my own use and without thinking that it could be read or used by anyone else. Well, the card catalogue has been widely used and has become a valuable reference, at least for the publication of data on the birds of Oman" (Gallagher Woodcock, 1980).

  • 1981

    Evie Warer delivered the cards to Michael Gallagher on August 1, 1981 in several plastic boxes, which were later marked, grouped and arranged according to bird species groups and kept in the formerly known as the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. Data from the observers' reports were then entered by Michael Gallinger, and later by David J.G. Foster, who was the first registrar of the Omani Bird Records Commission.

  • 1989

    The card index, which contains about 5,000 cards, was handed over to Jens Eriksen in 1989, who became the new registrar. In 1989, Jens and his wife embarked on a six-year arduous task of developing a computerized database, transferring all the records from the cards to the database.

  • 2001

    For many years, the Center for Environmental Studies and Research at Sultan Qaboos University has invested in the development of Oman Bird Database. In 2001, it provided financial and technical support for the transfer of the computerized database of Oman's birds to the Center for Environmental Studies and Research. Since this date, the database has been regularly updated with the support of Dr. Jens Erikssen, and the Center has published four books since 2001 ,trucking the overall status of Oman's birds.

  • 2013

    The Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Sensing Research Center at Sultan Qaboos University conducted a research project in 2013 to track the migration of winter birds in the Bur Al Hakman using bird-mounted GPS devices, and this study is the first of its kind to track crab plover and lapwings along the West Asia and East Africa route. Monitoring of bird migration routes and the consistency of migratory times is a key indicator of any potential climate change; Local, regional or global. Furthermore, recording the presence of waterbirds is a good indicator of the overall ecological status of wetlands. The study showed that more than one million migratory coastal birds visit the Bar Al Hakman wetland area each year; half of these species migrate long distances. In addition, the study showed that this region supports 10-15% of the world's population for crab plovers; it is the most important winter area for these species.

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