The National Waterbird Census (NWC) was originally part of a project called “Assessment of the Status of the Huntable Species in Jordan”. The project was initiated by RSCN in 1999. The main result of this project would be to know the population status of the huntable species in Jordan. Knowing the status of these species will help to determine annual hunting quotas and prevent further serious declines in population levels. The project included several bird studies that would evaluate the status of the huntable species in the country. The NWC was the first activity to take place in October 2000.

The main objective of this study is to estimate the numbers of huntable waterbird species in the country and locate their distribution by relating it to hunting activity and water availability in all major wetlands of the country. Additional objectives of the study include the following: 

• Evaluate the importance of different water bodies for huntable species on the national level, being either in the hunting zone or in the hunting-free zone. 
• Evaluate the status of huntable waterbird species in the country. 
• Improve the level of birdwatching skills for RSCN researchers in order to have highly skilled ornithologists in the future.

The census would be carried on annual terms so that it will start by the beginning of October of every year and will last for six months until March of the next year. During each month, a team of bird researchers would visit all major wetlands in the country for one-day visits and carry out direct counts of all waterbirds present in each wetland. In addition to waterbirds, the research team would record all other species that are present in the wetland at the time including raptors, passerines and other groups of birds.

Although the original main objective of the census was to count the huntable waterbirds, it has expanded to include all species in the wetlands visited. A report of the results was published after the first two years of the census (October 2000-March 2001 and October 2001-March 2002). The report has highlighted the importance of some of the wetlands in the country and the abundance of the different waterbirds in the country. The amount of data collected through the first two years was significant in that it acted as a re-assessment of most of the waterbirds that pass through the country as migrants or winter visitors.

The study has recommended that the NWC should be carried out annually in order to keep the assessment of the status of the waterbids ongoing. Soon after, it was decided to share the data collected with the International Waterbird Census (IWC), which has been coordinated by Wetlands International for decades. At present, Jordan is the only country in the region of the Middle East that has been carrying out its national waterbird census on constant basis.

After a brief one year interval (October 2002-March 2003), the census has been taking place annually, with the year 2007 marking its sixth year. In addition to achieving its main national objective, Jordan’s NWC has become an integral part of assessing the status of waterbirds on the global level since it was incorporated into the IWC.

Due the inconsistency of the NWC throughout the past century, the current data that is being collected on yearly basis has greatly helped in understating the movement of several waterbird species through the seasons of migration and wintering. Also, several bird species were recorded for the first time ever in Jordan through the studies of the NWC. One of these species is the White Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus, which is a globally threatened species (Critically Endangered).

The seventh year of the NWC will start in October 2007. RSCN is looking forward to expanding its activities this year so as to cover as many wetlands as possible and to encourage all birdwatchers in the country, expatriate or local, to take part in this census.