20/03/2009 Mongolian Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes mongolicus a first record for Kuwait

On 5/03/2009 Khaled Al-Ghanem has found a first record for Kuwait a Mongolian Trumpeter Finch Bucanetes mongolicus. The bird was found in Sabah Al-Ahmed Natural Reserve in a flock of up to six, but today on 20/03/2009 the number increased to 12 birds according to Pekka Fågel.

This bird inhabits high arid desert to semi-desert  mountains up to 4200m or in rocky slopes and steep  cliffs, descends in winter to lower levels, a gregarious bird, sedentary to partially migratory that flies some distance to water.

The bird occurs in Western Palearctic only in Eastern Turkey discontinuously to Armenia and Azerbaijan (and in Northern Iran, Elburz Mountains).

It has been recorded in Bahrain as vagrant but no records from the other Gulf States as far as I know.