Bahrain Obs

Whilst touring the various aviaries at Al Areen Wildlife Park with Essa Farraj, the Head of the Bird Section, Essa pointed out in one of the aviaries a pair of nesting Cattle Egrets, they were housed in with the White Storks who themselves were busy nest building, incidentally almost on top of the egret nest which held to my surprise two well developed chicks. However what surprised me more was that on the outside of the aviary another pair of Cattle Egrets, migrant visitors to the park had also built a nest and raised three chicks themselves. The presence of the captive birds doing what comes naturally had obviously encouraged them to breed. One has to wonder on the tolerance of the storks in accepting the egrets into their lofty domain. I had to go around the back of the large aviary to photograph all the nesting birds as the nests are situated in the corner furthest from the road and the gaze of the bus touring visitors.