White Storks

Description:

White Storks are only one of many species of migratory birds that pass through Sinai. White Storks are large birds about 100 – 115 cm tall with a wingspan of 155 – 165 cm. They are completely white except for their black wing flight feathers and red bill and legs. Both male and females have the same plumage but males are generally larger. Young birds have black bills and yellowish-gray legs. Storks walk slowly and steadily and fly with their neck outstretched. Usually silent birds, storks will only make noise when annoyed when they will clatter their jaws together. Storks migrate in large flocks, generally in groups of about 100 birds. Because of their long wings and large bodies, storks do not get very far by flapping their wings. Instead, they soar. (See video.) The storks use warm air currents, called thermals, that form over land. Since these thermals rarely form over sea, storks choose a migration route that involves the shortest trip across water. Most birds coming from the north cross over the Bosporus, circle around the Mediterranean Sea and through the Middle East where they fly through eastern Sinai and cross the Red Sea near El Tor. Sharm el Sheikh is actually outside of the normal migration route, but many birds – especially the old, tired, sick, or injured ones – are lured to the city by the hotels’ green areas…and the garbage. (Which explains the last photo of the dead bird. One of several seen that day.)

Habitat:

A few hundred spotted at the sewage treatment pools in Sharm el Sheikh.