Birds of Bahrain

Bahrain is home to over 300 avian species, many passing through the nation during the autumn and winter. Despite being a mostly arid nation, there are multiple wetlands where waterbirds like cormorants, ducks, and geese live.

The White-eared Bulbul is the national bird of Bahrain. Also, a lot of birds breed in the country’s wetlands, including the Socotra Cormorant.

Birds of Bahrain

List of Birds Found in Bahrain

Native Birds

Barn-owls

Bee-eaters

  • Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
  • European Bee-eater

Bulbuls

  • White-eared Bulbul

Bustards

  • Macqueen’s Bustard

Cisticolas and Allies

  • Delicate Prinia
  • Graceful Prinia

Cormorants and Shags

  • Great Cormorant
  • Socotra Cormorant

Crab Plover

  • Crab-plover

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

Cuckoos

  • Common Cuckoo

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Falcons and Caracaras

  • Eurasian Hobby
  • Eurasian Kestrel
  • Lesser Kestrel
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Saker Falcon
  • Sooty Falcon

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

  • Eurasian Siskin
  • Trumpeter Finch

Flamingos

Grassbirds and Allies

Grebes

  • Eared Grebe
  • Great Crested Grebe
  • Little Grebe

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Armenian Gull
  • Black-headed Gull
  • Bridled Tern
  • Caspian Gull
  • Caspian Tern
  • Common Gull
  • Common Tern
  • Great Crested Tern
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Herring Gull
  • Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • Lesser Crested Tern
  • Little Tern
  • Pallas’s Gull
  • Sandwich Tern
  • Saunders’s Tern
  • Slender-billed Gull
  • Whiskered Tern
  • White-cheeked Tern
  • White-winged Tern

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Black Kite
  • Booted Eagle
  • Common Buzzard
  • Egyptian Vulture
  • Eurasian Marsh-harrier
  • Eurasian Sparrowhawk
  • European Honey-buzzard
  • Greater Spotted Eagle
  • Long-legged Buzzard
  • Pallid Harrier
  • Short-toed Snake-eagle
  • Steppe Eagle

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

  • Black-crowned Night-heron
  • Cattle Egret
  • Gray Heron
  • Great Bittern
  • Great Egret
  • Little Bittern
  • Little Egret
  • Purple Heron
  • Squacco Heron
  • Striated Heron
  • Western Reef-heron

Hoopoes

  • Eurasian Hoopoe

Hypocolius

  • Hypocolius

Ibises and Spoonbills

  • African Sacred Ibis
  • Eurasian Spoonbill
  • Glossy Ibis

Kingfishers

  • Common Kingfisher
  • Pied Kingfisher

Larks

  • Bar-tailed Lark
  • Bimaculated Lark
  • Black-crowned Sparrow-lark
  • Crested Lark
  • Desert Lark
  • Eurasian Skylark
  • Greater Hoopoe-lark
  • Greater Short-toed Lark
  • Mediterranean Short-toed Lark
  • Oriental Skylark
  • Thick-billed Lark
  • Turkestan Short-toed Lark

Leaf Warblers

  • Common Chiffchaff
  • Willow Warbler
  • Wood Warbler

Nightjars and Allies

  • Egyptian Nightjar
  • Eurasian Nightjar

Old World Buntings

  • Corn Bunting
  • Ortolan Bunting

Old World Flycatchers

  • Black Redstart
  • Blue Rock-thrush
  • Bluethroat
  • Common Nightingale
  • Common Redstart
  • Desert Wheatear
  • Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
  • European Robin
  • European Stonechat
  • Isabelline Wheatear
  • Kurdish Wheatear
  • Mourning Wheatear
  • Northern Wheatear
  • Persian Wheatear
  • Pied Wheatear
  • Red-breasted Flycatcher
  • Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush
  • Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin
  • Semicollared Flycatcher
  • Siberian Stonechat
  • Spotted Flycatcher
  • Thrush Nightingale
  • Western Black-eared Wheatear
  • Whinchat
  • White-throated Robin

Old World Orioles

Old World Parrots

  • Alexandrine Parakeet

Old World Sparrows

  • House Sparrow
  • Pale Rockfinch

Osprey

  • Osprey

Owls

Oystercatchers

  • Eurasian Oystercatcher

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

  • Common Quail
  • Chukar
  • Philby’s Partridge
  • Gray Francolin

Pigeons and Doves

  • Eurasian Collared-dove
  • European Turtle-dove
  • Laughing Dove
  • Namaqua Dove
  • Rock Pigeon

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Black-bellied Plover
  • Caspian Plover
  • Common Ringed Plover
  • Greater Sand-plover
  • Kentish Plover
  • Lesser Sand-plover
  • Little Ringed Plover
  • Northern Lapwing
  • Pacific Golden-plover
  • White-tailed Lapwing

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Collared Pratincole
  • Cream-colored Courser

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • Baillon’s Crake
  • Eurasian Coot
  • Eurasian Moorhen
  • Little Crake
  • Spotted Crake
  • Water Rail

Reed Warblers and Allies

  • Clamorous Reed Warbler
  • Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
  • Eurasian Reed Warbler
  • Great Reed Warbler
  • Marsh Warbler
  • Sedge Warbler
  • Upcher’s Warbler

Rollers

  • European Roller

Sandgrouse

  • Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Bar-tailed Godwit
  • Black-tailed Godwit
  • Broad-billed Sandpiper
  • Common Greenshank
  • Common Redshank
  • Common Sandpiper
  • Common Snipe
  • Curlew Sandpiper
  • Dunlin
  • Eurasian Curlew
  • Green Sandpiper
  • Jack Snipe
  • Little Stint
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Pin-tailed Snipe
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Ruddy Turnstone
  • Ruff
  • Sanderling
  • Spotted Redshank
  • Temminck’s Stint
  • Terek Sandpiper
  • Whimbrel
  • Wood Sandpiper

Shrikes

  • Great Gray Shrike
  • Isabelline Shrike
  • Lesser Gray Shrike
  • Masked Shrike
  • Red-backed Shrike
  • Red-tailed Shrike
  • Woodchat Shrike

Skuas and Jaegers

  • Pomarine Jaeger

Starlings

Stilts and Avocets

  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Pied Avocet

Storks

Sunbirds and Spiderhunters

  • Purple Sunbird

Swallows

  • Bank Swallow
  • Barn Swallow
  • Common House-martin
  • Eurasian Crag-martin
  • Red-rumped Swallow

Swifts

  • Alpine Swift
  • Common Swift
  • Pallid Swift

Sylviid Warblers, Parrotbills, and Allies

  • Asian Desert Warbler
  • Barred Warbler
  • Eastern Orphean Warbler
  • Eurasian Blackcap
  • Garden Warbler
  • Greater Whitethroat
  • Lesser Whitethroat
  • Menetries’s Warbler

Thick-knees

  • Eurasian Thick-knee

Thrushes and Allies

  • Song Thrush

Wagtails and Pipits

  • Citrine Wagtail
  • Gray Wagtail
  • Meadow Pipit
  • Red-throated Pipit
  • Richard’s Pipit
  • Tawny Pipit
  • Tree Pipit
  • Water Pipit
  • Western Yellow Wagtail
  • White Wagtail

Waxbills and Allies

  • African Silverbill
  • Indian Silverbill

Woodpeckers

  • Eurasian Wryneck

Non-native Birds

Bee-eaters

  • Arabian Green Bee-eater

Bulbuls

  • Red-vented Bulbul

Cranes

  • Common Crane

Cuckoos

  • Asian Koel
  • Great Spotted Cuckoo

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Falcons and Caracaras

  • Merlin

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

  • Brambling
  • Common Chaffinch
  • Common Rosefinch
  • Eurasian Linnet
  • European Goldfinch
  • Mongolian Finch

Grassbirds and Allies

  • River Warbler
  • Savi’s Warbler

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Black Tern
  • Little Gull
  • Roseate Tern
  • Sooty Gull
  • Sooty Tern

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Black-winged Kite
  • Hen Harrier
  • Montagu’s Harrier
  • Oriental Honey-buzzard

Kingfishers

  • White-throated Kingfisher

Larks

  • Calandra Lark
  • Wood Lark

Leaf Warblers

  • Greenish Warbler
  • Green Warbler
  • Hume’s Warbler
  • Plain Leaf Warbler
  • Yellow-browed Warbler

Old World Buntings

  • Black-headed Bunting
  • Cinereous Bunting
  • Reed Bunting
  • Yellow-Breasted Bunting
  • Yellowhammer

Old World Flycatchers

  • Black Scrub-robin
  • Collared Flycatcher
  • Finsch’s Wheatear
  • Hooded Wheatear
  • Hume’s Wheatear
  • Rufous-backed Redstart
  • White-crowned Wheatear

Old World Parrots

  • Rose-ringed Parakeet

Old World Sparrows

  • Dead Sea Sparrow
  • Spanish Sparrow
  • Yellow-throated Sparrow

Owls

Pelicans

  • Dalmatian Pelican
  • Great White Pelican

Penduline-tits

  • Eurasian Penduline-tit

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

  • Black Francolin

Pigeons and Doves

  • African Collared-dove
  • Stock Dove

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Eurasian Dotterel
  • European Golden-plover
  • Kittlitz’s Plover
  • Red-wattled Lapwing
  • Sociable Lapwing
  • Spur-winged Plover

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Black-winged Pratincole
  • Small Pratincole

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • Corn Crake
  • Gray-headed Swamphen

Reed Warblers and Allies

  • Basra Reed Warbler
  • Blyth’s Reed Warbler
  • Icterine Warbler
  • Moustached Warbler
  • Paddyfield Warbler

Rollers

Sandgrouse

  • Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Eurasian Woodcock
  • Great Knot
  • Great Snipe
  • Long-toed Stint
  • Red Knot

Shrikes

  • Bay-backed Shrike

Skuas and Jaegers

  • Parasitic Jaeger

Starlings

  • Wattled Starling

Storks

  • Black Stork

Swifts

  • Little Swift

Thrushes and Allies

  • Black-throated Thrush
  • Eurasian Blackbird
  • Eyebrowed Thrush
  • Fieldfare
  • Mistle Thrush
  • Redwing
  • Ring Ouzel

Tropicbirds

  • Red-billed Tropicbird

Wagtails and Pipits

  • American Pipit
  • Blyth’s Pipit
  • Olive-backed Pipit

Waxbills and Allies

  • Red Avadavat

Weavers and Allies

  • Red Fody
  • Rüppell’s Weaver
  • Southern Red Bishop
  • Streaked Weaver
  • Yellow-crowned Bishop

There are several places where enthusiasts can see birds in Bahrain, including the Hawar Islands, an internationally recognized site for migratory birds.

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