Red-throated Pipit: Fall migration along Egypts Rea Sea

RotkehlpieperHotel garden lawns along the Red Sea coast can be remarkable birdy. The sun has just appeared on the horizon for 3 hours. Nevertheless, it is already really hot. Coming from breakfast in a hotel complex on the Egyptian Red Sea, we walk first our inspection round. Here we see again the two Ruffs (Calidris pugnax) and also the one Spur-winged Plover (Vanellus spinosus) in the middle of the hotel area on the same lawn as 5 days ago. When we then run back to the free grassy areas, I think to realize, that in contrast to spring bird quantity is high but diversity is rather low. Except for the Yellow Wagtails (Motacilla flava), we have not seen any other birds on the grass. Especially no Pipit. That is just thought, as we see two passerine birds patterned with broad-stripes. They are Red-throated Pipits (Anthus cervinus). One of the birds still has a still a red throat. Great, I’ll have to go and scan it again. When I come back, both Red-throated Pipits are practically still present in the same area. The Yellow wagtails are of course in the majority. As I approach, they all fly up. Then I hide behind a lush bush and crawl on all fours behind the bushes. Eventually they are not more than 8 meters ahead of me. In contrast to the Yellow wagtails the Red-throated Pipits seem not be so keen to stay in the shade. They give great images despite the steep sunlight. One of the Red-throated Pipits is fighting with a veritable butterfly caterpillar. Again and again he grabs its abdomen, shakes it and beat it down again. Then it picks the insect up and repeats the procedure. Meanwhile, the 2nd Red-throated Pipit is watching me suspiciously. They both do not really know what to do with the long-standing Something with the camera. I realize in the meantime, that there is a lot of activity on in the blooming scrub on the west side of the long-drawn apartment complex. So I quickly see at least 2 Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), one Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) and two Willow Warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus). Also 2 Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) fly in. The Lesser Whitethroats are very shy – in contrast to the other migratory birds.

As a birding destination, Egypt is a popular destination that has obviously lost some of its appeal due to the recent terrorist attacks. For the modest fearless, migration times still offer opportunities in the green hotel areas to watch birds and relax a little later on the beach. End of September or beginning of October is the best time for the autumn migration. At the same time, the temperatures are still very summery. During our stay, the weather was consistently sunny throughout. On the whole, it was very dry, although from the sea, when there was no wind, there was a damp, humid airflow. The temperatures reached values ​​around 32 – 34 ° C all the time. At least during the one week a partly strong wind blows from the north. The wind was repeatedly in gusts up to 60 km/ h (i.e. 8 Bft). This did not seem to encourage or deter the birds from migrating. In contrast to migration events in Central Europe, it does not seem so rewarding to keep an eye on the weather forecast at migration times. Here, a migratory bird can appear at any time. You just have to keep your eyes open.

To cope with the growing demand for top shots of the rarer species of the Palearctic Bird-Lens is keen to enrich the range of pictures of birds you can find in the western palearctic.  Trips to remote places like this one to capture images not only of rare birds of western palearctic were very successful. The nice image of the blog is only a first impression, what you will find in the gallery in the “Picture Shop” very soon. Just give me a message, if bird-lens.com could serve you with an image needed before the new pictures are online.

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