News

With only one resident birdwatcher, there is no recent information available from the country. The most recently documented ornithological survey was between 4 and 12 February 2001 which carried out a count of the waterbirds wintering on the coastal mudflats from Djibouti city east to the Somali border to assess the area’s potential as a Ramsar site. This survey recorded 10,072 waterbirds of 66 species, including a first for Djibouti Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris, and regionally important numbers of Crab Plover Dromas ardeola (352 with higher numbers occurring on passage), Lesser Sand Plover Charadrius mongolus (1,368) and Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus (861). Other notable Djibouti records from this survey were a single Masked Booby Sula dactylatra, up to 8 Black Egrets Egretta ardesiaca, a single Great Black-headed Gull Larus ichthyaetus, up to 20 Slender-billed Gulls L. genei, 3 Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybrida and a female Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola.