In all, the May 1990 survey involved travelling 5300km, of which about 
1,300km were getting to and from the study area on asphalt: the rest of 
it was off road. In an area about the size of England, I recorded 44 
breeding species. Two others, Hume's Owl and the Lanner Falcon, were 
known to have been missed. On average, between nine and 17 species 
occurred per square, although the maximum was 23 and the minimum 
was only four. 
The highlights of the survey included Alpine Swift found breeding on 
two granite jebels, some hundreds of kilometres northeast of the limit 
where they had previously been known to breed. The doves were very 
interesting: African Collared Dove occurs 200km farther east than was 
previously known; whereas the European Collared Dove has extended 
its range about 300km west in recent years. Turtle Doves were breeding 
in almost every square visited. As the number of Turtle Dove breeding 
records in Arabia was very few indeed until this visit, it seems that mid- 
summer observers are rare in Arabia. 
Interesting raptors included breeding Golden Eagles, two colonies of 
Griffon Vultures and widespread and numerous records of the Lappet- 
faced Vulture, including one record of 22 together at a dead sheep. 
Other notable records included Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse found 
inland of the western mountains for the first time. Mourning Whea tears 
well east of their previous breeding limit and confirmation that Yellow- 
vented Bulbul and Blackstart are absent over large areas of central Arabia. 
Nomadic species such as Black-crowned Finchlark and Cream-coloured 
Courser were very scarce. 
Mike Jennnings 
If anyone has records of Arabianbreedingbirds or may be able to help with future 
records for ABBA, please contact Mike Jennings, ABBA Co-ordinator, at his new 
address: 1 Warners Farm, Warners Drove, Somersham, Cambridgeshire PE17 
3HW,UK. 
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