Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Ruppell's weavers


The male Ruppell's weaver builds the nest (or several) and the female inspects to see if the structure is fit for raising a family. The male sometimes stands on top of the nest singing and fluffing up his feathers while she disappears inside to complete her tour.









After finishing the nest in the top left of the picture above, this fellow began working very quickly to destroy, straw by straw, all the other nests in the group. As one male weaver looks much like another, we're uncertain whether he was tearing down his own inferior creations, or if he was eliminating the work of a rival.





At the end of the day, only these and the newly constructed nest were left.



This lizard spent the day lurking on the branch above a nest. The next morning there were shattered egg shells on the ground under the tree. The end of his incredibly long tail isn't visible in the photo.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Breakfast in Salalah

Yellow vented bulbul on the sideboard contemplating hopping on to the table to share breakfast



Done! Sharing breakfast with 2 female Ruppell's weavers.






Male (yellow) and female (background) Ruppell's weavers enjoying a croissant



Around Salalah

Ubiquitous camels

part of a herd of about 50 who had a bath in the lagoon, a snack of seaweed and grass and then went for a wander on the beach











Why do camels love to lick cars???



My bird watching buddy Salim on a day when we saw a lot of eagles and ducks, including some familiar North American species, around Mirbat



Doorways and windows in Mirbat east of Salalah on the coast