Seems like WLE jury of Tunisia were inspired with wild nature selecting their Top-10 photos. This time we have a lot of photos of birds and some landscape shots. How do you feel about these photos?

The European bee-eater

The European bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds in southern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa, India and Sri Lanka. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its range, with occasional breeding in northwest Europe.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly-coloured, slender bird. It has brown and yellow upper parts, whilst the wings are green and the beak is black. It can reach a length of 27–29 cm (10.6–11.4 in), including the two elongated central tail feathers. Sexes are alike.

Djebel Zaghouan

Djebel Zaghouan is a mountain and the highest point in Eastern Tunisia at 1,295 m. The mountain is located in an area of National Park. The town ofZaghouan is located below on its northern slope. The mountain is the site of a Roman temple known as the Temple de Eaux (Temple of Water) which marks the site of an aqueduct which used to take water to the city of Carthage over 100 km away.

Greater flamingo

The greater flamingo is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia (Bangladesh and coastal regions of Pakistan and India), the Middle East (Cyprus, Israel and Turkey) and southern Europe(including Spain, Albania, Greece, Portugal, Italy and the Camargue region of France).

Some populations are short distancemigrants, and sightings north of the breeding range are relatively frequent; however, given the species’ popularity in captivity, whether or not these are truly wild individuals is a matter of some debate. A single bird was seen on North Keeling Island (Cocos (Keeling) Islands) in 1988.

El Ghorra

Ichkeul lake

Ichkeul Lake is a lake in northern Tunisia, located 20 kilometres ( 12 miles) to Bizerte, the northernmost city in Africa on the Mediterranean Sea. The lake and wetlands of Ichkeul National Park are an important stopping-over point for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds each year. Among the lake’s visitors are ducks, geese, storks, and pink flamingoes.Dam construction on the lake’s feeder rivers has produced major changes to the ecological balance of the lake and wetlands.

Because dams have sharply reduced the freshwater inflow to the lakes and marshes, the reedbeds, sedges, and other fresh-water plant species have been replaced with salt-loving plants. These changes have produced a sharp reduction in the migratory bird populations, which depend on the mix of plants that used to exist.

According to the UNESCO Website, the Tunisian government has undertaken some steps to retain freshwater and reducesalinity, and the lake was removed from UNESCO’s list of World heritage in danger in 2006.

Cattle egret

The cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Bubulcus, although some authorities regard its two subspecies as full species, thewestern cattle egret and the eastern cattle egret. Despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta, it is more closely related to the herons of Ardea. Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, it has undergone a rapid expansion in itsdistribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world in the last century.

It is a white bird adorned with buff plumes in the breeding season. It nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with otherwading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs. Cattle egrets exploit drier and open habitats more than other heron species. Their feeding habitats include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands and rice paddies. They oftenaccompany cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals. Some populations of the cattle egret are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal.

Scarlet dragonfly

Crocothemis erythraea is a species of dragonfly in the genus Crocothemis. Its common names include broad scarlet, common scarlet-darter, scarlet darter and scarlet dragonfly.

The adult male scarlet dragonfly has a bright scarlet red, widened abdomen, with small amber patches at the bases of the hindwings. Females and immatures are yellow-brown and have a conspicuous pale stripe along the top of the thorax.

El Feija National Park

El Feidja National Park is located in Northwest Tunisia and has an area of 2,765 hectares (6,830 acres). It is home to many animals, notably, Barbary stag, golden jackal, and Barbary boar.

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