Saturday, February 27, 2010

The foul mouthed parrot.

So there's this fella with a parrot. And this parrot swears like a sailor. I mean he's a pistol. He can swear for five minutes straight without repeating himself.
Trouble is, the guy who owns him is a quiet, conservative type, and this bird's foul mouth is driving him crazy.
One day, it gets to be too much, so the guy grabs the bird by the throat, shakes him really hard, and yells, "please stop swearing".
But this just makes the bird mad and he swears more than ever.
Then the guy gets mad and says, "OK for you", and locks the bird in a kitchen cabinet. This really aggravates the bird, and he claws and scratches, and when the guy finally lets him out, the bird cuts loose with a stream of vulgarities that would make a veteran sailor blush.
At that point, the guy is so mad that he throws the bird into the freezer. For the first few seconds, there is a terrible din. The bird kicks and claws and thrashes. Then it suddenly gets very very quiet.
At first the guy just waits, but then he starts to think that the bird may be hurt. After a couple of minutes of silence, he's so worried that he opens up the freezer door.
The bird calmly climbs onto the man's outstretched arm and says: "Awfully sorry old chap about the trouble I gave you. I'll do my best to improve my vocabulary from now on."
The man is astounded. He can't understand the transformation that has come over the parrot. Then the parrot says, "By the way, what did the chicken do?"
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All the Kestrels where upset today people where up on the tower while they are trying to nest bellow the balcony floor. just as they got settled again another lot was up there. not sure if they have to pay the mosque to get photos from up there,   but thankfully I have not seen anymore tourist up there and the birds have settled down again.




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Thursday, February 25, 2010

20 hours of sand storm

I bit blustery this morning managed to get a few shots before the storm got a bit to fierce    put the camera away because of all the dust and sand flying about . my olympus  pocket camera  had to do the job as its dust proof shock proof and Tony proof.  the sparrow decided he would make a good photo.
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The crow knows where the Kestrel nest is  it got blown off course  on its attempt to go for the nest then the male made a half attempt at chasing it away.   but as long as one of the kestrels are in the nest the eggs should survive the hatch  once they have hatched is the time they have to be on guard the crows are real vicious when it comes to taking the young of any of the birds.  
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After the chase he too got blown off course and decided to land on the satellite dish  for a respite until a gust of wind blew him off.   most of you  have seen a crow  not many have seen a kestrel the bird is smaller then the crow but looks bigger in flight because of its wingspan  I have managed to get a shot of the crow  at the same distance as the kestrel flying off  the satellite dish ,
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The crow 

The falcon
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9.00 and the sun is trying to break through

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Birds in Egypt

The Ibis and most of the bird photos are now on my website   http://www.myegypt.co.uk/index.php?f=data_home&a=5

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Ibis in flight

Last night I went and sat down on the promanade and waited for the Ibis usually they fly past just before sundown. but the must have gone another route. Today I was sitting on my balcony having tea and as always my luck three lots went past. directly over where I was waiting for them yesterday. the first group was so large I caugh the tail end in another frame but only with my pocket camera.



Second flock.

And A third , Ah well another day , I should really go and see if they are still on the mud flats again/
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Monday, February 22, 2010

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni

I was up at first light 6.15   setting up the camera on its tripod to make sure there was less shake while shooting but  as always birds are so unpredictable,  they decided to go to the tower behind me and that is in the sun,    so no good shots of the first tread  after he done the business he flew on to a more suitable area to get a decent shot .

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 The male  checking on the nest







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The tower where the nest is  near the Temple at Luxor. 



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I think this photo is proof these are the The Lesser Kestrel. The population of this SMALL bird of prey is declining seriously, and the species is now listed among the world's threatened birds.  The male is more easily told by its blue-grey head. and pale feet (not Black)

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Monday, February 15, 2010

Black and White

Pied wagtail  not sure what is going on.
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Great white Egret  this little one lives around the best polluters of the Nile! the cruise ships
 it is supposed to be pure white. 
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The tern I am quite confused with,,,   this bird I first said it was the Caspian tern then a follower said it was not!! But now I see it quite close it sure looks like the Caspian .  Any way its a tern and its beautiful 

Pied kingfisher