Diving and Birding

I have been away diving in the Red Sea in Egypt in Sharm El Sheik. From a birding point of view the holiday was a bit frustrating despite being a great holiday in general. Egypt is one of those corridors from Africa to Europe and Asia that migrating birds use. These are usually the soaring birds like raptors and storks who need the air currents present over land but not the sea. However, even knowing that, it is very difficult to figure out where to go or what to do without having some insider info, and this all in the context of a diving holiday where you are diving three times a day. Half way through the holiday one of our diving guides turned out to be a zoologist who actually studies raptor migration, Francesco Germi. Once we got talking he then offered to take me to a spot where raptors roost after crossing over the Red Sea. Unfortunately, he had to work on the day we had planned so we couldn't make the trip, maybe next time.

One time we rose from the depths and Francesco enthusiastically pointed out an Osprey, Booby and some terns resting on a buoy come lighthouse. Although I could see the birds he was referring to, it was not a good enough view for me to count any of them, so I haven't. My first true Osprey will have to wait.

Whenever I land in a country I always look out the window from the airplane and then the general area to note the first bird I see in the new country. Usually, the bird is something fairly ordinary like a crow or a pigeon and true to form the first bird I saw this time was a feral pigeon or rock dove. The second bird was more interesting being a pied wagtail but after that it was all fairly run-of-the-mill for the area. Laughing dove (really quite pretty), carrion crow, house sparrow, and the local gull, the white-browed gull. I saw some kind of quail, also apparently on migration and various glimpses of raptors and some heron like birds but nothing I could positively identify.

Then there is the diving. If you have a listing mentality, diving can be very frustrating. Imagine being in an aviary with a hundred really colourful interesting birds that you've never seen before and you have a guide with you only no one can speak. For about 15 of the birds the guide has hand signals to identify them but the others are just lost in a haze of colour. I am wondering about creating a database of fish but I'm not sure I'm quite there yet.