Life in Egypt

Posted on 2010-05-20 by Jon Leirdal

One of the more dramatic experiences in Egypt was how different and similar things were. In one second you got to see utter poverty, and the next second you get to see the same cars and bird life that we have in Norway.

A great number of herons live by the Nile. Some of them we may find in Norway as well, like the grey heron. Other herons we got to see were black-crowned night heron, little egret and cattle egret. (Pictures of these birds will probably be published later.)

Have a look at some of these pictures.

Life by the Nile 2010

For us living in Norway this life seem a bit old-fashioned, but most farmers in Egypt do not use machines.

Egyptian Fish

We were in a fish restaurant in Alexandria and had a great dinner. These guys were on the menu if you want to try them.

Life in Cairo

If you want to sell, go to your customers. Don’t you have a car? Carry your produce.

Life in Cairo 2

This was a mobile soup-salesman I think. I had some problems communicating in their language.

Life in Cairo 3

Everything people transported by hand.

Nile bird life

This guy was relaxing on the riverbed. The desert was in the background. I guess it is a grey heron in the desert sunset.

Nile bird life 2

A close up of the same kind of Heron.

Spices

Spices and other colourful substances where available almost everywhere.

Posted from Bærum, Akershus, Norway.

Birds in Norway during the winter

Posted on 2010-02-10 by Jon Leirdal

Anybody that have experienced a Norwegian winter knows that they are dark and cold, but compared to other countries at the same latitude we have fairly mild winters. Thus there are several birds that stay in Norway during the cold season, but when the temperatures drop below -20 degrees celcius they feel the pressure. Luckily some people feed them during their time of need. This weekend we witnessed a “few” mallards fighting for their bread in one of the few ice free areas near Oslo.

Their numbers were astonishing, and so were their ferocity. Another picture

When in Rome …

Posted on 2008-12-04 by Jon Leirdal

We are visiting Rome, and for the first time I got an inkling about how many 5 million starlings are (also see BBC).

The not so ugly duckling

Posted on 2008-07-08 by Jon Leirdal

As I’ve told earlier, I recently visited Stockholm. While we were there we had a walk along one of the parks there and we spotted this strange action. A lot of Barnacle geese came swimming hurriedly passed us. They were in a great rush obviously, as they used both wings and feet to get maximum speed. I managed to grab a few pics, but I had to wonder what had caused them to behave so strangely. But I only had to turn my head to discover the culprit. Please read the full post to see the last image showing the big bad boy.