Watch: Rare, endangered white-eyed gull spotted in UAE

“I was informed about seeing this very rare bird, Ichthyaetus leucopthalmus, from the UAE Bird Watching WhatsApp group, which mentioned that J Shemilt, A Wilson and others saw it at Kalba Corniche Beach on 4-5 November. only seagulls,” added Dr Khan.

Dr Khan has since gone to find it with his wife Nurren on November 6.

“When I saw it again, this gull was among nearly 500 other gulls. The lone white-eyed gull was at home with its kin. Its similar species, the crow, was in the hundreds.”

He said it was a rare seagull found only on the coasts of the Red Sea on both sides of Asia and Africa.

It is listed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“So far, 13 species of seagulls have been recorded in the UAE. Of these, the only species known to breed on some remote islands is the black gull. Most of the other species, six in total, are considered very rare, and their status Known as vagabonds. This means that the presence of these in the UAE is uncertain and no one knows when the next time they will be seen,” Dr Khan added.

For example, he said that Franklin’s seagulls were only seen by him once during May 2011 at the beach in Fujairah. “It hasn’t been seen again in the last 11 years. That’s the rarity of stray species. The Sabine gull has only been seen twice, the white-eyed gull is now four times, and the brown-headed gull seven times.”

Of the remaining six species, only four can be considered abundant or common. “Among them, the black-headed gull is well known because it can be seen anywhere in metropolises such as Dubai during the winter months, as they number in the thousands in the country. Even when schoolchildren are on campus When they open their lunch boxes, they snatch their food. There are many, and next to them are the little black-backed gulls with several subspecies. The third is the black-billed gull, and the fourth is the slender-billed gull.”

Dr Khan said when he spotted the white-eyed gull, it was less than five metres away.

“It’s sometimes solitary, or of similar-looking species, swarms of black gulls trying to drive away fish trapped in nets. It’s neither afraid of me nor fishermen. It’s behaving very much like I’m there to watch Any other seagull that arrives. The only difference is its shape, size and colour pattern,” he said.

“The most prominent feature is a half-moon-shaped white brow, and one under very dark eyes. Also, its beak is thin compared to the size of a seagull. Overall, it is a black, grey and white Medium-sized gulls, very similar to the locally abundant black gulls.”

“Usually, adults have a black hood, a white collar, a black bib on the chin and throat, the wings are black, the trailing edge is white, the shoulders are grey, and the underside and the rest of the tail are white The beak is predominantly red in adulthood, with black base and tip. The legs are yellow. It is 43 cm long from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail. The weight varies from 350 grams to 450 grams,” said Dr Khan.

He added that the gull has a very limited distribution on both sides of Africa and Asia along the Red Sea coast, from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt to Israel.

According to some studies, the number of this rare bird is around 12,000 adults, Dr Khan said.

“It occasionally ventures into Oman and is rare in the UAE. The IUCN Red Book considers it ‘nearly threatened’, but some predict that due to restricted distribution, habitat loss, removal of eggs for human consumption and building Human disturbance of the nest site, it may soon be classified as ‘vulnerable’.”

However, Dr Khan added that thanks to the proactive measures taken by the government and the patience and tolerance of the public, the white-eyed hull specimens arriving in the UAE’s coastal waters are safe.