Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

THE FIRST ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD PERNIS PTILORHYNCHUS (TEMMINCK, 1821) IN IRAQ

Mudhafar A. Salim and Salwan Ali Abed

Abstract

During the series of the field surveys arranged and conducted by the Iraqi Organization for Conservation of Nature (IOCN) in various locations and habitats in Iraq, the team had the opportunity to survey various areas within Iraq in different seasons over the period 2015-2019 where new observations of bird species and breeding evidences were made as the first records for Iraq. During one of these surveys is Kurdistan Region, northern Iraq, an individual of Oriental Honey Buzzard (also called Crested Honey Buzzard) Pernis ptilorhynchus was observed in Dhouk District while flying over the area of the mountainous and plains habitats in Fish-Khabour area, 8km east of Zakho city at March, 2018, crossing Khabour River. This species breeds in central and the eastern parts of Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and migrates as westward as Turkey and the Middle East. The species was found as a vagrant at Yemen and eastern Mediterranean areas and Egypt and central-eastern Africa. Within the area around Iraq, this species has been observed in Iran, Turkey, Kuwait, and the KSA. This paper confirms the first observation for this species for Iraq.