Some sights from Meknes and Volubilis

My sister did arrive safely, and after a quick visit to Casablanca, we took the train inland to Meknes, “one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco.” Here we are staying in a riad, which is very nice, and which gives me a nice roof-top view of the city. While out on the coast, we saw a few storks, just like the ones we saw in South Holland, but here they are everywhere, some towers host a half dozen nests, and here’s one flying over our riad early this morning.

The morning skies are also full of swifts, and here is a momentarily-tight formation of alpine swifts (Tachymarptis melba), which I believe I have seen before on a previous trip to this side of the Atlantic, but never photographed.

Closer to the ground, or rooftops in this case, the first singers I hear in the morning are house buntings (Emberiza sahari), a completely new bird for me, and here’s the best picture I’ve managed so far.

Today, we took a taxi to the nearby Roman ruins of Volubilis, which were amazing in their own right, but I found also found more larks there, and this time they are Thekla’s larks (Galerida theklae). They look very similar to the crested larks we saw in Asilah, but the song is different.

There were also some beautiful butterflies visiting the wild flowers growing amongst the ruins, and this one appears to be one of the many Polyommatus species, maybe even Austaut’s Blue (Polyommatus celina)

They’re pretty on the topside/inside, too.

On the ground, I also noticed this unusual looking “grasshopper”, which could be in either the Truxalis or Acrida genus.

Finally, as we were just about to head back to Meknes, I glimpsed this beauty flying by.

Happily, it didn’t go far before stopping to perch again.

When I saw that big beak that lines up with the dark stripe through the eye, the first thought that popped into my head was “roller”, and sure enough, this is my very first European roller (Coracias garrulus), the only roller that breeds in Europe but also ” the Middle East, Central Asia and the Maghreb.”

Lastly, I did hear from Fuji that they automatically shipped my good lens back to Shorewood on the first day that I arrived here in Morocco. Perfect timing, right? If I have somehow managed to keep FedEX from sending it back to New Jersey while I’ve been away, I might someday be able to show you some nice clear pictures again.