Egypt December 2006 - January 2007, Hurghada

After the Nile Cruise, we spent a couple of days at the beach in Hurghada. Here we spent most of the time at the beach and just relaxed. This city is very easily reached as it has its own international airport. However we still managed to see several Red Sea specialties. Some of those could be easily seen just from the Hurghada beaches like Red Sea (Western) Reef Heron, White-eyed Gull and Striated Heron. We also spent one day snorkeling and for that we went out onto the Red Sea. During this trip we also saw some interesting birds including White-eyed, Sooty, Yellow-legged, Caspian and Armenian Gull, Lesser Crested Tern and Osprey.

Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis)

Red Sea Reef Egret (Egretta (gularis) schistacea)

White-eyed Gull (Larus leucophtalma)

For birders who keep a WP list, Hurghada as a very accessible place to see some Red Sea specialties without major difficulties. However besides that and the beaches there is very little of interest. I would not even recommend the snorkeling here as most of the coral is already dead.
This post and other posts concerning my trip to Egypt can be downloaded as a PDF file here.

Egypt December 2006 - January 2007, Nile Valley

During late December and early I spent my holiday with my parents. They had booked a Nile cruise starting in Luxor and ending in Aswan. This Nile Cruise took four days. During those four days we stopped at many historically and archaeologically interesting spots at places like Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo. These sites are of course breathtakingly interesting, but next to visiting archaeological sites I spent most of my time, both on board and off board, looking at birds. The Nile cruise proved to be a rather convenient way to get a good look at both the local waterbirds as well many migrants.

During those four days resident birds like Brown-necked Raven, Pale Crag-martin, Laughing Dove, Pallid Swift, Pied Kingfisher, Egyptian Goose, African Swamphen, Common Bulbul, Greater Flamingo, White-tailed Lapwing, Spur-winged Lapwing, Black-winged and Yellow-billed Kite were much enjoyed. However the best find of all was an African Skimmer at Kom Ombo, which was resting in between Gull-billed Terns! Obviously the boat did not stop for this critter, so I got to enjoy this bird for a rather brief period.

African Skimmer (Rhynchops flavirostris) together with Gull-billed Terns (Gelchelidon nilotica) and Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) in the foreground. 

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)

Brown-necked Raven (Corvus ruficollis)

Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius)

Next to the resident birds, myriads of winter visitors could be seen on and around the Nile. Large groups of Eurasian Wigeons, Northern Pintails, Common Shelducks, Ferruginous Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Tufted Ducks, Eurasian Teal and Eurasian Coots were regularly encountered. Waders were also present everywhere and Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed Plover and Green Sandpiper among others were observed almost all the time. White-winged Terns were also omnipresent together with Gull-billed Terns. Larger migrants included Osprey, Great White Pelican and Glossy Ibis.

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

I did enjoy the Nile cruise, but now I think for birders it would be much wiser to visit several sites at the Nile, simply by car, so you can observe birds longer, scan groups more carefully and search more focused to find rarities. This approach will undoubtedly yield more and rarer species as well as better and longer views. This post and other posts concerning my trip to Egypt can be downloaded as a PDF file here.

Typical view from the boat. Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca), African Swamhen (Porphyrio madagascariensis), Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) and Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)