Egypt - The Nile Valley Days 3 - 5

We left early doors and drove just over 3 hours south to Abu Simbel, which in my opinion is one of the most exciting destinations in the Western Palearctic. By 10am we were searching a lakeside area not too far from the town in the hope of finding a very recent colonist to the area - Crimson-rumped Waxbill. Boy it was hot but that didn't deter us as this is a key species and one we needed to find. The first spot was quiet apart from a few Indian Silverbills, so we walked on to a spot right on the shores of Lake Nasser which had large and very tall roadbeds all around. Not so surprisingly we found another African Pied Wagtail sitting in the side of a fishing boat, and as we watched this a Crimson-rumped Waxbill appeared briefly in a dense area of scrub and reeds. 

The mega Crimson-rumped Waxbill

Unfortunately it didn't linger long enough for everyone to get on it, but we needn't have worried as just around the corner we found a small group of waxbills coming to drink at the base of the reeds. Then at least 5 birds decided to perch in the reeds and began to preen, allowing everyone to see them very clearly and for about 20 minutes. Wow! What a fantastic result and high-fives all round. This proved to be a particularly good area with numerous Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters flying around, a Little Bittern seen in flight, several African Green Bee-eaters, many Clamorous Reed Warblers and Eastern Olivaceous Warblers all providing an interesting distraction. 

After checking in to a superb hotel, we had a short siesta before venturing out to explore the shoreline of this vast lake. Our primary targets fell quite quickly, with close views of 10+ Kittlitz's Plovers and 6 stunning Yellow-billed Storks. With both targets nailed we enjoyed a fine selection of other species and what a great area this was, with Egyptian Goose, Senegal Thick-knee, Marsh Sandpiper, Little, Gull-billed & White-winged Terns, Glossy Ibis, many European Bee-eaters, Masked Shrike, Brown-necked Raven, Greater Hoopoe-Lark and 2 African Pied Wagtails.

Village Weaver - another mega WP sighting...!

The following day we headed out on a boat into Lake Nasser. It's hard to comprehend how massive this lake is and it took a couple of hours to reach some small, reed-fringed islands where we saw several stunning Village Weavers. We mostly saw the magnificent males in breeding plumage and only had two sightings of females. Having seen this species numerous times across Africa, these males were like gorgeous bright-yellow lightbulbs absolutely glowing in the sunshine, and nothing like I remembered them to be! Amazing! After lunch at our hotel we headed out to a section of Airport Bay to see what was around. At least 6 Kittlitz's Plovers were found on the drier areas just inland from the water's edge, and we also had a Yellow-billed Stork fly in and appeared to be ready to roost. There was also a decent selection of commoner species with a large group of Little Stints and others. We waited until dusk hoping for Egyptian Nightjar, but that didn't go to plan although the views of several Plain (Brown-throated) Martins as they hawked for insects right above us were really cool.

Yellow-billed Stork

Our last day at Abu Simbel began with a repeat visit to the waxbill site, where despite being early was pretty quiet. So Ismael took us to another spot nearby overlooking some weedy fields where we found a flock of 20+ Crimson-rumped Waxbills feeding with a bunch of Indian Silverbills. We spent quite a while watching them and trying to get some photos and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Crimson-rumped Waxbill - another WP mega!

Following this we returned to the same section of Airport Bay, seeing much the same species as yesterday, although a Marsh Sandpiper was new in. So we decided to call it quits and return to the hotel for lunch and to pack before driving back up to Aswan. We'd a very early morning flight to Cairo the following morning so upon arrival at a lovely little guest house not too far away from the airport we decided to just chill and have a look what we could find in the immediate vicinity. 

The hotel was in a superb location, being surrounded on three sides by reedbeds and waterways adjacent to the Nile and several small islands. And what a good time we had, seeing Little Bittern, Purple Heron, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and others from the hotel. A little walk out in the early evening sunshine produced some really close African Green Bee-eaters, Senegal Thick-knee, African Pied Wagtail and even an immature Yellow-billed Stork. 

Another Yellow-billed Stork - this time at Aswan near our hotel

African Green Bee-eater

We rounded the day of with some sneaky beers and a delicious dinner before retiring to our beds for a short sleep!!!

EGYPT - THE NILE VALLEY DAY 2

Our plan today was to leave the hotel with a boxed breakfast at 7.00am, take their boat across the Nile to our waiting minibus and head over to Philae Lake for another boating session. We’d ordered coffees for 6.45am and whilst waiting a pair of Reed Cormorants flew upriver and dropped onto the river and began fishing a couple of hundred metres away from us. What a result and certainly not a species we expected to see around Aswan. This is a major WP target for birders and they are usually found around Abu Simbel, way to the south. 

This pair of Reed Cormorants were the only ones we saw during the entire tour!

A few Indian Silverbills were also showing well in the small cultivated patch right next to the hotel as well – so a very good start to the day. 

Once we made it across to the east bank and met up with Ismael we drove towards Philae Lake, checking out a few smaller patched of water along the way, but only a single White-crowned Wheatear was noteworthy. Once aboard our boat we headed out on what was for all intents and purposes a relatively quiet 3 hour boat trip. Birds were few and far between, save for numerous Whiskered & Gull-billed Terns, Black & Yellow-billed Kites, and all the usual herons & egrets. However, we managed to find a pair of African Pied Wagtails hanging around the shoreline thanks to some sharp spotting from Ian. In fact, as we turned our boat around to get better views the wagtails flew onto one of the marooned boat wrecks and one of them started to sing as we watched from a few metres away. Wow! So two mega Western Palearctic species so far this morning!

Another major target - African Pied Wagtail

Next up was a trip to Philae Temple and a short guided tour for my group, whilst I sipped a cappuccino in the café. I am culturally shallow. Always have and always will be!!! Another huge lunch followed at a lakeside restaurant and then we spent another couple of hours boating on the lake seeing not a lot. So an early finish was agreed and once back in the minibus we called in to a wine shop in downtown Aswan I’d found last year, to pick up some beers. 

Good habitat right next to our hotel

We returned to our guesthouse/hotel around 5pm and met up with the last member of our group, Eric Jan Ablas from The Netherlands.

Egypt - The Nile Valley Day 1

So i'm back in Egypt. Don't ask! 

Our group flew to Cairo from Manchester, London & Copenhagen and with a short connection to Aswan. All of our flights were delayed into Cairo and fortunately the Aswan flight was also delayed. Our superb guide Ismael from Aswan Birdwatching was at the airport to meet us and we drove about half an hour into downtown Aswan before getting on the ferry across the Nile to our guesthouse on the west bank. I finally made it to bed at 4am….. just as the call to prayer started. Oh lordy!

 

The following morning we had breakfast at 7.30am during which we saw a few goodies including our first Nile Valley Sunbirds. We spent the entire day on a boat cruising along the Nile River notching up some rare Western Palearctic species. More sunbirds, many Purple Swamphens, Senegal Thick-knees, African Green Bee-eaters, and many Pale Crag Martins. The numbers of Purple Herons, Gull-billed & Whiskered Terns, various hirundines and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters passing overhead was truly phenomenal, as was the huge lunch. 

Ferruginous Duck

Little Bittern

Little Heron

Nile Valley Sunbird

Pied Kingfisher

We looked for the wintering Black Scrub Robin without any luck and enjoyed much the same species on the return journey upriver to our guest house. I have to say the views of 40+ Purple Herons and a few Little Bitterns today was exceptional. So not a bad start....

Purple Heron

Purple/Western/African Swamphen

Rufous Bushchat

Senegal Thick-knee

Spur-winged Lapwing

Another Swamphen...

AZERBAIJAN MINI-BREAK JUNE 2026

We have added another new tour this summer, this time to Azerbaijan on the eastern side of the Western Palearctic. It's 5 full days of birding will target the mega rare & localised Caspian Tit, as well as Shikra, Caucasian Grouse, Caucasian Snowcock, Mountain Chiffchaff, Green Warbler, White-winged Redstart & Great Rosefinch amongst others.

Full info here: AZERBAIJAN MINI-BREAK

White-winged Redstart

Western Palearctic ticking 2026

Well 2026 has started very well. We had 2 long weekends in The Netherlands that produced some pretty spectacular flocks of geese. 

Snow Goose © Gottlieb Dandliker

Iceland Gull © Gottlieb Dandliker

It doesn't get much better than seeing a Red-breasted Goose in the morning sunshine

In fact everywhere we went there were large flocks of wildfowl, none more so that an impressive 4,500+ gathering of Tundra Bean Geese that also held a Cackling Goose and even a Ruddy Shelduck! We also tracked down a stunning Red-breasted Goose in Zeeland and saw a couple of really quality rarities in Bufflehead and Falcated Duck. 

Black-faced Bunting © Gottlieb Dandliker

The passerine highlight was undoubtedly the Black-faced Bunting on Texel (10^th record for The Netherlands), where we also saw a large mixed flock of Shorelarks and Twite. Other highlights from these 2 trips included Bewick’s & Whooper Swans, White-tailed Eagle, several Hen Harriers, 58 Smew on one day, many Woodcocks, Iceland Gull, Hawfinch & Brambling.

Kurdish Wheatear

Oriental Honey Buzzard

The highlights of a short trip to Jordan was finding the 9^th Kurdish Wheatear in the mountains above the Dead Sea and an Oriental Honey Buzzard at Aqaba Bird Sanctuary. 

One of the rarest Western Palearctic birds - Algerian Nuthatch

You've got to go to Algeria to get Red-billed Firefinch on your WP list

I still think Maghreb Owl is a good species....

Another mega WP tick - Sudan Golden Sparrow

And finally a short visit to Algeria produced the hoped for endemic Algerian Nuthatch, Maghreb Tawny Owl, African Silverbill, Red-billed Firefinch & Sudan Golden Sparrow – all mega Western Palearctic species. But what's been so outstanding is sharing these great birds with some really fun groups, sharing laughs, some good beer (well, not in Algeria) and some great memories.

NEW TOUR: ANDALUCIA - GRAN CANARIA

 I've just added a new tour to the Zoothera Birding website. This one is centred around a ferry that runs from Cadiz in southern Spain to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and we're expecting some great seabirds for our Western Palearctic list. High up there is White-faced Storm-Petrel but there's going to be Bulwer's Petrel, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Barolo Shearwater, Red-billed Tropicbird and i'm sending positive vibes out to the universe for something rarer. There's been some whacky seabirds in the northern hemisphere over the past few years so i'm hopeful.....

Either side of the ferry crossing, which takes roughly 30 hours, we will spend time looking for some extremely localised Western Palearctic species. In Andalucia we will target Scopoli's Shearwater, Ruppell's Griffon Vulture, and Little & White-rumped Swift amongst others. On Fuerteventura there's African Houbara & Canary Islands Stonechat and Gran Canaria Blue Chaffinch on..... Gran Canaria. 

For the full tour info please follow this link: Southern Spain - Canary Islands Pelagic

White-faced Storm Petrel

White-rumped Swift

Merry Christmas!

 

OMAN UPDATE 3

This is the third rarity round-up so far for November and what a month it is proving to be. 

The 6th Red Collared Dove for Oman remained at Al Ghaftain and the 3rd record of Sykes’s Nightjar was seen a few times at Maqshin Water Treatment Works, where up to 7 Egyptian Nightjars seem to be set to spend the winter. 

Muntesar Oasis had another Baillon’s Crake, along with White-breasted Waterhen & Olive-backed Pipit, a Ruddy Shelduck was at Barka Sewage Works, a Collared Kingfisher at Filim Mangroves, and 50+ Great Knot were present at Filim mudflats. Al Shamkaiah Park on Masirah Island had 3 Asian Koels & Baillon’s Crake, with 5 Pallas’s Gulls on the coast nearby. 

The Crowne Plaza at Duqm held White-breasted Waterhen, Green Warbler & 3 Olive-backed Pipits. Both the Black Heron and Watercock remained throughout the month at Mughsayl, with a Yellow Bittern, Malachite Kingfisher & yet another White-breasted Waterhen also seen there. An immature Black-headed/Red-headed Bunting was seen at Ayn Tobruq, a Hume’s Warbler was at Wadi Bani Habab on Sayq Plateau, Asian Koels were seen at Mudday & Haima Park, a Long-toed Stint remained at Ayn Taqah for a few days and another White-breasted Waterhen was at the Golden Tulip Resort, Nizwa. 

The second Streak-throated Swallow of the month was at Ayn Hamran, with the previous one reported at Al Qurm Park, Muscat last seen on Al Fahal Island being eaten by a Sooty Falcon! Small Pratincoles were seen at Khawr Raysut & East Khawr, Little Crake on Ayn Tobruq Crake Pool, the Fulvous Whistling Duck was last seen on the Hilton Wetlands, Salalah and at least 17 Sociable Lapwings remained at the same site with a Caspian Plover and a White-tailed Lapwing nearby. 

Rufous-backed Redstart

Another White-tailed Lapwing was lingering for several days at upper Muscat Rivermouth as well. A visit to Musandam during the last week of November produced 6 Rufous-backed (Eversmann’s) Redstarts, Black Kite, 2 Variable Wheatears, Siberian Stonechat and a Hume’s Warbler, but they were overshadowed by the 1st Paddyfield Pipit for Oman found on Masirah Island. 

Variable Wheatear

Hume's Warbler

Meanwhile on the Sayh Plateau at Jabal Akhdar there was a flock of 25 of the rare & elusive local race of Common Woodpigeon, as well as Eurasian Crag-Martin, another Hume’s Warbler, Black-throated Thrush and amazingly 4 Rufous-backed (Eversmann’s) Redstarts - making this a bumper month for that particular species. 

And there’s going to be more to come…! 

Oman rocks!