Hadoram Shirihai

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Hadoram Shirihai (born in Israel 1962) is an Israeli ornithologist and writer.

Shirihai grew up in Jerusalem where he became fascinated with birds when he was 13 and spent much time documenting shorebird behaviour, raptor breeding biology and participating in bird migration surveys. During the 1980s and 1990s, he lived in Eilat on Israel's Red Sea coast, where he founded the International Birdwatching Center, becoming its first director. He was involved in discovering several new species for the Western Palearctic, as well as many new species for Israel. At the time he was able to earn a precarious living by escorting birding trips into the southern Negev desert, showing many observers locally breeding Hume's Tawny Owl and Nubian Nightjar among other little-watched species of the area.

Hadoram Shirihai has written a number of bird identification papers, mostly published in English in magazines such as British Birds. With David Christie, he co-wrote the Macmillan Birder's Guide to European and Middle Eastern birds among several other works.

His major texts include The Birds of Israel and he co-authored a definitive work on the genus Sylvia. All of his books published in the UK and US have been awarded ‘Best Book of the Year’ (or similar) in the years they were published. Shirihai acts as an editorial consultant to most of the leading bird magazines in Europe, like Dutch Birding and Birdwatch.

In the early years, Hadoram was particularly interested in the complex geographical variation shown by birds breeding in and migrating through the Middle East, and recently he has extended his research to Europe, north-east Africa and Asia, resulting in the forthcoming The Photographic Handbook for Western Palearctic Birds (Shirihai & Svensson, in prep. A. & C. Black) and The Handbook for Geographical Variation of Palearctic Birds (Roselaar & Shirihai, in prep. A. & C. Black). The latter two can be considered his principal works and which involve much field and museum research.

In the mid 1990s, Shirihai turned his attention to oceanic birds and marine mammals, particularly those of the southern hemisphere. As a result of these studies he was able to write The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife, subsequently commencing a 10-year project a project expected to take him around the world, to produce the Photographic Handbook of Birds of the World.

Shirihai is one of the very few people to have visited almost every subantarctic island and the breeding grounds of all forms of albatrosses, with special interest in plumage variation and identification. In 2008, he confirmed the continuing existence of the mysterious Beck's Petrel (Pseudobulweria becki), known until then from 2 specimens collected in the 1920s and a handful of tentative sight records.

[edit] Books

Shirihai, H. (1996) The birds of Israel. Academic Press, London.
Shirihai, H., Christie, D. A. & Harris, A. (1996) The Macmillan birder’s guide to European and Middle Eastern birds. Macmillan, London.
Shirihai, H., Yosef, R., Alon, D. & Kirwan, G. (2000) Raptor migration in Israel and the Middle East. A summary of 30 years of field research. IBRCE, IOC, SPNI, Eilat.
Shirihai, H., Smith, J., Kirwan, G. & Alon, D. (2000) A guide to the birding hot spots of Israel. Israel Ornithological Center, SPNI, Tel Aviv.
Shirihai, H., Gargallo, G. & Helbig, A. J. (Ill. by A. Harris & D. Cottridge) (2001) Sylvia Warblers. A. & C. Black, London.
Shirihai, H. (Ill. by B. Jarrett) (2002) A complete guide to Antarctic wildlife: the birds and marine mammals of the Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean. Princeton University Press.
Shirihai, H. (Ill. by B. Jarrett) (2006) Whales, dolphins and seals. A field guide to the marine mammals of the world. A. & C. Black, London.