have not found disturbance too excessive, until the drying of the glutinous 
mud allows the salt working to restart. Black-winged Stilts Hirmntopus 
himantopus, Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta, and Kentish Plovers Charadrius 
alexandrinns nest in wet years as they did in the 1960s, but the timing of 
the drying up must be crucial to breeding birds and the unfledged young 
could find themselves left on a barren dry mudflat by mid-May, especially 
now they cannot retreat into the marsh. The question of breeding success 
has previously remained unanswered as no stilts or Avocets nested 
when Bryan Nelson made observations there in the sunnmers of 1968 and 
1969. 
In 1990, the qa filled in early March and there were some wader broods 
in late May along the edge (table 1), but I did not return until mid-June 
and the qa had long since evaporated. The year 1991 had a wet and cool 
late spring, with the water staying far longer than normal - there was still 
shallow water and extensive mud at the end of June. Waders took full 
advantage of this rare combination of favourable conditions and breeding 
success was exceptional (table 1 ). On 19 June, I estimated 500 young stilts 
of various sizes, many fledged or almost so, many young chicks and there 
were even some adults still sitting on nests. On 28 June, the total number 
of stilts exceeded 1,200, but it was unlikely that the mud would last long 
enough for some of the smallest chicks and sitting adults. The young 
Avocets were already well grown on 8 June, with approximately 80 
fledged young on 19 June. The Avocets settled earlier in the season, 
which may explain why they did better than the stilts in 1990 (table 1). 
Kentish Plovers did very well in both years and several hundred young 
were reared. 
24 May 1990 19 June 1991 
Total No of No of Total No of No of 
pairs broods young pairs broods young 
Black-winged C.50 2 3 c.300 ? 500+ 
Stilt 
Avocet 50? ? 25 c.20 c.l5 80 
Table 1 . Numbers of breeding Black- winged Stilts and Avocets at Azraq qa, 1990- 
91. Counts were made along approximately 40-50% of the qa edge, although 
these were probably the most productive parts. 
These two wet years also allowed five species to nest at Azraq that had 
not been recorded previously (Wallace 1983). In 1990, 1 saw a brood of 
small Shelduck Tadorna tadorm chicks, and later a brood of Marbled 
Ducks Marmaronetta angustirostris also appeared. In the following year, 
up to 60 Little Terns Sterna albifrons summered, a few were seen courtship 
feeding and visiting islands, and one juvenile was seen on 20 July. Gull- 
billed Terns Gelochelidon nilotica, also present throughout the 1991 breeding 
16 
