Chan'ad Bahraini

In November of 2002 I was roaming around Muharraq taking photographs of some old buildings there (maybe I'll share them with you at some point). As I was driving back home I looked out of my side window and I thought I saw something out of the ordinary. I went down to take a closer look and shot the photograph that I have posted above.

When I took the shot I was standing with my back towards the airport, facing Hidd, and with the man-made lagoon type body of water in between. Yes, it looks like quite an ordinary scene: a mosque, buildings, some construction, and traffic. But wait, what are those things in the water?

A zoom (jpeg 40 KB) reveals that there are actually flamingos wading in the lagoon. Now I remember when I was very young that my dad took me to some place towards the south of the island to see the flamingos. But seeing these big dopey birds in the middle of urban Muharraq, in between a highway and the airport, really was quite a peculiar sight. They seemed somehow out of place, yet at the same time very comfortable in their surroundings.

It was actually quite a task taking the pictures though, because my camera doesn't have a powerful zoom, so I had to get as close as possible to them. As I slowly approached them, crouching, not trying to alarm them, the flamingos slowly waded away from me (presumably not trying to alarm me). I then went to other side to get close to them, but they would just as sneakily move away from me before I could get any decent shots. This continued for a while until I got fed up.

But it was quite interesting. I'm not sure if they come back every year, but I'll definitely go back to see this November. If any bird enthusiasts out there know their migration pattern through our islands, then let us know.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 12, 2004 at 6/12/2004 03:47:00 pm. Permalink