Egret of Qurm roundabout

With a lovely afternoon before we say goodbye to the Oman winter !!!! I could not resist myself not to take a walk towards Qurm roundabout to meet the seasonal visitors before they decide to travel back. Cattle Egret or Bubulcus Ibis as they call it, is a common Winter visitor in Oman. Even though they did not seem to mind the cars going around them, our feather creatures started to get not so comfortable when I decided to get closer to get their photos. My camera does not have that zooming capability, and therefore till I get that surprise gift my Olympus C-750 is all what I am going to use. If it was not the annoying drivers behind me I always love to slow down while approaching the roundabout every morning to admire the visitors. One more think that also annoys me is the honking of the taxi drivers as I was walking toward the roundabout. It is as if there is no excuse for anyone to walk along a street unless he does not own a car. This feather creature has a nice looking white body with yellow bill. I especially like their Egyptian dance as their heads move back and forth as they walk around.

Read more...

Summer feeder

Finally, I managed to install my bird feeder that I bought recently during my Dubai trip. Sparrows and silver bills are invited for generous feast of fresh, well almost fresh seeds as these seeds are imported to Oman. I wonder if it is possible to grow such seeds here!. The ones I bought are just plain ones because one can buy those with supplements of vitamins or even with antibiotics. I expect that my guests will be messy and the floor will be filled with seeds as they have the habit of spreading their food with their bills just to get that single seed among hundreds of them. They are no less tidier than our kids when they learn to eat by themselves. But overall we need to learn from the feather creature, that we need to depend of our creator and no worries after that. Our prophet may peace be upon him said once "If you depend on Allah as you should, he will provide your livelihood in such as the way he provide to a bird, it come out of their nest with empty stomach in the morning and return full stomach in the evening".

Happy birding

Read more...

Dubai the city of cars and high rise buildings

I miss the morning calls of the bulbuls as they call each others just before and after the Muscat dawn especially now days as the temperatures in the mornings are just right. As i spend few days here in Dubai, there is no place for the bulbul, my favorite bird it seems. The high rise buildings are every where you look. Limited vegetation to attract birds beside the road side beautification. The car fumes are another story even though the number of cars is less relatively due to the toll road. Bird songs and calls give a character to a place. Feeding birds is our contribution to bribe birds to stay around us with all the destruction we do to their habitat. What a satisfaction we get to see the first bird approaching to our bird feeder. It may take long time till they discover it but eventually they will find you. In Muscat putting a bird feeder will attract allot of bird types, you will be surprised. Silver bills, ring parakeets and of course the sparrows are guests you should expect to your feast.

Read more...

Moments of empty thoughts

its the 13th of Jan, the scenery is beautiful at first glance, but not for long till you notice the dark thick smoke as a background of the live TV broadcast from Gaza. Huge flock of pigeons are flying back and forth in the Gaza skies not knowing where to land or porch. I wonder what they think is going on!. i wonder when the bombing will stop so the innocent occupant can take deep breath into peace and the feather creatures can start singing again. till then, the pigeons have no songs to sing but the moaning of the dead of the massacre.

Read more...

Sohar Kingfisher

It's been 2 days now that I am here in Sohar, the weather is great, 17 degrees in the morning, at least till 8 AM and not so urban dominant meaning our little creatures still have some habitat left for them. The first thing one notice once he/she is entering the Batinah region is its ample stock count of 2 species of. You guest them?! Sure. The large black bird, Crow and the Kingfisher. Everywhere you look there they are. Folklores of different culture have labeled Crow as thief birds. They will steal almost anything their bills can grab. They are the symbol of death or bad luck and a spy on human!. Its nature instinct of killing and eating other birds chicks and their eggs is the most non attractive behavior of these birds. But like any other Gods creation, an unbalance will result if they do not behave the way they do. Sparrow will invade our lawns, roads will not be cleaned from the carcass of the dead animals the speedy cars have gone over. The second most spotted feathered creature in Batinah are the Kingfisher. Majestically posing on top of traffic sign boards and power lines to every car that passes by along the highway as if they say to them "welcome to our kingdom". The most attractive features of this bird is the display of themselves during low altitude flights. The spectacular stripes of shinny blue wings tells birdwatcher not to compare the scenery with that black coat of the Crow.

happy birdwatching

Read more...

Welcome

welcome visitors, yes this is my first post online about watching birds in muscat

Read more...