Arabic book on ‘Birds of The Middle East’ launched

Dubai / WAM

The increasingly popular hobby of birdwatching received a major boost in the Arabic-speaking countries with the launch at the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai of the Arabic version of the standard guidebook, ‘The Birds of the Middle East.’
The English edition, by British-based Richard Porter, the Middle East Adviser to the international conservation organisation BirdLife International, and the late Simon Aspinall, a former Chairman of the Emirates Bird Records Committee, was published in 2010 with support from the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the Abu Dhabi Global Environment Database Initiative (AGEDI).
The Arabic edition of the book was launched at a special event at the Literature Festival, attended by Porter and by three current members of the EBRC, its Chairman, Oscar Campbell, Ahmed Al Ali and Peter Hellyer. The guide covers resident and migrant birds found in Turkey, Cyprus, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra and Iran, as well as the countries of the Levant, like Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Over 820 species are included, including resident and migrant species, with descriptions, pictures and maps showing their distribution.