Today’s blog entry consists of photographs of Common Kingfishers, pictures I took recently in Makadai Bay, Hurghada, Egypt.
The Common Kingfisher is widespread across Europe, from Britain in the west all the way across to the most eastern part of Russia. Some European birds migrate towards the Mediterranean area in autumn and a small number winter in North Africa. The Kingfishers I saw in Makadi Bay could be wintering birds from central or Eastern Europe, Turkey or Iran because according to my field guide Kingfishers don’t breed along the Red Sea coast. There are scarce breeding records from coastal Morocco and also Tunisia, the latter a holiday destination where a few years ago I also saw Common Kingfishers.
The Kingfisher(s) always hung about in the early morning where a few boats reached into the shallow, clear waters of the Red Sea, and wherever small fish fed in abundance. In a few of these pictures it is possible to see fish scales stuck to the bird’s bill. Although I waited around a few times I didn’t get to take pictures of a Kingfisher with a fish, my ultimate goal.
