Friday, March 12, 2010

Birds in Egypt

6.30 in the morning .The sparrows are busy nesting  all they seem to do is invade one another's nest for materials

The great white Egret in flight

The kestrel going off in search of breakfast it did have its eye on the sparrow but then saw me on the roof.

Then it came back  a few minutes later and decided to tread the female in full view of the passing balloonists.   no shame have these birds.




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Then the doves started to get frisky  
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and the chick must have been wondering why its parents where fighting. 
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Undeterred by yesterdays  booby  (going out without putting the memory card in the camera)
I went on my daily walkabout at 7.00  it was too early for the birds I wanted to photo,  The Nile valley sun birds start feeding on the hibiscus plant nectar  as the sun rises above the plants about 8.30 so had an hour to kill   and it was just the right time not to get any hassle from the local Idiots. too early for them to rise ,
I walked the 3 kilometer to Karnak Temple along the new avenue of the sphinx,  taking photos on how the new dig was taking shape  go to  http://nilelife2.blogspot.com/     in an hour or two here  its 16.00 cairo time, 2 hours ahead of gmt.

By the time I got down to the area along the promenade near the Cruise ships,    the little white egret  or shall we say the little gray oily egret was busy  looking for scraps of food the kind  crews of the boats had thrown overboard for them,





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A steppe buzzard was also on the hunt for food   it seems my camera gives them the scares  maybe it thinks I am going to shoot it.  which I did,  and it flew off 
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These  Kingfishers were making a lot of noise  they must think the reflection from the boats balcony windows
was another bird. 


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Talking away to its new found friend another one joined in.  

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this one way talk is boring    and flew off  with its real mate.




and the poor  little gray egret was still paddling in the oily waters of the Nile. more on Nile pollution on my website.







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Undeterred by the pollution are the fishermen,    reminds me of the days at the funfair  as a child,   I would pay my penny,   given a rod  with a piece of string with a hook attached to the end  where if I managed to hook one if the fish or ducks  floating in the rotunda waters I would get a prize,  the prize here seems to be an empty bottle of water or an empty fizzy drinks can.  
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Not going to mention the pollution  again  it just gets me annoyed seeing it.
And this is the reason I came to the Nile's edge to get more Hassle.
This believe it or not is a secret policeman who is here  to stop the very thing he was doing!  hassle
first he stepped out of the garden while I was trying to get a shot of the bird taking nectar.  then  thinking I was into flowers  , which I am,  but do not tell him,  I have a blog called  http://egyptplants.blogspot.com/
 he picked a purple flower head offered it to me with a hand out wishing for me to give him some money.
First I dislike people who cut flowers,  I like, no love , the flowers in nature, half of the shots tody are of plants and flowers they also will be put on  egyptplants.  +  I am not gay, his intention today as with a lot of these pricks is to find out if I am,    so now you are famous Mr police man.
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And on with the birds and bees  as they are in nature.
this young female  "playing peek aboo"   or it could be a young male not until next breeding season will it grow its full plumage.   

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Feeding  on the nectar from the base of the Hibiscus flower. 



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Then the birds started to get nervous. not until I looked up did I see the reason why.  
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Oooh!   thats a big one you have got  must really like flowers.  problem is with these people,  they see nothing  and do not understand why I take photos of that said nothing,   they see me as an idiot with more money than sense. and the first opportunity they get,,  as proven a few minutes later when I needed to go up to the area they are  the begging hand was out yet again.  they like watching nature programmes a recent thing added to the tv listings here in Egypt . but only as long as its something killing something else,  


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so while the birds have been upset. I took a few flower pictures,  that seemed to please my followers.
  ooh look its David  Attenborough ,









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Yes its very nice 
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The Male Nile valley sun bird.  I have waited 12 months to get shots like these 



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Not a bad  mornings shoot   






























































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Photo log of birds to date

71 birds to date 13/5/10

Latest bird

Blue-cheeked bee-eater, merops superciliosus.

Avadavat (amandava amandava),
Barbary falcon (falco pelegrinoides) ,
Black Headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)27/2/10
Black-winged kite(elanus caeruleus),

Blue-cheeked bee-eater, merops superciliosus. 22/4/10


Bluethroat. Luscinia svecica
Caspian plover Charadrius asiaticus..4.4.10
Cattle egret (bubulcus ibis),
Collared Dove,Streptopelia decaocto 10/1/2010
Clamorous reed warbler , Acrocephalus stentoureus 23/3/10
Collared pratincole, Glareola pratincola 4/4/10
Crag Martin (ptyonoprogne rupestris),
Grey flycatcher Muscicapa striata
crested lark ( galerida cristata),
Common Snipe ,Gallinago gallinago ,23/9/10
Common Tern, (Sterna hirundo) 28/11/09
Common
sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos 28/11/09
Common bulbul, Pycnonotus barbatus.
Great Cormorant, phalacrocorax carbo.
Cyprus warbler, sylvia melanothotax 8/12/09
fan-tailed cisticola. cisticola juncidis
Ailsbury ducks
Kestrel falco naumanni

Graceful Prinia, Prinia gracilis 19/1/10
Great white egret (Egreta alba) 28/11/09 named" 12/09
Grey Heron (ardea cinerea),
Greylag goose (Anser anser),
Glossy ibis, Plegadis falcinellus4/12/09
Gull-billed tern Sterna nilotica
Hoopoe (upupa epops),
Hooded crow(corvus corvone cornix),
House sparrow (passer domesticus),

Honey Buzzard pernis apivorus,22/4/10
Hume's Tawny Owl. Strix butlery 15/8/2010

Laughing dove , streptopelia senegalensis
Lesser spotted Eagle,Aquila pomarina 19/1/10
Lesser whitethroat,sylvia curruca 18/3/10
Little bittern (Ixorychus minutes), i(1) female Aswan
Little stint, Calidris minuta
Little white egret (Egretta garzetta),
Little green bee-eater (merops orientalis),
marsh sandpiper,Triga stagnatilis,4.4.10
Moorhen (gallinule chlorous),
Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax),
Nile valley sun bird(Anthreptes metallicus
Olivaceous warbler (hippolais pillada),
Olive-tree warbler (hippolais olivetorum),
Pied kingfisher (ceryle rudis), all year
Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) 28/11/09
Purple gallinule (porphyrio porphyrio),
Red rumped swallow (hirundo daurica),
Sandpiper (Actitis hytoleucos) 28/11/09

Sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaeus.

Senegal Thick-knee ,Burhinus senegalensis.


ssouthern grey shrike,lanius meridionalis,9/ 2010
Scrub warbler Scotocerca inquita), June
Spur-winged plover (hoplopterus spinosus),
.Streaked Fantail Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)
Squacco Heron(Ardeola ralloides) , may all year
Striated heron (butorides striatus), May
Stork, Ciconia ciconia), August
Temminck's Stint, Calidris temminckii. 4/4/10
Thrush Nightingale,Luscinia luscinia 13/5/10
Turtle dove(stretopelia turtur),
White wagtail ( motacilla alba),
Wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola) 2/12/09
Willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus...
yellow-billed kite Milvus aegyptius
Yellow wagtail(motacilla flava), sept/
yellow wagtail ( black headed) 1/may 10
Water pipit, Anthus spinoletta.
Whitethroat, Sylvia communis
Wryneck, Jynx torquilla 8/4/10


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http://skywatchegypt.blogspot.com/
http://egyptplants.blogspot.com/
http://birdinginegypt.blogspot.com/ myegypt bird blog
http://egyptwildlife.blogspot.com/ birds of Egypt
http://egyptswildlife2.blogspot.com/
birds of Egypt
http://www.nilelife.blogspot.com/ photos from around Luxor Egypt
http://www.nilelife2.blogspot.com/ photos from around Luxor Egypt
http://egyptdragonflies.blogspot.com/ Dragons and damsels
http://insectsonwings.blogspot.com/ butterflies and bugs
http://myegypttours.blogspot.com Tombs and temples of Egypt
http://mydeserttrip.blogspot.com/ new in the process of building lots of photos of the white desert already on. 30/11/09
http://reflectionsofegypt.blogspot.com/ A trip down the Nile
http://tonythevolunteer.blogspot.com/
www.myegypt.co.uk my website

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MY BLOG LINKS CAN BE FOUND ON THE SIDE BAR. BIRDS, PLANTS,BUTTERFLIES,DRAGONS AND DAMSELFLIES.+ MY LIFE OUT AND ABOUT LUXOR. MY MAIN CONCERN NOW IS THE POLLUTION OF THE NILE AND THE EFFECT IT IS HAVING ON ITS PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE. POLLUTION OF THE NILE IS ON WWW.MYEGYPT.CO.UK http://egyptwildlife.blogspot.com/ http://egyptswildlife2.blogspot.com http://nilelife.blogspot.com/ http://nilelife2.blogspot.com/ MY WEBSITE WWW.MYEGYPT.CO.UK