Red Sea Reserves Ask Divers and Visitors to Photograph the Migratory Birds They See — With the Place and Date
Marking World Migratory Bird Day, the Red Sea protected areas asked divers, tourists, researchers and marine-tourism workers to photograph birds inside the reserves and log where and when they saw them. No email address, app or phone number for sending sightings in was published.
10 October 2026
The Red Sea's protected areas are asking divers, tourists, researchers and people working in the coast's marine and tourism businesses to photograph the migratory birds they come across and record where and when they saw them, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Saturday.
The appeal came as the reserves marked World Migratory Bird Day under the slogan "Every bird matters — your observations make a difference". Ahmed Ghallab, director-general of the Red Sea reserves, said bringing citizens, birdwatchers, divers and tourism workers into the monitoring effort would collect observations from many sites at different times, building a clearer picture of which species cross the region, when they appear, and which places they use on their seasonal journeys.
What the reserves are asking for is specific:
- sightings made inside the protected areas
- documented with a photograph or video
- with the location and the date noted as far as possible
Pictures carrying accurate data also make species easier to identify, the statement said — which helps when a bird cannot be named at first glance. A single observation by one visitor may end up part of a much wider dataset, letting specialists compare sightings between years, spot the places birds return to, and pick up changes tied to habitat damage, human pressure or the weather.
The reserves said the Red Sea sits on an ecologically important stretch of the migration routes because it links Africa and Asia, and because its coast combines marine and desert environments, with islands, reefs and shoreline used by resident, passing and migratory birds alike. Which species can be seen varies with the season, the weather and the habitat, the statement said, which is why regular field monitoring matters.
Beyond their appeal to birdwatchers and nature photographers, some species limit the spread of pests, carry seeds and take part in nutrient cycles, according to the reserves, and serve as environmental indicators.
The report gives no email address, app or phone number for submitting sightings, and no list of the species crossing the coast this autumn. This site reported on 7 October that nine birds, six of them white storks, had been rescued as the autumn migration crossed the Red Sea.