Announcements

NATURE IRAQ ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF NEW BOOK

After two years of field research and survey efforts in southern Iraq, Nature Iraq, in a joint project with BirdLife International and with the support of the Canada-Iraq Marshland Initative, is announcing the release of its new book, Birds of Iraq.  This book, written in Arabic, will be presented to the public on 15 August in Amman, Jordan.  We hope to have it available for sale in the Fall.

This book contains over 200 birds that are seen within the borders of Iraq, some which are seen nowhere else in the world. It represents the first major effort in many years to document Iraq's birds resources and habitates.

The authors and publishers (Nature Iraq and BirdLife International) would like to thank and express their gratitude to the following for their help in producing this field guide:

R F Porter, S Christensen, P Schiermacker-Hansen, A Birch, J Gale, M Langman, B Small and Christopher Helm (of A & C Black Publishers Ltd) for permission to use the text and illustrations in Birds of the Middle East.

Dr. Khalaf Al Rubaae and colleagues from the University of Basrah, the BaghdadNaturalHistoryMuseum and the Iraq Nature Conservation Society who provided material.

The Canada - Iraq Marshlands Initiative (CIMI), the Canadian International Development Agency and the Unversity of Waterloo, Canada for initiating and funding the surveys of the Mesopotamian Marshes. This book arose as a result of that programme.

The Iraq Ministry of the Environment and IraqMarshesUniversity Consortium for support in the field surveys.

The Ornithological Society of the Middle East and Avifauna, Sweden for additional sponsorship.

The World Bank and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation whose funding made the printing of this book possible.

Finally Ruba Hikmat of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in Jordan for her patience and expertise in coordinatng the layout and design of this first field guide to the birds of Iraq.