In a few days, our archeozoologist will be arriving, and he has requested that we collect dead animals for him, so that he can extract their bones in an effort to build a reference collection that will help him identify species when we find their bones in our excavations.

To this end, we have been watching for roadkill or other dead critters, and I saw one of the white egret/herons in a ditch on the way to the site Monday afternoon. So I caught the truck going out there today, to get dropped off and carry it back, and have the chance to get out of the house again. But alas, I did not see the bird. I got dropped off anyway and hiked about a mile back to base came, double-checking for it along the way, and shooting some photos of the countryside and its products as well.

So here are a few photos of the locale for you to enjoy. I also saw a really cool bird whose name sounds like hude-hude. It resembles a road runner, but apparently has no relation to it. My photos probably won't show its beautiful brown / white / black colorations nor is huge head crest, but it's quite a gorgeous bird.


The date palm trees appear in random locations around here, not in plantations as in Southern California



Irrigating one of the fields - this water comes from the Nile through a series of natural routes, canals, channels, and ditches; it's strictly rationed.



Olive tree orchards abound in the area. Different kinds of olives come from different varieties of trees.



This boy asked for his photo to be taken - it came out well.



Here's the "hude-hude" bird with the huge crest (currently folded).



A white egret or heron of some sort -- same kind I tried to find for the archeozoologist earlier.



Here's a special "hello" to my readers from Warner Bros.! One of our vehicles has this tire cover on it.