Birds of Iran: Annotated Checklist of the Species and Subspecies

359 Pages·2017·4.37 MB·English

Department of the Environment Iranian Research Iran Bird Records
Alborz Provincial Office Institute of Plant Protection Committee

Birds of Iran:
Annotated Checklist of the Species and
Subspecies

Abolghasem Khaleghizadeh, Kees Roselaar,
Derek A. Scott, Mohammad Tohidifar, Jiří Mlíkovský,
Michael Blair & Pavel Kvartalnov
Book identification:

Title: Birds of Iran: Annotated Checklist of the Species and Subspecies
Cover photo: Sistan Scrub Sparrow, Zabol (Seyed Babak Musavi); Iranian (Pleske‟s) Ground
Jay, Touran (Saeed Cheraghi)
Cover design: Mohammad Ali Abdolahi
Graphic designer: Farid Mobaser
Publisher: Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection
Winter 2017

Recommended citation:
Khaleghizadeh A., Roselaar K., Scott D.A., Tohidifar M., Mlíkovský J., Blair M. & Kvartalnov
P. 2017. Birds of Iran: Annotated Checklist of the Species and Subspecies. Iranian Research
Institute of Plant Protection, 350 pp.
ii
Authors

ABOLGHASEM KHALEGHIZADEH
Ph.D., Ornithology Laboratory, Agricultural Zoology Research Dep., Iranian
Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF
IRAN

KEES ROSELAAR
Ph.D., Vertebrate Department, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box 9517,
2300RA Leiden, THE NETHERLANDS

DEREK A. SCOTT
Ph.D., 19 Waterloo, Puriton, Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 8BB, UNITED
KINGDOM

MOHAMMAD TOHIDIFAR
Biodiversity & Habitats Division, Faculty of Environment & Energy, Science and
Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
OF IRAN

JIŘÍ MLÍKOVSKÝ
Ph.D., Department of Zoology, National Museum, Václavské náměstí 68, CZ-115
79 Praha 1, CZECH REPUBLIC

MICHAEL BLAIR
7 Bryony Court, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6AF, UNITED KINGDOM

PAVEL KVARTALNOV
Ph.D., Vertebrate Zoology Department, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov MSU,
Leninskiye Gory, Moscow 119991, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

*** This is a formal release of a complete checklist of the birds of Iran by
the Iran Bird Records Committee.
The authors 1,3,4 & 6 are members of this committee.

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Dedication

Dedicated to
Nikolay Alekseyevich Zarudny
for three decades of his studies on the birds of Iran.

Praises for this book:

Ian Harrison, Secretary of the OSME:
“a really excellent piece of work. Certainly a major contribution to ornithology
in Iran and the region”

Richard Porter, Senior author of “Birds of the Middle East”:
“a very thorough and important contribution to ornithology”

David Donsker, Co-author of the IOC Checklist of the birds of the world:
“a carefully researched and well annotated work which surely adds significantly to
the global ornithological literature and will become the principal foundation for
our understanding of the distribution of birds in Iran”

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Christine Alder, John Bates (FMNH), Saeed (Shahab)
Cheraghi, David Donsker (IOC), Frank B. Gill (IOC), Mike C. Jennings, Guy M.
Kirwan, Mohsen Mofidi-Neyestanak, the late Richard Klim, Richard Porter, Steve
Preddy, Asad Rahmani, Yaroslav A. Red'kin (Zoological Museum of Moscow
University), Seyed Babak Musavi, Mohammad Safrang, Mohammad E.
Sehhatisabet, Thomas J. Trombone (AMNH), Sayeh Serri and Mrs Effie Warr.
We would like to thank those who kindly gave us permission to use their bird
pictures in this book, namely Meysam Ghasemi, Ghasem Chabok, Parviz Bakhtiari,
Ali Khani, Dorna Mojab, Ali Sangchooli, Abraham Shokouhi, Pouya Darabi, Farid
Mobaser, Ali Azadi, Ali Zerat Pisheh, Seyed Babak Mousavi, Erfan Samanfar and
Shahab Cheraghi.
Farid Mobaser and Mohammad Ali Abodolahi kindly advised and assisted us with
graphic design. We received valuable comments from Pouya Darabi,
Mohammadreza Mohammadi and Masoumeh Safaee which increased the quality of
this book.
Special thanks go to Hossein Mohammadi, head of the Alborz Provincial Office of
the Department of the Environment (DoE), who kindly paved the way for the
publication of this book.

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Table of Contents

Summary …………………………………………………... 1
Introduction ……………………………………………….. 2
Materials & Methods ……………………………………… 3
Key to symbols ……………………………………………. 5
Systemamtic list …………………………………………… 14
Anatidae ……………………………………………………… 14
Phasianidae …………………………………………………… 25
Gaviidae ……………………………………………………….. 30
Hydrobatidae ………………………………………………….. 31
Procellariidae …………………………………………………. 32
Podicipedidae …………………………………………………. 34
Phoenicopteridae ………………………………………………. 37
Phaethontidae ………………………………………………….. 38
Ciconiidae ……………………………………………………… 39
Threskiornithidae ………………………………………………. 41
Ardeidae ………………………………………………………... 42
Pelecanidae ………………………………………………….…. 47
Sulidae …………………………………………………………. 48
Phalacrocoracidae …………………………………………….…. 49
Anhingidae …………………………………………………….. 50
Pandionidae ……………………………………………………. 51
Accipitridae ……………………………………………………. 52
Otididae ………………………………………………………… 67
Rallidae ………………………………………………………… 69
Gruidae ………………………………………………………… 74
Turnicidae ……………………………………………………… 78
Burhinidae ……………………………………………………… 77
Haematopodidae ……………………………………………….. 79
Dromadidae …………………………………………………….. 80
Recurvirostridae ………………………………………………... 81
Charadriidae ……………………………………………………. 82
Rostratulidae …………………………………………………… 89
Scolopacidae ………………………………………………….… 90
Glareolidae ……………………………………………………... 104
Laridae …………………………………………………………. 106
Stercorariidae …………………………………………………... 118
Pteroclididae …………………………………………………… 120
Columbidae …………………………………………………….. 124
Cuculidae ………………………………………………………. 131
Tytonidae ………………………………………………………. 134
Strigidae ……………………………………………………….. 135
Caprimulgidae …………………………………………………. 142
Apodidae ……………………………………………………….. 144
Coraciidae ……………………………………………………… 147
Alcedinidae …………………………………………………….. 148
Meropidae ……………………………………………………… 150
Upupidae ……………………………………………………….. 152
Picidae ………………………………………………………….. 153
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Falconidae ……………………………………………………… 159
Psittacidae ……………………………………………………… 167
Laniidae ………………………………………………………... 168
Oriolidae ……………………………………………………….. 173
Dicruridae ……………………………………………………… 174
Monarchidae …………………………………………………… 175
Corvidae ……………………………………………………….. 176
Bombycillidae ………………………………………………….. 183
Hypocoliidae …………………………………………………… 184
Paridae …………………………………………………………. 185
Remizidae ……………………………………………………… 190
Panuridae ………………………………………………………. 192
Alaudidae ………………………………………………………. 193
Pycnonotidae …………………………………………………… 205
Hirundinidae …………………………………………………… 206
Cettiidae ………………………………………………………... 211
Scotocercidae …………………………………………………... 212
Aegithalidae ……………………………………………………. 213
Phylloscopidae …………………………………………………. 214
Acrocephalidae ………………………………………………… 219
Locustellidae …………………………………………………… 225
Cisticolidae …………………………………………………….. 227
Leiothrichidae ………………………………………………….. 228
Sylviidae ……………………………………………………….. 229
Zosteropidae …………………………………………………… 238
Regulidae ………………………………………………………. 239
Troglodytidae …………………………………………………... 241
Sittidae …………………………………………………………. 242
Tichodromidae …………………………………………………. 245
Certhiidae ……………………………………………………… 246
Sturnidae ………………………………………………………… 247
Turdidae …………………………………………………………. 250
Muscicapidae ……………………………………………………. 254
Cinclidae ………………………………………………………… 273
Nectariniidae …………………………………………………… 274
Passeridae ……………………………………………………… 275
Estrildidae ……………………………………………………… 282
Prunellidae ……………………………………………………… 283
Motacillidae ……………………………………………………. 285
Fringillidae ……………………………………………………… 294
Emberizidae ……………………………………………………. 304
Appendix I ………………………………………………… 312
Appendix II ……………………………………………….. 334
References …………………………………………………. 342

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SUMMARY

After more than a century since the publication of a full list of the birds of Iran and
their subspecies by Zarudny (1911), this modern Annotated Checklist updates all
bird species recorded in Iran up to the end of 2015. After a preliminary comparison
of four current world checklists (IOC, Clements, BirdLife, TiF), we decided to use
the IOC World Bird List as our basis. In the compilation of our checklist, we first
spent much time gathering literature on Iranian birds, selecting the bird taxa
mentioned in each reference, attempting to find current synonyms for superseded
scientific names, confirming the type locality of Iranian birds and cross-checking
databases of museum specimens before we could begin to include them in our draft
checklist.

In the main annotated list, we present 550 species (310 non-passerine and 240
passerine). Expert opinion on the status of bird taxa achieves a high level of
general consistency, but some anomalous views are inevitable, given incomplete
molecular or other research data, or lack of knowledge of factors such as breeding
distribution. For example, two taxa, Bubulcus coromandus and Lanius
pallidirostris, have been adopted by IOC as full species (as also in our list), but are
still widely classified as subspecies in other world checklists. We include in our
main systematic list a total of 534 subspecies (238 non-passerine and 296
passerine), of which 158 subspecies and 11 species have been described partly or
totally from Iranian bird specimens.

We include the scientific name, descrition author and year, English name,
synonyms used in the literature for Iranian birds, notes on taxonomy and
distribution, and a list of references mentioning each taxon. We have devised seven
categories that delineate the weight and quality of the evidence for the occurrence
of each subspecies in Iran. These consider factors such as global range, specimens
and references (including expert knowledge).

In our main list, Emberiza schoeniclus has the most subspecies occurring in Iran
(six), followed by Parus major, Ammomanes deserti, Luscinia svecica, Passer
domesticus and Carduelis carduelis (with five). Eight species have four subspecies:
Phasianus colchicus, Bubo bubo, Falco cherrug, Regulus regulus, Sitta tephronota,
Sturnus vulgaris, Erithacus rubecula and Motacilla flava, while 30 have three
subspecies, and 82 have two. The remainder (423 species) have either one
subspecies occurring in Iran or are monotypic.

The appendices include a list of 136 subspecies of doubtful occurrence in Iran, a
list of 45 species that have been rejected, and a full references list of the literature
cited in our checklist. Understanding of the taxonomy of several species or species
groups was still developing at the time of writing. For example, Grus grus,
Porphyrio poliocephalus, Tringa totanus, Bubo bubo, Otus brucei, Falco
peregrines/pelegrinoides, Falco cherrug, Lanius
excubitor/meridionalis/pallidirostris, Parus major intermedius, Galerida cristata,
Eremopterix nigriceps, Sylvia curruca/minula/althaea, Regulus regulus, Motacilla
alba and Chloris chloris are either under current review or require further research.

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INTRODUCTION
Early attempts to compile a checklist for the avian fauna of Iran date back to Blanford's era. He listed 384
bird species for Iran (Blanford 1876). Nicolay Zarudny documented 716 species and subspecies for Iran in
more than 50 publications (Zarudny 1911). Nearly a half century later, a checklist was compiled by Simon
Jervis Read who recorded 434 species for the country. This was the first document in which Persian names
were also supplied for each species.
In the mid-1970s, Derek Scott and his colleagues published the first Persian book on Iranian birds in
which 490 species believed to occur in Iran were listed. Publication of bird checklists continued in the 2000s
in the form of books. Firouz (2000) listed 502 species, Mansoori (2001) 492 species and Firouz (2005) 514
species. In an official paper, which soon became the sole updated reference, Scott & Adhami (2006)
tabulated 517 species for the avifauna of the country.
Several plausible records were received subsequent to that checklist, all adequately documented.
However, the revision of Roselaar & Aliabadian (2009) rejected six species but drew attention to two species
by confirming old records: Eastern Marsh Harrier Circus spilonotus and Blue Whistling Thrush Myophonus
caeruleus. They also accepted the occurrence of some species, namely Brent Goose Branta bernicla, Upland
Buzzard Buteo hemilasius, Great Knot Calidris tenuirostri, and Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus saturatus, that had
formerly been considered of dubious occurrence in Iran (Roselaar & Aliabadian 2009). The most recent
publication on the avifauna of Iran, by Kaboli et al. (2016), closely follows Roselaar & Aliabadian (2009)
with respect to accepted and rejected species, and described a total of 534 species for Iran.
Publication of updated hard-copy checklists probably takes 10 or more years. However, the period from
1990 (Sibley & Alquist 1990, Sibley & Monroe 1990, 1993) onwards has seen an upheaval of major
taxonomic changes in world/regional/national checklists around the world as they have absorbed the
conclusions of a flood of ornithological research worldwide, and so it has been necessary to follow the
changes that appear the most stable and reasonable, in particular from the molecular research that has shed
new light on phylogenetic relationships (Dickinson 2003, Dickinson & Remsen 2013, Dickinson &
Christidis 2014).
Our work comprises the first ornithological document to cover all the bird species and subspecies of birds
occurring in Iran in over a century, since the publication of Zarudny‟s (1911) checklist. It also updates
previous checklists of the birds of Iran. In compiling this list, we have been indebted to the taxonomic
nomenclature in Dickinson (2003). The IOC World Bird List is updated four times each year, which has
informed this checklist, as has the Handbook of the Birds of the World (del Hoyo et al. 1992–2015).
In the Materials and Methods section, we explain how we have prepared our checklist.

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