Just back from a quick visit to Dubai, every time I go there I find so much change. I keep hearing of these giant projects they are building and all the ecological damage it is creating and though that's completely true and horrible there is another side to the story.

As Dubai and most of the gulf cities are drastically changing its landscape and natural habitats by exploiting their Oil money certain species of birds and insects (some of which are surely not native to the Arabian peninsular) are now making the most out of these large man made environments. The following set of bird pictures were snapped at the newly built gardens and lake at the Dubai Media City(above).
Growing up in Dubai I hardly remember seeing these Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis) out in the open (though they were quiet popular pets!), but today you could see one at every street corner... in the green lawns along the main road... in the parks... every where..

Later this Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) surely caught my attention... Though they are naturally found in the this region of the world they seem to be doing quiet well in the huge water bodies spring up as part of the all the new large scale developments .. be it gated-housing estates.. golf course .. or economic zones...

And the last set of images is of yet another bird quiet familiar to the Arabian coast the Western Reef Egret (Egretta gularis). Once again doing quiet well in these conditions.

And apparently there is enough food to go around!

Though this is not a justification to blatantly mess around with nature and wreak havoc with natural habitats(that took centuries to form), I am always amazed at the pace at which 'Life finds a way'... But I sincerely hope that a more sustainable development model will be adopted sooner rather than later!!!