The first set of photos, of both animals and Roman architecture, are by reader Jonathan Wallace:
The first picture shows a group of white storks [Ciconia ciconia] on battlements at Meknes in northern Morocco and the second shows a stork on a nest at the Roman ruins of Volubilis nearby to Meknes. White storks evolved as tree-nesters but very readily nest on human habitations, sometimes in spectacular colonies. They are culturally important birds in most places that they occur and platforms are commonly erected to provide nesting places for them and encourage them to settle. Volubilis is an extensive set of ruins of an ancient Roman city and well worth a visit if visiting Morocco.
These shots show a general view of the ruins at Volubilis plus a couple of closeups of some of the mosaics there.
And the ever-faithful contributor Stephen Barnard sent photos of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura):
How old are the mosaics? Fantastic architecture.
I believe the Romans first occupied the site during the first century C.E. and were kicked out in around 285 C.E. The mosaics are therefore within that period but if you want a more precise age you’ll need an expert to reply!
Spectacular photos. One of the many benefit of WEIT is inspiring me to travel more and venture farther afield when I do.
Ahh. Wonderful! One of the places I’ve always wanted to go – Morocco. Love the nests on top of ancient ruins.
Turkey buzzards (as we call them here) perform a needed service in disposing of animal carcasses, whether road kill or out in the wild. Not the prettiest bird, but you have to appreciate them.
Nature’s garbage can. I recall watching a TV program about a place where they had lost most of their vultures and it had affected the water due to all the dead animals laying around. Kids swimming in the water and the water source being contaminated — lots of people dying.
It’s a serious problem in India where the vulture problem has crashed as a result of widespread use of an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, to treat cattle. The vultures ingest it when feeding on carcasses that have been treated and it is lethally toxic to them. As a result the cleaning service is lost with the public health consequences you refer to. It is particularly a problem for the Parsi people (Zoroastrians) who do not bury their dead but leave them out in ‘Towers of Silence’ to be consumed by vultures.
The use of diclofenac for veterinary purposes has now been banned in India but incredibly the Spanish government recently approved it (alternative drugs are available for the same therapeutic purpose). This is potentially a serious problem for spanish vulture populations which are artificially supported by food provisioning with carcasses at feeding stations. If the carcasses cannot be assured to be diclofenac free.
vulture POPULATION has crashed…;-)
That’s just insane.
If there were vultures in Australia, Tony Abbott would be trying to get diclofenac approved. That’s how insane the Spanish decision is.
Their flying is beautiful though. Very graceful, even majestic, in the air.
I’m curious about the bricks in the columns at Volubilis, and couldn’t find the answer on the Wikipedia page. Are these from the restoration – places where the original stone was missing?
This travel site suggests just that.
http://www.seeknewtravel.com/volubilis-the-roman-ruins-of-morocco/
There certainly have been restoration works carried out at various times so it is possible that that is the explanation for the bricks.
Fantastic shots of the ruins. I’ve been to Morocco, but not to Volubilis. The mosaics remind me of Ravenna. There are some fantastic Roman ruins at Leptis Magna in Libya, but I certainly would not want to travel there now ( I was there right before Ghadaffi took over). Also Dougga in Tunisia. Great boid photos, all:-)
The mosaics at Ravenna are stunningly beautiful!
Those Romans were just everywhere. I wonder if there are bath ruins since where there are Romans for any period of time, there are baths.
Lovely mosaics – I’m always surprised how well these things hold up.
Yes, Diane, I believe there are bath ruins. We can add cleanliness to the various things the Romans ever did for us!
Sorry – that should be Diana!
Would I be correct in assuming that in Volubilis the knobs went to XI?
I see what you did there. Plus I.
Great photos. I love the stork nests atop the ruins. It always fascinates me to see how other animals adapt to our constructions. Love the turkey vultures too. Definitely an underappreciated bird.
Ancient Roman ruins and contemporary birds…what a great contrast…and stunning mosaics.
Are turkey vultures migratory? First time I’ve seen Stephen photograph them.