Red Sea & Sinai Birdwatching

Written by the Egypt Day Tours team and reviewed by our licensed Egyptologist guides. Last updated July 2026.

A Red Sea and Sinai birdwatching trip for raptor and stork migration over the Gulf of Suez, Red Sea seabirds and specialties, Ras Mohammed National Park, and the South Sinai mountain birds, easily paired with a beach or diving stay.

The Red Sea and Sinai offer a completely different side of Egyptian birding: raptors streaming overhead in their thousands, seabirds wheeling over turquoise water, and hardy specialists clinging to the desert mountains. Pair it with a relaxing coastal stay and you have a birding trip that doubles as a holiday.

The headline act is migration. The narrow crossing at the Gulf of Suez is a famous bottleneck, where in spring and autumn huge numbers of soaring birds, White Storks and raptors among them, funnel through on their journey between Africa and Eurasia. Watching a river of storks pour across the sky is one of birding’s great spectacles, and it happens here on a grand scale.

Along the coast and on the Red Sea islands, you look for the region’s seabird specialties. The White-eyed Gull, found almost only in the Red Sea, is a star target, alongside the Sooty Gull, terns, the Western Reef Heron, and the elegant Sooty Falcon, which breeds on the islands in summer. Ospreys patrol the shoreline, and Ras Mohammed National Park at the tip of Sinai adds mangroves, migrants, and dramatic scenery to the mix.

Inland, the South Sinai mountains hold their own prizes. The beautiful Sinai Rosefinch, the dark and noisy Tristram’s Starling, and a cast of wheatears and desert species reward a trip into the high, rocky country around the famous monastery and peaks. It is wild, scenic birding in an ancient landscape.

One honest and important note: the north Sinai birding sites such as Zaranik and Lake Bardawil, though historically renowned, are currently off-limits for security reasons. We focus entirely on the safe, accessible, and superb birding of the South Sinai and Red Sea coast, and we will always give you the honest current picture.

This trip pairs naturally with a beach or diving holiday on the Red Sea. See the timing on our best time for birdwatching page, the sites on our best birdwatching sites in Egypt guide, and the species on birds of Egypt. It is part of our birdwatching in Egypt collection.

• [check icon] Expert local bird guide
• [check icon] Birding at the Gulf of Suez migration, the Red Sea coast, Ras Mohammed, and South Sinai
• [check icon] Transfers
• [check icon] Bottled water
• [check icon] Use of a spotting scope

• [x icon] Binoculars
• [x icon] Flights and accommodation unless added
• [x icon] Diving or beach activities
• [x icon] Some meals
• [x icon] Personal expenses and tips

• [raptor icon] Raptor and stork migration over the Gulf of Suez
• [gull icon] The Red Sea’s White-eyed Gull and Sooty Falcon
• [park icon] Ras Mohammed National Park and its mangroves
• [mountain icon] Sinai Rosefinch and Tristram’s Starling in the mountains
• [beach icon] Easily paired with a Red Sea beach or diving stay

(insert your real rates)