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For about a billion birds that fly from Europe to Africa each fall, the Nile Delta is a welcome sight. Storks, cranes, eagles, and many other migratory birds feed and rest in the lakes and lagoons around the delta, gathering energy for the remainder of their long journey. In the spring, many of these same birds return on their way back north. For this reason, the Nile Delta is an extremely important habitat for the biodiversity of not just Egypt but for much of the world.
The Nile Delta ecoregion extends along the Nile River from the Aswan High Dam downstream to the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. This region once included scores of river channels that intertwined along the course of the delta and brought with them sediments and vital nutrients from upstream. But the first Aswan Dam, constructed between 1912 and 1934, and the second, the Aswan High Dam, have drastically changed this region. The flow of the channels has been greatly reduced, with only two main channels remaining, and many wetland regions have been lost because annual flooding no longer occurs. Some marshes, five major lakes, and two main coastal lagoons persist, and these are important stopovers for migrating birds. The region enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with average summer temperatures around 86° F (30° C) and winter temperatures ranging between 41 and 50° F (5-10° C). Rainfall is scarce, falling mostly in the winter, so the Nile River is an essential lifeline for many species.
The Nile Delta is part of one of the world’s most important migration routes for birds. Every year, millions of birds pass through Europe and Africa along the "eastern African flyway." White storks, black storks, European cranes, and white pelicans all rely on the region during their annual migrations. Birds of prey that pause in these wetlands include short-toed eagles, booted eagles, steppe eagles, lesser spotted eagles, steppe buzzards, honey buzzards, and levant sparrowhawks. Large numbers of passerines and near passerines also pass through the country in spring and autumn. Among the region's endemic species are several plants and a member of the white-toothed shrew genus.
People have been living in this region for about 250,000 years and have been farming intensively for about 5,000 years. But only since the construction of the Aswan High Dam has farming occurred year-round. Since then, no delta habitat was left undisturbed. The major threats to the region's biodiversity are fertilizers, applied to the land because nutrient-rich sediments are no longer deposited through flooding; increased salinity in the waters; increasing hunting and trapping; and inappropriate siting of windmills, which can be dangerous obstacles for migrating birds. Rising sea levels due to global warming could also drastically alter the region. For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report. All text by World Wildlife Fund © 2001
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