Southern Israel Diary
21/3/2000 – 3/4/2000
Peter Jones
Home Base:
I awoke the first morning of my stay to an almost deafening chorus of Lesser Whitethroats, Bulbuls and Laughing Doves outside the window. Even better, as I ventured outside my first "Lifer", a Male Blackstart was hopping around just outside the front door. I watched him for a few minutes as he flitted about, fanning his tail and wings every so often, then I ventured out further to explore the Kibbutz. This was my base for the 2 weeks, and I wasn’t disappointed...
The Kibbutz was incredible for birds. Migrants were everywhere including mainly Lesser Whitethroats and chiff-chaffs, and also plenty of Bluethroats, Northern, Isabelline and Black Eared Wheatears, Rupell’s Warblers, Redstarts. It was like the entire East Coast of England in one square mile! It was also interesting to see how the species changed throughout the 2 weeks. As I was leaving, new species like Wryneck, Rufous Bushchat, and Nightingale were just starting to arrive. These birds were all ridiculously tame! I have never had to step back from birds in order to take their photographs before. They were all just totally committed to feeding themselves up ready for the next leg of their northward journey. The other great thing about these Migrants was that all the rare species, without exception, seemed to stay in exactly the same place for at least 3 days.
The Kibbutz Ringing station was also a good place to drop in and see the migrants close up.
The Nature Reserve to the South of the Kibbutz was a super little oasis with excellent views of many different species each time I visited. Many of the commoner desert species like Trumpeter Finch, Desert Finch, Brown Necked Raven and Short toed Larks were here together with an excellent selection of Migrants including Cretzschmars and Ortolan Buntings, Black-Eared Wheatears, Lesser Whitethroats in their dozens.
The Fields a few kilometres north of the Kibbutz were also very worthwhile. I saw my first Bimaculated Larks here. I saw a few more throughout the holiday, and could never get used to how big their bill was.
The only water for miles was a puddle just off the track near these fields… every morning, there would be a race after breakfast by anyone with a camera to get their car parked next to this oasis! I only spent half an hour in the pole position, and got some photos of Ortolan, White Wagtail, Short toed Larks, Spanish Sparrows, Black-eared Wheatear and Red-throated Pipits before the flies drove me away from the area.
I have plenty of memories of the North Fields.. I got my car stuck in sand there, and on the last day, after twitching a Superb Male breeding plumage Caspian Plover a few miles away, returned to the North Fields and found one for myself. Unfortunately mine was a very dull, winter plumaged bird, and no-one was really interested in it compared to the one down the road! Nevertheless, it is probably the rarest bird that I have ever found, and was a super end to my holiday.
As well as the migrant passerines in virtually every bush in Southern Israel, The skies were often full of migrating raptors. I saw thousands of Steppe Buzzards during the trip. All other Migrant Raptors were seen in much lower numbers. I done quite well, seeing Booted, Steppe and Short toed Eagles, all 4 harriers, though I did miss both Spotted and Lesser Spotted Eagles this time.
One final migrant that I have to give a mention to: I’ve lost count of how many times I have sat on the edge of a pea field listening to a Quail, and wondering how on earth anyone has ever seen one, let alone drew a picture of one. Well a good place to start has to be Switzerland Park on the outskirts of Eilat. There were Quails Everywhere! Running across the paths, sitting on the lawns, feeding in the car park. I asked the warden if they were captive birds, he assured me they were the genuine articles, just not quite so skulking during their migration.
The Road to Eilat
Many of the Prime Birding sites are just off the main highway and are known by the kilometre post at the roadside. KM33 is the most famous. This is not what it used to be due to farming halving the Stony desert habitat, and it is one of those places that you dread birding in! For a start, the target species there (Bar-tailed Desert Lark, and Hoopoe Lark) are both present in fairly low numbers. Also, once the sun gets up, at about 9am, the heat haze (and the heat!) makes birdwatching extremely unpleasant. Anyway, in 3 visits I did manage to get great views of the 2 prime species.
A kibbutz called Yotvata at Km 51 also turned out to be a super venue. This would have been a good place to stay for the holiday, with its village packed full of Migrants, and a few rare birds in the area. A male Semi-Collared Flycatcher stayed here for about a week.
On my 2nd day I stopped by the large Acacia Bushes famous for one of the few remaining Arabian Warbler sites in Israel. I saw a male skulking in the upper branches within half an hour, and had nice views of it. I didn’t realise how lucky I had been: I think nearly everyone I spoke to left Israel without finding one of these birds, and those who did see one spent a lot more than half an hour looking.
Yotvata was also kind to me a few days later… I visited the sewage farm, which as you can guess is not the nicest place to watch birds in, but there were some super birds here. I missed Buff-bellied Pipit, but was compensated by a Male Citrine Wagtail, just about every race of Yellow wagtail possible, and Imperial Eagle very close overhead. Even better, just as I was leaving, a German birding tour leader called me over. On the water side was a Great Snipe.. it did look a bit different from a Common Snipe, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I must have watched it solidly for 20 minutes before it finally leaned forward stretched its wings, then fanned its tail showing a thick band of pure white along the sides and curving round to the tip.. Then I was convinced!
In the final few days of my trip… and when new species were getting harder to find (I had seen over 40 new species by this point!), a very underwatched area suddenly became the focus of everyone’s Scopes. I reckon KM40 must have the best field in the Western Palearctic for Birdwatching. 1 hour here was spent watching Pale Rock Sparrows, Lesser Short toed Larks, Blue Rock thrush, Little Swift, the closest I have ever been to a male Montagu’s Harrier, Tawny Pipit, and Trumpeter Finch. The adjacent field wasn’t quite so good with only a single Male Cinereous Bunting and a flock of Ortolans, even worse, the date palms on the other side only had one bird: but it was an Olive Backed Pipit!
Paradise Postponed
Everyone has heard of Eilat North Beach, and as I drove to the car park I had visions of a huge paradise like Beach, with miles of golden sand.. If you have similar perceptions of this place.. then prepare yourself for a shock!
For a start, the beach is only about 50 yards long, I was convinced I was at the wrong place.. A shanty town of new age traveller types have set up home on the beach, and several rabid dogs were making a bee-line to my car.
After looking around and realising that this was North Beach, I nervously tip-toed through the shanty town preparing myself for whatever lay ahead.
Well, the Gypsy’s or whoever they were seemed friendly enough, and I spent an enjoyable hour scanning the sea, whilst looking nervously over my shoulder.
The famous Brown Booby doesn’t seem to be here these days, but there is a lot to see, and a lot to miss also!
A Striated Heron allegedly spends time in the fish farm about 200 yards offshore, but I never saw him. Western Reef Herons are here amongst the Little Egrets.. Has anyone ever tried to separate these two species when they are no more than little white dots! "Wait for them to fly over your head to roost.. check out their feet and the yellow patch on the base of their bill" I was told: This was even harder – instead of them being 200 yards out to sea, they were now 100yards high flying over your head at dusk!
(Fortunately, I discovered a much more enjoyable method is to go to the lagoon just behind the North Beach, were they often sit on an island about 50yds away.)
Houbaras and Coursers:
Nizzanna is by far the most reliable area for seeing these two species.. I decided to break from tradition here and spend the morning with the Kibbutz Lotan tour guide, and his small group of birders. It worked out pretty well, as I would never have found the Sandgrouse drinking pools on my own.
Our 3 car convey left the Kibbutz at an obscene hour and arrived in the prime desert area at 7am. Unfortunately we were greeted by thick fog, which is almost unheard of in the Negev Desert. The next hour was probably the worst of the holiday. We heard Lesser Short toed larks and heard Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, but could only see about 20 metres ahead. The sun did eventually burn away the fog, and at 8am we found more Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, 2 Cream Coloured Coursers and a pair of Houbaras. The views were very distant though and almost instantly the situation was made worse by a heat haze.
We travelled on to the Sandgrouse pools. These were really excellent with superb views of Black-bellied, and Spotted Sandgrouse.
The group then headed to another area (Where the following day they saw Israel’s 4th Tawny Eagle!). I chose to remain in Nizzana in search of better views of the bustards and Coursers, seeing as I would probably not have such an opportunity again. The day was tough, with incredible temperatures.. I did find Coursers, Pallid Harrier and Pin-Tailed sandgrouse fairly close and got superb views of these really smartly coloured birds. The Bustards though were not playing ball, and I decided to have a sleep in the car and resume my efforts in the early evening. Returning to the area were they had been in the morning, it wasn’t long before I got decent views of one running towards the road. I lost this one behind an embankment, but managed to find another nearby. This one then started to display... I have never seen such an amazing display-dance in my life, and I watched, totally amazed for the best part of an hour. A brilliant end to a really hard day!
Sandgrouse at Sunset
The Water Pumping Station near Eilat is the only regular place for Lichenstien’s Sandgrouse. Fortunately, these birds were really reliable during my stay, and I had excellent views of a party of at least 18. The area had other good finds too: Whilst staking out the drinking pool, about an hour before dusk, I glanced over my shoulder to see a very scruffy Male House Bunting perched just behind me. These are very scarce in the Eilat area, and this one turned out to be one of the most regularly seen. It was the only one that I saw during the 2 weeks.
The Lichenstien’s Sandgrouse Were seen every evening at this site.
Crowned Sandgrouse however, were a real pain! A Sewage farm near my Kibbutz had a regular group coming to feed in the mornings.. I spent at least 4 mornings here towards the end of the holiday with varying degrees of success:
Day 1: Nothing!
Day 2: The Sandgrouse arrived at 7:30am.. 15 minutes before I got there. (Every other day they arrive at 8:30.)
Day 3: taking no chances, and running out of mornings, I arrived at 7am, at 8:30am exactly, 2 birds arrived overhead, and started to circle the site. A Barbary Falcon (Nice bird in other circumstances!) arrived simultaneously and flushed them away.
Day 4: A flock of 29 flew over but didn’t come in to land.
So, Crowned Sandgrouse is now on my list, but I would have loved proper views of one. Still, excellent views of 4 out of 5 Sandgrouse species isn’t too bad.
Winter Visitors
Being in Israel at the end of March, I figured I had a good chance for a few of the Winter Visitors to the area. A Syrian Serin was found fairly easy at a known site perched on a wire fence… I got one of those excellent 3 second views, and it was gone before I realised what it was. I don’t think anyone else saw it! Cyprus Warblers were also found by chance at a couple of locations. Sinai Rosefinch was the real prize though, and a Male was found at Amram’s Pillars midway through my trip. This was probably the smartest bird in Israel, with its amazing pink plumage and white speckling on its crown.
En Gedi and the Dead Sea
This area gets really hot, so I decided to visit on a day when the weather forecast was for rain and high wind. This worked out really well, as the first couple of hours at En Gedi were in very pleasant cool conditions. This turned out to be one of the many occasions when I felt I was birdwatching before the birds had woke up! The first half hour, I saw very little, except for a couple of Fan-Tailed ravens overhead.. Imagine a Raven with no tail! They are certainly the most distinctive silhouettes.
After a while, the birds seemed to be waking up, and the bushes seemed to be full of Lesser Whitethroats. They can’t all be Lesser Whitethroats I was thinking, but they were! Until at last, a larger, very dark looking warbler dived into bushes further down the track. I leaned against a tree and waited... A blackcap appeared, then another. I was sure that I hadn’t seen a blackcap earlier, and sure enough, a couple of minutes later a brilliant male Cyprus Warbler hopped into view then back into the cover. It was a few more minutes before I got the views I was hoping for of this bird. The black chevrons on its breast were really distinctive.
This was the turning point for the day.. White-Crowned Black Wheatear soon followed and a nearby tree had a calling Ortolan Bunting in its uppermost branches.
Finally, another bird I had hoped to see: Sand Partridge, came walking down the hillside, across the track, and was feeding for a few minutes. These birds have an incredible patterning on their flanks, and at 7:30am, I’d already seen some quality species.
Tristram’s Grackle was next on the hit list! A car park on the banks of the Dead Sea must have had over 100 of these noisy birds. I tried for about an hour until finally getting decent photos, the left the Dead Sea, just as the heat was beginning to become unbearable… at 8:45am!
I’d heard a lot about the fishponds at Neot Hakkikar, and decided to try my luck there, albeit at midday, when the chances of seeing one of its population of Little Crake was slim to say the least.
The fishponds were difficult to find. I always get worried about my chances of finding the bird when I have difficulty finding the site! However, whilst I was lost, I did stumble across a Hooded Wheatear, the only one I saw in the two weeks. A really smart bird.. it’s white tail with a black stripe down the centre really obvious each time he chased insects along the roadside.
I eventually found the fishpond.. One pond had been left to grow wild, and this was obviously the place to stake out. Sitting in the shade with my lunch, it was a slow start to the stake-out... just a clamorous reed warbler, and white-breasted kingfisher of note. There was, however, a large patch of reeds, and a little mud.. ideal for Crakes, and sure enough after 30 minutes or so, my first ever Little Crake appeared and picked his way through the reeds, and around the Coots roosting there. Little Crake has always been a bird that I thought I would never see, so this was a real bonus. From then on the bird seemed to be ever present along this patch of reeds giving super views in the scope.
Just about to pack up and move on, something caught my eye… creeping along the floor no-more than 10 metres away, a Moustached Warbler.. really rufous flanks and its head pattern were very obvious in separating it from Sedge Warbler, but unfortunately it moved on before I had chance to really appreciate it.
Hadoram Shirihai
Author of that enormous, £75 book "The Birds of Israel", he also leads several tours into the desert in search of the more elusive species. I joined his "roadshow" in search of Nubian Nightjar, and Hume’s Tawny Owl. Two of the rarest birds in the Western Palearctic.
"The Nightjar’s, we have a 100% success rate in seeing", the great man proudly claimed. "When one perches on the ground, I will only shine the torch on it for a limited time" he went on! 2 hours later, after seeing numerous bats, and on more that one occasion being blinded by his torch, (which I’m convinced had the bulb stolen from a lighthouse), the nightjar had only appeared once, for the briefest of glimpses. Better than nothing though, and we still had the Hume’s Tawny Owl to look forward to!
The Owl had his territory in a huge wadi (Gorge) which was an incredible place to be at 11pm. The owl, must have thought otherwise though, and after another hour or 2 sitting motionless in total silence (except for a tape lure and an elderly German Birder, who inexplicably kept breaking wind at an incredibly loud volume), we were satisfied that there was no Owl in the gorge.
The ugly side of Birdwatching then reared its head! The 20 or so silently stalking eager birdwatchers were now a mob! The deafening roar of their feet trudging along the desert floor, and mumblings of Hadoram with his pockets full of £20 notes!
One even asked if he could have a refund (no - it wasn’t me!) only to be told he was out of order by one of the Kibbutz Lotan tour group. The fact is, a fair chunk of the money goes back into the environment, and if it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of Hadoram over the years, there probably wouldn’t be any Nubian Nightjars, Hume Tawny Owls etc. Plus, all the reserves in Israel are free of charge. Something taken for granted by many.
I do have a credit now, and the next time I visit Israel I can try my luck again for Hume’s Tawny Owl and Nightjars free of charge, and as many times as I like until I get that once in a lifetime view... you can’t say fairer than that!
Raptor Migration:
The only problem with Israel is that there are too many places that you ideally need to visit between 8-9am! Fortunately I put a block booking for 2 weeks of packed breakfasts which enabled me to be out in the field every morning. However, I still only managed one morning in the Eilat mountains watching the migration of Raptors.
I have spent many a day sitting on a hillside overlooking Gibraltar watching, and counting Honey Buzzards, Booted Eagles etc. Migrating over in their 100s. The hour I spent in the Eilat mountains probably saw more birds move over my head than a week in Gibraltar! At least 2000 Steppe Buzzards passed over in an hour. Initially the views were really good as they struggled between the mountains. Once the sun got up though, the birds all gained height in a massive funnel, then migrated at such a height that I could only see them with Binoculars. It left me wondering just how many Steppe Buzzards must pass through Israel every spring.
There were a few other species, mainly Black Kite and the odd Eagle (1 definite Short Toed, and a few probable Steppes).
I enjoyed the morning from a spectacle, but to be honest, I got much better views of all the Raptors and Storks when birdwatching at the other sites.