by Alex Lees (alexanderlees[at]btopenworld.com) Lynsey Smith and I spent a week based at the resort of El Gouna on the Egyptian Red Sea coast in the 2 nd week of April 2006. We had originally planned to hire a car and drive south to Bir Shalatein for the Lappets. Unfortunately, despite a conservative approach to the food (or perhaps more likely the result of my ingestion of contaminated seawater) I still managed to come down with Pharaoh s Revenge and this effectively cancelled the trip south. Despite this, we enjoyed an excellent relaxing trip, and having seen most of the Desert specialities of the region already, we concentrated on finding migrants and enjoying the abundant marine life. A snorkelling trip to the Giftun Island area also gave excellent photo-opportunities with the Red Sea special gulls. Ornithological highlights included an extralimital 1 st year male Nile Valley Sunbird, an African Collared Dove and two Richard s Pipits. Key birding areas around El Gouna are the golf course, Mövenpick Resort Gardens and foreshore, and the Fish Farm (NW of the golfcourse). There was a significant raptor passage north along the Red Sea Mountains, en route to Gebel Zeit a major bottleneck 50km to the north of El Gouna, we watched from the Oasis about 3km west of the resort. We spent one morning at this site and had circa 1100 Steppe Buzzards and 80 Black Kites, 55 Steppe Eagles and smaller numbers of Levant Sparrowhawks, Long-legged Buzzards, Booted Eagles etc. Throughout our stay the wind blew fairly from the north and this may have held up migration significantly. Even so we had day counts of over 2000 Tree Pipits, 500 Flava wagtails and five Rock Thrushes. A full systematic list of avian taxa is appended with this report. Mangrove Heron (Butorides striatus) (AL)
Steppe Buzzards (Buteo buteo vulpinus) Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis) Steppe Buzzards (Buteo buteo vulpinus) (AL) Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) Common Crane (Grus grus) (AL) Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus spinosus) Collared Pratincole (Glareola Pratincola) (AL) Crested Tern (Sterna bergii), White-eyed Gulls (Larus leucopthalmus), Slenderbilled Gull (Larus genei) (AL)
White-eyed Gulls (Larus leucopthalmus) (AL) Sooty Gull (Larus hemprichii) (AL) Caspian Terns (Sterna caspia) & Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) (AL) African Collared Dove (Streptopelia roseogrisea) (AL)
Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) Hoopoe (Upupa epops) (AL) Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) Richard s Pipit (Anthus richardii) Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava) Syke s Wagtail (M. f. beema)
Grey-headed Wagtail (M. f. thunbergii) Black-headed Wagtail (M. f. feldegg) M. f. superciliaris M. f. dombrowskii Eastern Black-eared Wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca) Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) Rufous-tailed Rock Thrushes (Monticola saxatilis)
Nile Valley Sunbird (Anthreptes metallicus) Masked Shrike (Lanius nubicus) Indian Bird Wrasse (Gomphosus caeruleus) (AL) Starry Puffer (Arothron stellatus) (AL) Picassofish (Rhinecanthus assasi) (AL)
Galaxea fascicularis, Pocilopora sp., Acropora sp. (AL), presumed Clown Coris (Coris aygula) (LS) Klunzinger s Wrasse (Thalassoma rueppellii) (AL) Reef (LS) Sohal Surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal) (AL)
Sulphur Damsel (Pomacentrus sulfureus) (AL) Reef Egit (LS) El Gouna (AL)
Common Quail Coturnix coturnix coturnix African Collared Dove Streptopelia roseogrisea arabica Brown Booby Sula leucogaster plotus Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto Mangrove Heron Butorides striatus brevipes European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur arenicola Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis senegalensis Little Egret Egretta garzetta garzetta Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis atthis Western Reef Egret Egretta gularis schistacea Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops epops Grey Heron Ardea cinerea cinerea Wryneck Jynx torquilla White Stork Ciconia ciconia ciconia Greater Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla brachyura Black Kite Milvus migrans migrans Sand Martin Riparia riparia riparia/shelleyi Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus harterti/aeruginosus African Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne obsoleta obsoleta Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus Eurasian Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus nisus Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica rustica, transistiva Levant Sparrowhawk Accipiter brevipes Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica Steppe Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus Common House Martin Delichon urbicum urbicum Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus rufinus/cirtensis Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi richardi Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis orientalis Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris campestris Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis trivialis Osprey Pandion halieatus Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis Barbary Falcon Falco pelegrinoides pelegrinoides Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta coutelii Common Crane Grus grus grus Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava flava, feldegg, beema, thunbergii Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus himantopus White Wagtail Motacilla alba alba Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola pratincola Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos megarhynchos Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula tundrae Bluethroat Luscinia svecica ssp Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus alexandrinus Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus phoenicurus Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola Whinchat Saxicola rubetra Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe oenanthe/libanotica Dunlin Calidris alpina schinzii Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca Little Stint Calidris minuta Rock Thrush Monticola saxatilis Ruff Philomachus pugnax Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus phaeopus Caspian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus fuscus Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata orientalis Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus arundinaceus Common Redshank Tringa totanus totanus Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala ssp. Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia Ruppell's Warbler Sylvia rueppeli Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca ssp. Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis icterops/communis Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos Eastern Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus orientalis Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix Sooty Gull Larus hemprichii Northern Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita abietinis, fulvescens White-eyed Gull Larus leucophthalmus Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus acredula Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis Slender-billed Gull Larus genei Nile Valley Sunbird Anthreptes metallicus Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus fuscus, heuglini Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator niloticus Caspian Tern Sterna caspia Masked Shrike Lanius nubicus Crested Tern Sterna bergii velox Hooded Crow Corvus corone White-cheeked Tern Sterna repressa Brown-necked Raven Corvus ruficollis ruficollis Little Tern Sterna albifrons albifrons Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis transcaspicus Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybridus White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus