Aswan

So yesterday we drove to Aswan and along the way had to pay a policeman to go through a security checkpoint! There was no apparent reason for it, as to this point the ‘highway’ had been very poor and there was no way I had been speeding. Initially he wanted 300 Egyptian Pounds (only about £5) just from me, but then he indicated that each of us should the same, and then I became annoyed and told him to go away and drove off!! The rest of the day was uneventful and we reached the Zen Wellness Resort in the mid afternoon. It’s a seemingly nice place, quite a way out of downtown Aswan and we had to take an electric buggy to our rooms, some distance away…. But it’s ok, with views of the Nile etc.

This morning, I had arranged a boat trip with Ismael Khalifa of Aswan Birding, so after a 6.30am pickup and 30 minute drive into Aswan, we boarded a boat and headed north up the Nile at first and then swung over to the west bank where a huge number of Squacco Herons, many Purple Herons and stacks of common species were present. 

I've never seen so many Squacco Herons in one place before.....

I was particularly hoping to get better views of Greater Painted Snipe, and I certainly did as we found a male preening in a marshy field beside the river, where I took some half decent photos.

 

Greater Painted Snipe was probably my most wanted WP tick on this trip

The early morning light was stunning and it proved to be a very nice few hours, with close Gull-billed Terns, many Ferruginous Ducks, Spotted Redshanks, Wood Sandpipers, Common Moorhens etc. On the riverbank we saw many African Green Bee-eaters, both Red-backed & Woodchat Shrikes, Brown-necked Raven, and a fine Black-winged Kite.

The Nile....

More Squacco Herons

The local race of Barn Swallow (savignii) has red underparts

There were so many Ferruginous Ducks on the Nile as well

Garganey were present in reasonable numbers as well

Gull-billed Tern

Spotted Redshanks had just started to pass through on migration

A few African Swamphens were always slightly obscured or had a reed stem or grass in front of them, until we had one bird right out in the open towards the end of the cruise. 

African Swamphen...... sadly lumped in Western Swamphen for the time being...

The Nile this morning 

As we sailed downriver we passed a flowering Acacia and found at least 3 Nile Valley Sunbirds (WP tick) feeding, and we followed this with a few close Senegal Thick-knees roosting in the shade on some large rocks mid-river. We moored up for a break and had some tea and biscuits, and this was where a Little Bittern flew by and a group of Red Avadavats(WP tick) flew over calling. 

Nile Valley Sunbird

Much better views of Senegal Thick-Knee today

So by now it was mid morning and time to head inland to search for Three-banded Plover, a few of which breed in Egypt. Driving for a good half an hour took us to some small pools in a shallow wadi where the birds have been hanging out, but most were dry. I had high hopes of seeing this much-wanted species but luck didn’t seem to be with us, as we were kicked out of the area by some surly army people and had to leave the area immediately! And that was that. I was feeling very annoyed right now and decided to return to the hotel early as we’d seen everything (bar the plover) that I wanted. Ismael proved to be an excellent guide and very knowledgeable about birdwatching in Egypt, and it was at this point that I discovered our planned route towards the Red Sea tomorrow was closed and we would have to make a massive detour of something like 10 hours to reach our next hotel. So I spent the afternoon frantically trying to rearrange our ‘holiday’ but this would mean I couldn’t meet up with Ismael again in Abu Simbel as we’d previously arranged and I feared this would seriously impact my chances of success….