Annotated Checklist of the Marine and Coastal Birds of Lebanon

The study of marine and coastal birds in the Lebanon recorded 75speciesalong the shore line of Lebanon and for a distance of 7 kms offshore.Of those species,35 are seabirdspecies, 38 marine or seawater/freshwater coastal birds, and 2waterbird specieswintering on the archipelagoes of Mina/Tripoli in North Lebanon (Grey Heron and Little Egret)with apparently much affinity to seawater in the winter season. This study highlighted 3 globally threatened species (Leach’s Storm Petrel Hydrobates leucorhoa [Vulnerable], Mediterranean Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan [Vulnerable], and Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus [Vulnerable]), underlined7 globally Near Threatened avian species, pointed out to 3 species that may be submitted for reconsideration bythe “Lebanon Bird Record Committee” (LBRC) at LCNRS;and updated the data of 9species of high significance from the past studies, of which, 2 species are upgraded from vagrants to winter visitors/passage migrants, one to passage migrant and one to wintervisitor..Regarding the final phenological statusesof species, one is resident breeding, one is summer breeding, 3 are formerly bred, one extirpated (extinct) from Lebanon 31are passage migrant/winter visitors, 25passage migrantsonly, 2winter visitors and 14vagrant species.

Patterns of at-sea behaviour at a hybrid zone between two threatened seabirds

Patterns of behavioural variation and migratory connectivity are important characteristics of populations, particularly at the edges of species distributions, where processes involved in influencing evolutionary trajectories, such as divergence, mutual persistence, and natural hybridization, can occur. Here, we focused on two closely related seabird species that breed in the Mediterranean: Balearic shearwaters (Puffinus mauretanicus) and Yelkouan shearwaters (Puffinus yelkouan). Genetic and phenotypic evidence of hybridization between the two species on Menorca (the eastern and westernmost island in the breeding ranges of the two shearwaters, respectively) has provided important insights into relationships between these recently diverged species. Nevertheless, levels of behavioural and ecological differentiation amongst these populations remain largely unknown. Using geolocation and stable isotopes, we compared the at-sea movement behaviour of birds from the Menorcan ‘hybrid’ population with the nearest neighbouring populations of Balearic and Yelkouan shearwaters. The Menorcan population displayed a suite of behavioural features intermediate to those seen in the two species (including migration strategies, breeding season movements and limited data on phenology). Our findings provide new evidence to support suggestions that the Menorcan population is admixed, and indicate a role of non-breeding behaviours in the evolutionary trajectories of Puffinus shearwaters in the Mediterranean.