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BahrainQatar Bahrain / Qatar Ramsar wetland

Hawar Islands

96 bird species recorded; the most in May.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec68at the peak
Species recorded in each month · tap a month

Petr Kadlec · CC BY-SA 2.0

This month here

0 species in January.

The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

No records for this month.

  • Resident all year
  • Summer visitor comes to breed
  • Winter visitor comes for the winter
  • Passage migrant in spring and autumn

In numbers

96 species, counted.

55out of 100

Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).

  • 96Speciesrecorded more than once
  • 28Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
  • 5ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
  • 784Recordsopen records within 6 km
  • 7Raptors
  • 17Waders
  • 6Gulls & seabirds
  • 5Herons, ibises & grebes
  • 1Flamingos
  • 47Songbirds
  • 13Other birds

From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.

The checklist

All 96 species.

By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.

Raptors7 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • OspreyPandion haliaetus
  • Sooty FalconFalco concolorVU
  • Common KestrelFalco tinnunculus
  • Pallid HarrierCircus macrourusNT
  • Booted eagleHieraaetus pennatus
  • Greater spotted eagleAquila clanga
  • Lesser kestrelFalco naumanni
Waders17 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinus
  • Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
  • Greater Sand PloverCharadrius leschenaultii
  • DunlinCalidris alpinaNT
  • Eurasian OystercatcherHaematopus ostralegusNT
  • Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaVU
  • SanderlingCalidris alba
  • Eurasian WhimbrelNumenius phaeopus
  • Eurasian CurlewNumenius arquataNT
  • RedshankTringa totanus
  • Cream-coloured CourserCursorius cursor
  • Common GreenshankTringa nebularia
  • Green SandpiperTringa ochropus
  • Curlew SandpiperCalidris ferrugineaVU
  • Little StintCalidris minuta
  • Common SandpiperActitis hypoleucos
  • Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus
Gulls & seabirds6 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Bridled TernOnychoprion anaethetus
  • Caspian TernHydroprogne caspia
  • Little TernSternula albifrons
  • White-cheeked TernSterna repressa
  • Saunders's TernSternula saundersi
  • Lesser Crested TernThalasseus bengalensis
Herons, ibises & grebes5 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Western Reef HeronEgretta gularis
  • Socotra CormorantPhalacrocorax nigrogularisVU
  • Grey HeronArdea cinerea
  • Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
  • Western Cattle EgretBubulcus ibis
Flamingos1 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Greater FlamingoPhoenicopterus roseus
Songbirds47 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Hoopoe LarkAlaemon alaudipes
  • House SparrowPasser domesticus
  • Isabelline wheatearOenanthe isabellina
  • Lanius excubitorLanius excubitor
  • Isabelline ShrikeLanius isabellinus
  • Crested larkGalerida cristata
  • Willow WarblerPhylloscopus trochilus
  • Pied WheatearOenanthe pleschanka
  • Red-backed ShrikeLanius collurio
  • Desert LarkAmmomanes deserti
  • Common ChiffchaffPhylloscopus collybita
  • Spotted FlycatcherMuscicapa striata
  • Common RedstartPhoenicurus phoenicurus
  • Eurasian Golden OrioleOriolus oriolus
  • Barn swallowHirundo rustica
  • Ortolan buntingEmberiza hortulana
  • Rufous-tailed ShrikeLanius phoenicuroides
  • Desert wheatearOenanthe deserti
  • White-eared BulbulPycnonotus leucotis
  • Common MynaAcridotheres tristis
  • Tree PipitAnthus trivialis
  • Western Yellow WagtailMotacilla flava
  • Common Rock ThrushMonticola saxatilis
  • WhinchatSaxicola rubetra
  • Black-crowned Sparrow-LarkEremopterix nigriceps
  • Lesser Grey ShrikeLanius minor
  • Woodchat ShrikeLanius senatorNT
  • Black RedstartPhoenicurus ochruros
  • White WagtailMotacilla alba
  • Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
  • Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius
  • WhitethroatSylvia communis
  • BlackcapSylvia atricapilla
  • Spanish sparrowPasser hispaniolensis
  • Common NightingaleLuscinia megarhynchos
  • Sand MartinRiparia riparia
  • Tawny PipitAnthus campestris
  • Red-throated PipitAnthus cervinus
  • European RobinErithacus rubecula
  • Masked ShrikeLanius nubicus
  • Barred WarblerSylvia nisoria
  • Desert WarblerSylvia nana
  • Great Reed WarblerAcrocephalus arundinaceus
  • Eastern Olivaceous WarblerIduna pallida
  • Rufous-tailed Scrub RobinErythropygia galactotes
  • Siberian stonechatSaxicola maurus
  • Eastern Orphean WarblerSylvia crassirostris
Other birds13 species
JFMAMJJASOND
  • Eurasian Collared DoveStreptopelia decaocto
  • European RollerCoracias garrulus
  • Rock DoveColumba livia
  • Laughing DoveSpilopelia senegalensis
  • Bee-eaterMerops apiaster
  • European Turtle DoveStreptopelia turturVU
  • Blue-cheeked Bee-eaterMerops persicus
  • Eurasian HoopoeUpupa epops
  • Ortygornis pondicerianusOrtygornis pondicerianus
  • Namaqua DoveOena capensis
  • Common CuckooCuculus canorus
  • WryneckJynx torquilla
  • European NightjarCaprimulgus europaeus

Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.

When to go

The most species in May.

Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.

  1. Jan020°/15°6 mm
  2. Feb1122°/15°5 mm
  3. Mar926°/18°3 mm
  4. Apr5430°/22°4 mm
  5. May6836°/27°0 mm
  6. Jun3738°/30°0 mm
  7. Jul340°/32°0 mm
  8. Aug540°/32°0 mm
  9. Sep1538°/30°0 mm
  10. Oct3434°/27°1 mm
  11. Nov2528°/22°9 mm
  12. Dec1422°/17°7 mm
  • Bar: species recorded that month.
  • Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Hawar Islands.

Desert islands in the Gulf of Bahrain

Hawar Islands is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in Bahrain.

96 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 784 open records.

The most recorded are the Osprey, the Western Reef Heron and the Hoopoe Lark.

10 species come for the summer, 16 for the winter and 2 only pass through.

5 are threatened worldwide, including Socotra Cormorant, Sooty Falcon and Grey Plover.

The most species are recorded in May.

Výlet na Hawar
Petr Kadlec · CC BY-SA 2.0

Get there and watch

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The place and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Hawar Islands seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 3observation towers within 6 km
  • 1places to stay within 10 kmHawar Beach Hotel
  • bird hides within 6 km
  • marked trails within 4 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • campsites within 10 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Hawar Islands.

The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas32 mountains within 25 km
Aş Şakhbarīyah · 15 kmAbū al Qarāqīr · 16 kmAl ‘Aywī · 16 kmBarqat ‘Uwaynat al Ghārīyah · 20 kmZikrīt · 21 kmAl Ghubayyah · 21 kmAl Khaţţīyah · 22 kmAl Haddāyah · 23 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Other places nearby.

Hawar Islands

Bahrain

  • 55Birdyas Score
  • 96Species
  • 28Migrants
  • 5Threatened

Tubli Bay

Bahrain · 62 km

  • 77Birdyas Score
  • 177Species
  • 101Migrants
  • 6Threatened

See the guide

Shidvar Island

Iran · 291 km

  • 34Birdyas Score
  • 35Species
  • 1Migrants
  • 1Threatened

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q1165876) · CC0
Birds784 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
See these recordsgbif.org
SpeciesGBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.