Abstract
After sporadic observations and reports on Libyan birds during the last century, a regular census of wintering birds at Libyan coastal wetlands started in January 2005. Results of each winter census till 2011 have been published. The survey of 2012 was carried out by the authors of the present paper. The general aim was to continue the census of wintering waterbirds in Libya, despite the difficulties that faced the team after the War of Liberation, and the fact that certain areas, very important for birds, have been declared military areas. A total of 29,314 individuals belonging to 69 waterbird species was counted. Comparatively, the number of sites covered in 2012 was less than that in previous years of the survey. The majority of individuals counted belong to seven gull species. This survey also observed a total of 56 individuals of Aythya nyroca Guldenstadt, 1770, a Near Threatened species, as well as, for the first time, a single individual of Canada Goose Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) in eastern Libya. Waterbirds; Aythya nyroca; Canada Goose; Libya.