Nice report. No holiday is complete without an unidentified raptor AND unidentified bird in close proximity due to alcohol. You managed them both with one bird- well done.
Well i now know how a pizza feels when its stone-baked but at least it only takes 12 minutes! After 14 days in Hurghadab i have become the tango man not going brown but looking suspiciously like i have had a spray on St. Tropez. What an ace holiday tho! Temperatures between 37 and 46 degrees and a coral reef (albeit slightly knackered) outside my window for snorkling on. Saw all sorts of fish- Clownfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, damselfish, angelfish, butterfly fish, Stingray, Guitar Sharks plus the old Bottle-nosed Dolphins which were fab and my better half got a look at a very small turtle. There were some birds there too which was always good and seeing as it struggles into the Western Palearctic it had some good birds to boot. First trip birds in the airport the ever reliable Rock Dove. Yes get in. On the coach to the hotel i managed Hooded Crow which was at least a year tick. By the time i arrived it was dusk and birds were the last thing on my mind but did have a pair of Kestrels hunting something near my balcony. The next day was a Saturday and i knew the 2 birds i was gonna get straight away (cos im sad and read someone elses trip report before i went!). Promptly added Laughing Dove and White-eyed Gull to my life list. After the frantic tick crazy start that was it for 3 days as i was all over the reef in my flippers like gonorrhea on a lady of the night. Then i started to notice about mid afternoon there was a passage of Terns of the end of the Coral Reef headland my hotel happened to be built on. Convienient! Swiftly adding White-cheeked and Lesser Crested Terns to my whisky and coke i was frankly chuffed. Now i know at this point its a bit basic to admit i had never seen an Osprey before full stop but i hadn't. And when i have read they can look surprisingly like gulls at a glance i add in my head to thicko no brains. Well that big white gull over the hotel does have an air of raptor to it now i think. And talons. And an eye-stripe. Bum. Well anti bum actually cos it fished the reef for 3 days before moving on and i was a happy bunny. Was kinda disappointed with my first trip to Giftun Island birdwise with nothing to add except a Falcon that appeared to be in hunting, hovering mode over the water 200 yards off the beach. Yes it was a falcon not a tern. No i didn't hallucinate. No i didn't see which species. Yes i was on a boat within 20 yards and yes i was leathered. Back at base i was lamenting the lack of Sooty Gulls seen thus far. Currently none. Bigg surprise hunting the reef to replace the osprey the next day 2 adult and one juv Capian Terns. Wicked innit. Getting bored of typing (its 4am and im on nights) so lets summarise the rest. Sooty Gull & Tern on my 2nd visit to Giftun plus a single White Stork, all lifers. Next morning 12 White Storks am and 1500approx pm. Passage perhaps? Went into the Desert on the 2nd Tuesday hoping for Brown-necked Ravens and Raptors applently. I got precisely 4 birds. At the same time. In the half light. And they were small and sandy. Got enough of a view to ascertain that they were Desert Larks and that i couldn't care less if i saw them again. And then i flew home the end and they all lived happily ever after.
''nothing to add except a Falcon that appeared to be in hunting, hovering mode over the water 200 yards off the beach. Yes it was a falcon not a tern. No i didn't hallucinate. No i didn't see which species. Yes i was on a boat within 20 yards and yes i was leathered.''
Nice report. No holiday is complete without an unidentified raptor AND unidentified bird in close proximity due to alcohol. You managed them both with one bird- well done.