I wrote this following a visit to Muscat in March 2008.
I was delighted by the variety and colours of the birds that I saw in Muscat, Oman. Seeing birds that I haven’t seen before, or have rarely seen, especially brightly coloured ones, always inspires me and reminds me of what an amazing artist our Lord is! Most of them fly away too quickly to catch on satisfactorily camera, so I have borrowed photos from the web.
Common Mynah
These are everywhere, especially in the gardens. This was the first bird I saw when we arrived at the hotel. When they fly, they display a flash of white on their wings. They can be quite noisy too – being related to our Starling, they make some of the similar sounds.
House Crow
This is a photo that I took near the Sultan’s Palace. These crows, which are just a bit bigger than our Jackdaws, are extremely cheeky and, if you leave your table unattended, they will steal your breakfast! They are everywhere, and highly amusing.
Red Vented Bulbul
Saw several of these birds in the hotel garden. They are only found in gardens in the Muscat area. Medium-small, pretty birds.
Yellow Vented Bulbul
These are a common bird in gardens in the North of Oman. Saw several of these, hiding in the bushes in the hotel garden.
Cattle Egret
Saw a number of these flying overhead.
Indian Roller
I have never seen one of these before, but I saw one spectacularly flying past my balcony shortly after we had arrived at the hotel – as if to say, “Welcome to Oman.” I have chosen this picture because this is exactly what we saw, on several occasions during the week.
Ring Necked Parakeet
I have seen these before, in Spain and also once on my Mum’s bird-table! They are still a joy to see and become very noisy as evening draws near.
Purple Sun Bird
These are tiny, iridescent, astonishingly beautiful birds. They look in appearance very dark blue, almost black. I saw four or five of them during the week, one at close quarters.
We also saw plenty of sparrows and some other small birds, which I was unable to identify, as well as a cormorant, a swallow and many sea-birds.
I am including the picture below because, to my speechless delight and utter appreciation, we saw a Red Kite, on the way to Heathrow, flying over the M4, near Swindon. I have seen a number of Red Kites before, in their native mid and West Wales, but never outside of Wales.
To see a version of this with the photos, go to
http://hollandsplace.blog.co.uk/2008/04/08/oman-birds-4016682/
|
|  | | | | | | ENTRY DATA
| |  | Edited by:
YourMessyplay
| | | | | | Referenced Sites:
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites listed.
| | | | | | | |
|
|
Home
Start a new conversation