directly oiled, but some, such as Lesser Sand Plovers, Bar-tailed God wits 
and Terek Sandpipers Xenus cinereus, appeared to have been particularly 
badly hit. 
The seabird census took place in the first half of June and the second half 
of July and covered seven of the 1 1 islands off the Saudi Gulf coast, where 
the same four tern species breed as in Kuwait. The islands hold the largest 
concentration of breeding Lesser Crested Terns in the world, already 
known from the only previous census, in June 1986 (lUCN/MEPA 1987). 
Compared with that census. Lesser Crested Terns and the endemic 
White-cheeked Temshave decreased by 22% and 28% respectively to 
20,751 and 10,200 pairs, whilst Bridled Terns have increased dramatically 
to 44300 pairs (+270%), making the group of islands one of the top five 
sites in the world for this species. The population changes are thought to 
be partly due to an increase in vegetation cover on the islands, but are 
clearly not related to the oil spills since less than 1% of the terns were 
noticeably oiled. The terns bred well this year: hatching success was in 
the range 70-95% for all species, and overall chick mortality was less than 
10%. 
Several hundred million migrants, mostly passerines, are thought to pass 
through the Gulf in spring (Dolnik 1990; WCMC 1991a); the NCWCD/ 
ICBP ringing activity led by PS indicated that the commonest passerine 
species in April /May include Whitethroats Sylvia communis, Marsh 
Warblers Acrocephalus palustris, Redstarts Phoenicurus phoenicurus. Red- 
backed Shrikes Lanius coUurio and Willow Warblers P/zy//osco;7ws trochilus. 
The smoke from the burning oil wells in Kuwait has the p)otential to 
significantly affect this migration, since it lies as a dense, dark pall 
stretching for hundreds of kilometres down the Gulf. Many bird species, 
both residents and migrants, were 'sooted', having flown through the 
cloud or come into contact with sooty vegetation. The decrease in 
migrants' flight efficiency due to oily soot in their lungs and the begriming 
of their plumage are probably not immediately lethal, but may reduce the 
breeding success of large numbers of passerines in Europe and the USSR. 
Ringing suggests that 10% of migrant passerines were 'sooted' at Ras 
Tanajib (150 km from the nearest fires), compared with 5% at Jubayl (300 
km from the nearest fires). Preliminary analysis of weights and recaptures 
indicates that 'sooting' slows a bird's migration and severely affects its 
capacity to refuel. 
Iraq 
No information has been received on the effect of the war on birds in Iraq. 
Two species are virtually endemic to the country, Basra Reed Warbler 
Acrocephalus griseldis and Iraq Babbler Turdoides altirostris, and a large 
proportion of the world's Grey Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus also 
breeds there. 
4 
