Some observations of birds in 
northwestern Iraq, 1983 
SA Rasmussen 
Introduction 
During the autumn of 1983, 1 spent three months in Iraq working at a 
chemical plant, five kilometres south of the Euphrates and about 15 
kilometres from the Syrian border near the village of Al Qaim. The 
factory and the camp site covered an area of about 25 square kilometres. 
I arrived in Baghdad on 9 September, and next day I drove to Al Qaim. 
From 6-10 November, I visited Baghdad and surroundings and returned 
to Al Qaim. Finally, I left Al Qaim on 2 December. 
My observations v^ere restricted to the camp and the plant itself and an 
area of open land between them, crossed by roads passing a wadi. I 
managed two short visits to the banks of the Euphrates, which offered 
little habitat for bird life. I also drove three times to Huseiba at the Syrian 
border, and spent a week in Baghdad in the beginning of November, and 
from there I travelled to Babylon and Kerbala. 
Because of the war, I was not allowed to bring binoculars or photographic 
equipment with me, and I could not explore the surroundings of the 
plant. Further, because of an eye ailment, I had to use sunglasses all day 
long. 
It was obvious that most of the migration was directed towards east/ 
southeast, i.e towards the fertile parts of the country between the two 
important rivers (the Euphrates and the Tigris), whereas migration of 
swallows and other passerines was westward. It was also evident that 
many smaller birds (nightjars, wheatears, shrikes etc) were quite exhausted 
after having crossed maybe 200-300 kilometres of dry desert land. 
Local Topography 
During my stay in Baghdad and my four 450-kilometre drives from the 
capital to the plant, I noticed the changing landscape between western 
and southeastern Iraq. Iraq west of the Euphrates is an enormous flat 
desert covered mostly by dusty clay over limestone. The south is 
characterized by flat and fertile lowland and wetlands. As a result, the 
birds at Al Qaim in the northwestern desert were quite different from 
those around Baghdad and Babylon. 
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