In Egypt, everybody is familiar with the pigeon because it’s a bird that can be kept as pet and raised in countryside and big cities alike.

Pigeons in Egypt (and the Middle East) are considered to this day, a delicacy as they are also bred for the hotel trade as well as the gourmet’s table.

In the countryside, the peasants breed the type called “Fayoumi” or house pigeon. These birds are sold to poultry stores and end up at the tables of people who can afford them.

In the cities, pigeon fanciers keep and raise a different type of bird, much lighter than the Fayoumi and for a totally different purpose. These birds are known as the Egyptian Swifts. They are kept in lofts built on the rooftops of 4 or 5 storey (and higher) buildings. They are bred for their flying capability (and to some extent for their homing ability) and the Egyptian fanciers enjoy every minute spent with their birds: they simply go crazy about training, flying, cleaning, feeding, breeding, selecting, culling, buying and selling them.

The ES family of birds is made up of different breeds, among them the Safi, the Ablak, the Messawed, the Ott’ati, the Anbary Asmar, the Reehani, the Asfar, the Azrak Atifa, the Merakkaa, the Absi and the Halabi. Each of these breeds is divided into sub-breeds based on plumage color, beak setting as well as eye color.

Twenty years ago, diseases like PMV and salmonella hit very hard the ES population decimating thousands of them. These were sad years for the Egyptian fanciers who didn’t know then how to deal with the sick birds or how to eradicate the bugs causing the sickness and the severe losses. A lot of fanciers started mating different birds, which lead to the development of new breeds and yet keeping the same old names. Nowadays, it’s almost impossible to find a pure Absi Masry or Ablak Fahmy (and if found, these birds would be VERY EXPENSIVE).