This site is to try and provide up to date information on areas for BIRDWATCHING in and around SHARM EL SHEIKH and the South Sinai. Sharm El Sheikh on the east coast of the SINAI PENINSULA in EGYPT is a very important stopping point for many migrating birds as well as home to regional species such as the Sinai Rosefinch

 

 
The Sinai Peninsula covers some 61,000 square kilometers of desert and mountains. It is separated from the Egyptian mainland and the rest of the African continent by the Suez canal to the west, and to the east the Gulf of Aqaba separates it from Asia.These formidable barriers create a bottle neck for any birds migrating south from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to their wintering grounds in Africa. This brings a large number of migrating birds to the Sharm El Sheikh area in spring and especially autumn.

 

Bird watching within the Sinai has changed drastically over recent years due to the continual construction of hotels with gardens and permanent water supplies. The desert birds have always been here, as have the migratory paths for birds using the thermals of the desert and mountains. However birds such as the white stork and black kite as well as passerines, seem to be staying within the built up areas for longer periods of time as they now have water to drink, bushes to rest in and a massive accumulation of rubbish with the insect and small animals it attracts.

Sharm el-Sheikh (27°51′N 34°16′E) sits on a promontory overlooking the Straits of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba . The city originated as a small Bedouin fishing port but has grown into a large tourism centre.  19!Israel occupation of but real growth really began after 1982 when the Sinai was restored to Egyptian control.  

There are many birding hot spots within the Sharm / Sinai area. In creating this site we intend to try to help and inform anyone visiting the local area by providing sighting reports of what can be seen where and when.We try to be as accurate as possible in the identification of species that we see and attempt not to speculate, however both of us come from a British birding background and we struggle sometimes to adapt to the peculiarities of the local area. It is a very exciting place to birdwatch, not just for the variety and volume (1000+ mixed raptors day on migration for example), but also because it is almost unwatched. Compared to Eilat in Israel, only 200km up the coast, there are almost no people watching regularly in the Sharm area and so many rarities must be going unrecorded (Eilat has records for Indian Ocean seabirds for which Egypt has no records at all!)

 

We will be expanding our report areas as and when time allows us to reach them.