The Wadi Rum
Protected Area, centred on the village of Rum in southern Jordan, covers
approximately 560 square km of the much larger (4,675 square km) Rum
Desert (also referred to in the literature as the Hisma Basin). It consists of
a series of precipitous sandstone and granite mountains, approximately aligned
on a north-south axis, separated by five major wadis – Wadi el Marsad, Wadi
Rumman, Khor Ram, Wadi um Ishrin and Wadi um Haraq –
see
map 1. The site ranges in altitude from 800-1750 m and includes
both Jebel Ram and Jebel Um Ishrin, the highest mountains in Jordan. The area
is characterised by low rainfall (less than 200 mm annually) with the
predominant vegetation being a mixture of shrub-steppe species including Haloxylon,
Anabasis, Retama, Hammada, Artemisia and Acacia. The mountains
support elements of a relict Mediterranean flora with scattered Juniperus,
Pistacia, Ficus and Phoenix whilst to the north of the site are
areas of agriculture, principally in the vicinity of Diseh. The area is
extensively used by Man, the main uses being nomadic pastoralism (sheep, goats
and camels) and tourism (4 wheel drive tours, trekking, climbing), the latter
increasing dramatically in scale in recent years.
Fuller information on the background of the
establishment of the Protected Area and human use of the site can be found in Rowe,
Ra'ei and Zalabia (1998) whilst information on the area's flora and fauna
is in the process of being collected as part of the Management Planning
process being undertaken by RSCN.
The Rum Desert has been identified as an
Important Bird Area (IBA), Evans (1994), based on the varied assemblage
of desert and mountain birds it supports. These include several species of
breeding and passage birds of prey, several species of wheatear and Middle
East restricted-range species such as sand partridge, Hume's tawny owl,
Tristram's grackle and Sinai rosefinch. Wadi Rum itself is regularly visited
by overseas birdwatchers as, until recently, it was the only site in Jordan
where Verreaux's eagle could be seen easily. To March 1997 a total of 145
species of bird had been recorded in the area. Two major publications on the
area's avifauna – Andrews (1995)
and Evans and Amr (1996) –
provide useful background information to the site but both cover the
whole of the Rum Desert and therefore this survey would appear to be the first
to focus specifically on the birds of the Protected Area.
Fieldwork for the survey was carried out between
19 February and 2 May 1999 and the results are presented in this report.
Information on daily itinerary, daily bird records and other aspects of the
work are given in the Appendices. Throughout the report place names
follow those on the US Army Map Service 1:50,000 maps of Jordan whilst bird
names and sequence follow Porter et al (1996) – English names only
are given in the main body of the text, scientific names appear in the Species
Accounts (Appendix 1). In the Species
Accounts, the broad avifaunal regions described in Andrews (1995)
are used to describe species' distribution in Jordan. Throughout this report,
unless otherwise stated, the term Wadi Rum is used to refer to the whole of
the Protected Area not just the main wadi (Khor Ram).
