Where have the March birds gone

http://birdinginegypt.blogspot.com/

Birding in Egypt

This little tyke is one of the reasons why birding is not a pleasure this side of Luxor,  here he is the other side of the waterway  because I purposely took this route after the hassle from the kids a few days ago. this is the little bugger that started throwing stones at the bird I was photographing. he tried throwing stones at me  but I was two far away. look  at the anger on his face.  its not that I want to go back to this rubbish dump again anyway. much nicer places to see the birds  but I was hoping to get a better photo of the  Clamorous reed warbler.

Not so many species about today could hear many with their calls. but they where playing hard to shoot
Like this Striated Heron  This lifted right in front of me 4 times as I followed it up the water way. the only shot I got was about 100 yards away then it was gone again.
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Lots if the Crested Lark about in the sugar fields  but only this one stopped close enough to get a shot at  and then it was 50 yards away, 
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The farmers were inundating the crop fields today so there was an abundance of Cattle Egret and a few Little white Egrets.   after seeing these photos on the blog I notice that there are 3 speicies of egret, see if you can.
 and which is the 3rd species


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something spooked them in this field  most likely a rat  as I am quite close to the rubbish that is dumped from the city along this waterway. 

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Just the one Little White Egret in this flock. 

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Those that did not fly to another field perched themselves in the date palm
notice how the are not watching me but whatever spooked them in the field. 


.Closer to my flat. one of the young Kestrels there are two of them still here  the parents seem to have left not been seen for a few days now.  

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I like this shot of the pigeons,   Identical flight 
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The cock  has some nice colours when the sun hits the feathers around its neck. 
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The 3rd  Egret     the Great white Egret Egretta Alba.

Garden spider

I started wild life blog 12 months ago. and its strange that I never saw any of these spiders in 09 until last November.  This one was on my new area walk that I went today to watch the sugar harvesting, last year I also saw many dragonflies today only one,  did not get a snap of it either,  click on the picture to Enlarge to see its full colours,

Bulbul fledgelings

 Two fledglings have survived one male and one female,  it seems only one parent  is left.
Ok mum where is my food, down there points the sparrow.

Look thats it thats all these humans throw away,


but mum I have just fallen out of the tree and now you want me to eat bread

That s all you are getting you ungratefull little bulbul.

Your hurting my ear stop squaking,
well if you do not eat it there are plenty of sparrows who will, like the one behind me.

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Ok Mum that looks better  put it straight in my mouth, 

Egypts wild life,and clamorous wild children

Talk about playing hard to get this beauty just would not come close and keep still long enough to get a decent photo of  it was the only dragon I saw  and have seen for a few days now but at least I saw it  I am sure its the same species as   http://egyptdragonflies.blogspot.com/2009/11/big-dragon-is-in-town.html
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even though this canal had hardly any water in  there was loads of fish 
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These goats have found a fresh supply of clover, 
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And these wild animals have found a man with a camera ,  there are no houses here  only straw huts  so all of thesed kids live like wild animals  and act the same, they live with their parents in the rubbish that is dumped here from the garbage of Luxor city the place stinks  not just of garbage but the dead animals that are taken from the centre.    but this is a place a heard there is a strange bird  nobody really knows if the noise comes from a bird or animal.  they  have no interest in finding out its just there and they live near it,  not far from these noisy  children I heard what I first thought was  some  animals mating , as I was trying to find out where the noise was coming from these other little animals started to throw stones in the almost dried bed of the waterway and two small birds flew out of the reeds.    now I knew what I was looking for.
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Clamorous reed warbler , Acrocephalus stentoureus,   and believe me it is clamorous,
 and very hard to photograph, always in the thickest part of the reeds near the waterline. but then it came up for air. and I had to take 4 or five shots in quick succession. before it disappeared  again. 

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 I have traveled miles upon miles looking for the  Crested Lark  now I have a long range zoom lens.
 here near the sugar cane harvesters they were in abundance, these  shots were taken within 10ft, and could have been just as good shots with my normal lens. but that's wild life and I am pleased to say so unpredictable.   makes birdwatching fun,  and gives my old bones plenty of exercise,




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I have held this photo back for a while mainly because its  a little blurred and looking again  I rather like it so i am sharing what looks like a single winged   squacco heron in flight. 

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Lots of fish in the murky waters of the almost dry canal bed 
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night heron  keeping a beady eye on the Welshman with a big lens 

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The fan tailed warbler. this tiny bird has a lovely trill sound as it flutters from  stem to stem. i am sure it was curious as to who was watching  it stopped long enough to adjust the lens to get a few shots