OSME

”Like a Hollywood script”

It’s not everyday bird conservation in the Middle East reaches international news headlines! Euronews are reporting on the excellent collaboration involving Lebanese and Serbian conservation groups and law enforcement to save Feliks the tagged eagle from the talons of wildlife crime. OSME has been involved for years in trying to tackle this and been funding the work of groups such as Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds (LAMB).

”A young Eastern Imperial Eagle named Feliks has returned home to Serbia after being captured by poachers, sold illegally and rescued in a cross-border operation. His journey has highlighted the growing scale of the illegal wildlife trade affecting migratory birds across the region.

Conservationists warn the problem is getting worse and are calling for stronger action to protect endangered species.”

Brilliant work LAMB!

A young eastern imperial eagle named Feliks has returned home to Serbia after being captured by poachers, sold illegally and rescued in a cross-border operation. His journey has highlighted the growing scale of the illegal wildlife trade affecting migratory birds across the region.

Conservationists warn the problem is getting worse and are calling for stronger action to protect endangered species.

Less than two weeks now until Global Birdfair again takes place at Lyndon Top, Rutland in the UK. OSME will be there of course! Find us in the Swallow marquee, stand S59. Its just right from the main entrance, so very convenient. Come and chat to us, enjoy our stand with all its display (more posts to come on that!) and get connected to the conservation of birds and nature in the .

Read more about the event here:

https://globalbirdfair.org/

Online webinar tomorrow 23 June that should be worth to listen in to! The Steppe Eagle is getting increased protection and pretty much all its breeding, migration, and also nowadays much wintering it seems, takes place in the . Enjoy!

Join us online on tomorrow, 23 June, for the launch of the Steppe Eagle Global Action Plan. 🦅

This globally Endangered bird spans 62 Range States and is listed on CMS Appendices I and II. Once considered the world’s most common large raptor, it has suffered severe declines of around 50% over three generations.

With interventions from CMS, RSPB, ACBK - Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, National Center for Wildlife of Saudi Arabia, and Wildlife Institute of India, the online session will explore key threats, priority conservation actions, and ongoing efforts from Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and India to support the species’ long-term survival along its flyways.

Learn more: https://raptors.cms.int/eventcalendar/one-species-62-range-states-launching-global-action-plan-conservation-iconic-steppe

Download the Global Action Plan (with summaries available in English, Arabic, Kazakh and Russian): https://raptors.cms.int/publication/global-action-plan-conservation-steppe-eagle-aquila-nipalensis-2026-2035

In the June issue of journal British Birds is a detailed review on how to separate first-calendar-year Levant Sparrowhawk and Shikra. And we are lucky, this high quality paper is free to read by Open Access! The Shikra is a mainly southern and eastern species but which shows small signs of expanding westwards. It was discovered in the early 2000´s to be breeding in both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and also in the eastern Arabian peninsula.

"A record of Levant Sparrowhawk (Tachyspiza brevipes) from the UAE in November 2023 prompted an examination of a number of features used to separate first calendar-years of that species from Shikra (T. badia) of the same age..... Given the westward and south-ward range expansion of Shikra as a breeding species in the far southeast of the Western Palearctic in recent years, and its rapid spread in other areas, including eastern Arabia, separating the two species is likely to become an increasingly frequent issue in the region in the future."

Read the Open Access paper here:

https://britishbirds.co.uk/journal/article/separation-first-calendar-year-levant-sparrowhawk-and-shikra-reference-record-uae?fbclid=IwY2xjawSd3spleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe2OkCal7O-Gb0vsFf3iqlI81qSjg2SDfkA7jc8qofBm08l7sGnso7y4eYLTs_aem_Z-0pm9GbV2W1RWDb8BUsgA

New guest blog on the OSME web!

The Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis), one of the absolute icons of the OSME region, was once considered the most abundant large eagle on Earth. Not anymore. It has experienced a dramatic population collapse over recent decades. Today, fewer than 30,000 breeding pairs are believed to remain worldwide, and the species is classified as Endangered by the IUCN. Now, an ambitious new international framework has been launched to change this!

"The Steppe Eagle ranges from European Russia and Anatolia across Central and East Asia, with Kazakhstan supporting most of the global breeding population. Each year, the species migrates thousands of kilometres through key ecological bottlenecks to the Arabian Peninsula, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. This immense range makes conservation particularly complex, as threats arise at every stage of the bird’s annual cycle (on breeding grounds, along migration routes, and in wintering areas), meaning that no single country can protect the species alone. This framework emphasizes the urgent need for cross-border collaboration to protect migratory species that depend on multiple ecosystems and nations throughout their lives."

Enjoy the full guest blog on the OSME web:

https://osme.org/2026/06/the-long-flight-home-securing-a-future-for-the-steppe-eagle/

As always, feel free to share and even more so in multiple languages!

Although OSME does not (yet) have a presence on Instagram, mainly due to limited capacity as a small volunteer-based council, many of our partners, collaborators and funding recipients do! You can find many of them there, with many being more active on that platform than on Facebook. Our very active partners in Central Asia are there, as are Birding Azerbaijan, the raptor counts at Galala, Batumi, Galugah, our Corporate Partners in the birding tour business such as Birding Ecotours, Rubythroat and Oriole Birding. And of course many active birders and conservationists of the

You instagrammers - feel very free to talk about you find useful, and to link people to our FB and web. Until we have sorted our own IG presence 🙂

Attached is an example from the very active and attractive IG account of Kyrgyz conservation group Nature Foundation.

Here is a nice greeting from OSME partners in Lebanon where, despite ongoing conflict, conservation and awareness-raising efforts take place! This was part of a larger grant to tackle illegal bird killing that was carried out with great success by the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds.

”In 2024, the Lebanese Association for Migratory Birds (LAMB) organized an environmental competition aimed at cleaning natural areas of empty shotgun cartridges left behind by hunters. The initiative was implemented through a project funded by BirdLife Finland and supported by OSME. As part of the campaign, a portion of the collected cartridges was used to create a bird-shaped sculpture titled “Let Them Pass in Peace.”

The artwork, designed by Dr. Ruwaida Al Rifaii, was exhibited during a festival in Tripoli, North Lebanon, attracting visitors and participants from across the region. The event served as a powerful awareness-raising activity, highlighting the environmental impacts of hunting-related waste and promoting the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.”

For several field seasons OSME has supported the Eymir Ornithological Research Center outside Ankara, Türkiye. It’s connected to the Biology Department of the Science Faculty, Ankara University. An amazing number of students from several universities have participated here to learn the basics on bird conservation, bird ringing and how to carry out field work for a thesis. OSME believes that creating opportunities for these young naturalists, and cheer them on in their early-career moves on the path of conservation, is vital for nature and humans alike in the OSME region.

This is the second of a two-part guest blog featuring the reflections, thoughts and personal experiences from some of these students. Great examples of how sustained funding can build a whole community of committed up-and-coming conservationists.

Enjoy the guest blog at the OSME web!

https://osme.org/2026/05/journeys-with-turkiyes-eymir-ornithological-research-center-part-two/

OSME cheers for and encourages you to vote for the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project as finalist in one of the most prestigious awards for nature and biodiversity in Europe - the European Commission LIFE Awards!

The project is competing with two other finalists in the “Nature and Biodiversity” category, as well as with eight projects for the prestigious Citizens’ Prize, which is decided through public voting.

Check out this web page and cast your vote for the Egyptian Vulture, one of the flagship raptors of the OSME region!

Egyptian Vulture New LIFE – LIFE Awards 2026 The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Europe’s only long-distance migratory vulture, has suffered a dramatic decline due to poisoning, electrocution, persecution, and habitat loss. While most European pairs are concentrated in Spain, small and fragile populations in the Balkans are critica...