Cold in Cairo (1 Viewer)

I had a lovely day with an Ornithologist friend at an old Botanical Garden in the centre of Cairo next to Giza Zoo.

Unfortunately they were funny about cameras and asking a lot of money for permission to use them, but when we started to search through the neglected areas I was so frustrated not to be able to take pictures as the bird life was wonderful in the centre of such a crazy busy city.

I think the neglect to the garden, that was established in 1875, was the reason they were sensitive to cameras, but I loved the wild, natural feel.

We posted a list of sightings on eBird:

Mallard ducks - 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Eurasian) - 1
Black Kite - 3
Black Kite (Yellow-billed) - 1
Eurasian Hoopoe - 3
White-throated Kingfisher - 1
Ring-necked Parakeet - 15
Common Bulbul (Common) - 25
Common Chiffchaff - 4
House Sparrow - 10
European Robin - 1
Squacco Heron - 1
Striated Heron - 1

A phone snap of the garden and Ornithologist friend Watter and his wife:

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the neglect to the garden Georgina. I watched birds around Suez several years ago and it was almost impossible due to the threat of arrest. I had no camera just binoculars. Funny though how a packet of cigarettes I bought them made them look the other way.