SUB-REGION
Horn of Africa
SIZE
Socotra is the largest island in an archipelago of four islands, including Abd al-Kuri, and three islets in the north-western Indian Ocean with a total land area of 3,974 km²
BIRDS AND BIRDING
SPECIES
Diversity
A blend of Middle Eastern and African components in the avifauna
Approximately 230 recorded species, including vagrants
Endemics (E)
Jouanin’s Petrel (breeding) (NT)
Socotra Buzzard (VU)
Socotra Scops Owl (LC)
Socotra Cisticola (NT)
Socotra Warbler (LC)
Socotra Starling (LC)
Socotra Sunbird (LC)
Abd al-Kuri Sparrow (VU)
Socotra Sparrow (LC)
Socotra Golden-winged Grosbeak | Socotra Grosbeak (LC)
Socotra Bunting (NT)
Birds best found on Socotra but occurring more widely (BT), including endemic subspecies (ESS)
Forbes-Watson’s Swift (ESS berliozi)
Socotra White-eye
Birds best found in two territories of the ABC region but occurring in more (B2)
Persian Shearwater (persicus)
Other taxa of interest, including ESS
Harlequin Quail (arabica)
Nubian Nightjar (ESS jonesi)
White-browed Coucal
Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse
Laughing Dove (ESS sokotrae)
Bruce’s Green Pigeon
Red-knobbed Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Kentish Plover
Cream-colored Courser
Brown Noddy (pileatus)
Bridled Tern (antarcticus)
Saunders’s Tern
Sooty Gull
Red-billed Tropicbird (indicus)
Brown Booby (plotus)
Masked Booby (melanops)
Socotra Cormorant
Striated Heron (brevipes)
Osprey
Egyptian Vulture
Common Kestrel (archeri)
Peregrine Falcon
Great Grey Shrike (ESS uncinatus)
Brown-necked Raven
Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark (melanauchen)
Pale Crag Martin (arabica)
Somali Starling
Long-billed Pipit (ESS sokotrae)
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting (ESS insularis)
MAIN HABITATS
Arid scrubland, mountains
BIRD AREAS
Socotra Endemic Bird Area (EBA)
22 Important Bird Areas
BIRDING SITES
Wadi Ayhaft and Dixam Plateau on Socotra Island for endemic landbirds
Abd al-Kuri Island for the endemic sparrow
Between Socotra and Abd al-Kuri Islands for breeding seabirds including Jouanin’s Petrel and Persian Shearwater as well as Red-necked Phalarope on passage and Wilson’s Storm Petrel in summer
Khors and beaches for non-breeding migrants including Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Teal, Ferruginous Duck, Spotted Crake, Common Moorhen, Greater Flamingo, Grey Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Tibetan Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Jack Snipe, Pin-tailed Snipe, Common Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Ruddy Turnstone, Ruff, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, Sanderling, Dunlin, Little Stint, Sooty Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern, White-winged Tern, Common Tern, White-cheeked Tern, Sandwich Tern, Lesser Crested Tern (bengalensis), Greater Crested Tern (velox), Black-headed Gull, Caspian Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull (fuscus/heuglini/barabensis), Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Yellow Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Western Reef Heron (schistacea), Squacco Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Western Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Yellow-billed Egret, Grey Heron and Purple Heron
TIMING (Nov, Apr-May)
Best when most birds breed, during and after the rains (Oct-Dec, Apr-May)
Forbes-Watson’s Swift is absent Sep-Feb
Seabirds breed May-Sep
RESOURCES
Apps
Birds of Africa
Birds of the Middle East (in English and Arabic)
Field guides
Birds of the Horn of Africa by Nigel Redman, Terry Stevenson & John Fanshawe (2011)
Birds of the Middle East by Richard Porter, Oscar Campbell & AbdulRahman Al-Sirhan (2024)
Birds of Eastern Africa by Ber Van Perlo (2009)
Fauna of the Socotra Archipelago: Field Guide by Wolfgang Wranik, O S Al-Saghier, S Aspinall, R F Porter & H Rösler (2003)
Further reading
Socotra’s Special Birds by Richard Porter (2023)
Checklist of the Birds of the Socotra Archipelago by Richard Porter & Ahmed Saeed Suleiman (2020)
Yemen & Socotra, a trip report compiled by Niklas Holmström & Ulf Ståhle (2009)
The Lost World of Socotra: Yemen’s Island of Bliss by Richard Boggs (2009)
Socotra: a Natural History of the Islands and their People by Catherine Cheung & Lyndon DeVantier (2006)
Important Bird Areas in the Middle East compiled by M I Evans (1994)
Articles in Sandgrouse, Bull. ABC, etc.
Websites
Socotra Archipelago – UNESCO World Heritage List
The Socotra Archipelago Project
ORGANISATIONS
There is currently no BirdLife Partner in Yemen, which Socotra is politically part of
Bird or conservation organisations active on, or associated with, Socotra include –
The Socotra Wildlife Association (SWA)
Friends of Soqotra (FOS)
Yemen Society for the Protection of Wildife (YSPF)