Wed Ibrahim
Wadi El Rayan Protected Area, Fayoum, Egypt
wed_abdou@yahoo.com
Wadi El Rayan attracts increasing number of birds especially after
establishing of two man-made lakes, so that, the area was designated as
important bird area in 1999 by Birdlife International. Ringing activities started in
2001 to study the impact of the lakes on the migration behavior of passerines.
The field station was located on the shoreline of the second lake, dominated
mainly by reed beds,. During the work 5 014 individuals of 50 species of
Passerines were caught using mist-nets and ringed, measured, scored for fat
deposit and tested for directional preferences.
There is a variable fluctuation of caught birds within and between
seasons. During autumn season it is about half of total number of caught
individuals every year. Migration dynamics shows that the peak of migration is
mainly in mid March and April in spring and mid to end of September in autumn.
Unfortunately the number of caught birds is decreasing due to the reduction in
water level resulting from changes in the lakes? water regime.
During a period 1 March - 4 April, 2 194 orientation experiments were
conducted out of which, 922 Reed Warblers were tested for directional
preferences. Most of orientation experiments were conducted during the day
time, with few experiments during night time. Most individuals tested in
orientation experiments showed two main directions SSE and SSW during
autumn season while in spring these were NW and NE directions. Few individuals
showed different directional preferences while, others showed reverse migration
direction.




