Breeding colonies of the Crab Plover have been reported on various is- 
lands in the northern Arabian Gulf (figure 1): in Kuwait, on Auhah and 
Warba and, in Iran, on Dara and Boonah in Khor Musa and on islands 
near Bushehr (Ticehurst et al 1922, 1925, 1926). It probably has also 
bred on Kubbar island, Kuwait (Ticehurst et al. 1925). Breeding oc- 
curred on Aulah in 1942 (Dickson 1942), but subsequently there has 
been no indication of the Crab Plover breeding on either Aulah or 
Kubbar (CWT Pilcher pers comm.). The Crab Plover presumably still 
breeds in the northern Arabian Gulf (eg Sales, in Gallagher 1971), for 
example, perhaps on Warba and Bubiyan islands, Kuwait, but, unfor- 
tunately, likely breeding sites appear inaccessible to ornithologists at 
present. Farther south in the Arabian Gulf, in Saudi Arabia, the Crab 
Plover is apparently only a passage migrant (Bundy et al, 1989). 
The shoreline of the northern Arabian Gulf is characterised by mudflats 
(Clayton 1986). In Kuwait, extensive mudflats, including expanses of 
soft, high productivity mud, occur in Kuwait Bay and farther north 
(Al-Sarawi et al 1985, 1988). On the Kuwait mudflats, the Crab Plover 
is present all year, becoming very common in the non-breeding season 
from autumn to spring (Gregory 1988, Haynes 1979). To get a better 
indication of local numbers, I counted Crab Plovers at a roost site in the 
southwest comer of Sulaibikhat Bay, a bay within Kuwait Bay, from 
late October 1989 to early March 1990 (figures 1 and 2). 
300t 
250 
200 
160 
100 
50 
Nov Dec Jan Feb 
Date (29 October 1989 - 4 March 1990) 
Figure2. Crab Plover counts, southwest Sulaibikhat Bay, 1989-1990. 
7 
