Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis
Dubai Creek/Arabian Gulf 2003

The Socotra Cormorant is listed as Vulnerable by Birdlife International “because it has a small and declining range. In addition, its population is suspected to have undergone a rapid decline of 30% or more over the past 33 years (the estimate for three generations), due mainly to infrastructural development and disturbance at its nesting colonies, possibly exacerbated by marine oil pollution.” (BirdLife Species Factsheet, 2004)

The species now breeds at just nine locations: the northern populations on islands off the Persian Gulf coasts of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar and possibly Iran (breeding not confirmed since 1972); the southern (much smaller) subpopulation on one or more islands off the Arabian Sea coast of Oman and possibly still in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen (breeding has never been proven on Socotra). They are generally resident in the vicinity of their breeding areas but individuals, small groups, and sometimes extremely large groups appear to wander widely around eastern and southern Arabia - though no regular movements have been noticed. According to published sources there appears to be no transfer of birds between the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea populations.

One of birding’s most spectacular sights (IMHO), the feeding flock is almost like an organism in itself: constantly shifting shape, folding in and over itself, silent apart from the splashes as birds land and take-off - almost out of nowhere a hundred thousand birds will appear like a rolling mist, envelop a bay for a short time, then roll back out to sea again…

These birds were photographed on what had been rather a birdless day, and almost caught me surprise - I certainly didn’t know that they could be seen right at the mouth of the Dubai Creek. Appearing out of a late-afternoon sun like a vast swarm of bees, they were gone in about fifteen minutes. The local fishermen sitting around the quayside or readying their boats appeared pretty much oblivious to them - so it can’t have been all that unusual an occurrence: hard to imagine the response of some of the more trigger-happy of the UK’s anglers being so sanguine…

All photographs © Charlie Moores