TRANS-SAHARAN MIGRATION THROUGH SARIR, 1969–70

An account is given of observations made at the BP/Bunker Hunt Oil Production Centre at Sarir in the Libyan Sahara, on the passage of Palaearctic migrants in spring 1969 and 1970 and in part of autumn 1969. The ecological features and weather conditions in the study area are described. A map is given, and details of 70 species regularly observed are tabulated, with subsidiary notes on 57 other species only occasionally observed. A concentration of raptors, at a time when massed migrants were grounded, is described. Some species not normally considered trans-Saharan migrants turned up in Sarir, including Robin, Blackbird and Greenfinch; also Black-headed Bunting and Rose-coloured Starling, which normally migrate between Europe and India.