Is inferring the location of water from the direction of birds a form of the forbidden taking of omens?

The Shaykh : No, it is not permissible. However, it is customary that birds gather around water. If one infers from their direction that there is water in that area, as the Jurhum did when they inferred the location of the water of Zamzam, then there is nothing wrong with it. But if it is merely that they came, that is not permissible. Birds always go to their pastures far away, and when night falls, they return.