Nine Birds Rescued as the Autumn Migration Crosses the Red Sea — Six of Them White Storks

Red Sea protectorate teams have rescued nine migratory birds since the autumn migration season opened, as the coast's reserves begin tracking the birds crossing the region on their seasonal journey between breeding grounds and warmer ground, according to Sada El Balad.

The nine were:

• a steppe buzzard
• a long-legged buzzard
• an osprey
• six white storks

Each was taken in after being found to need care during the crossing, the outlet reported.

Abdullah Abed, director of the Northern Islands Protectorate in Hurghada, said bird migration is an annual natural phenomenon in which birds move between regions along routes they have relied on across successive generations.

Tracking them, he said, is not just a matter of recording numbers: it yields information on the movement of the migration itself, the places where birds stop, the conditions they meet, and which of them arrive exhausted or injured and need intervention. He added that migratory birds carry seeds and help keep food chains in balance, and can serve as indicators of the health of the ecosystems that depend on them.

Geography is why the coast sees them at all. The Red Sea sits on the natural corridors birds use between Africa and Asia, and the autumn passage brings large numbers down from the north — long flights that need safe stopovers for rest and food before the birds continue.

The report does not say where along the coast the nine were found, on what dates, or whether any have since been released. It gives no estimate of how many birds are crossing this season.

For residents and visitors, the season is the visible part: storks and birds of prey over the coast through the autumn. The rescues followed cases that were reported to the reserves and then followed up — which is how a grounded or exhausted bird reaches a protectorate team at all.