| Birding field reports southern Israel |
 Levant Sparrowhawk
Late April 2009 Gallery
Paul and Andrew stayed On Lotan for 10 days during the second half of April. Besides targeting Levant Sparrowhawks, Andrew and Paul arrived in the midst of a nice wave of migrants and got some really nice images. We are happy to post a selection of pictures taken by the guys.
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 Little Green Bee-eater
The third Eilat Birding festival was a great success!
The open coach tours drew a serious crowd and the Specialty tours filled fast and were excellent. Over 220 birders from Israel as well as 10 other nationalities took part in the festival activities, lectures and tours.
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 Semi-collared Flycatcher
Late April 2009 Observations
Spring is changing color, warmer days and nights replace the winter coolness, preparing for the long hot summer. Misty mornings make way to bright blue skies, nearly white around midday. The sun sets late which makes for nice long afternoons. Birding is very enjoyable as this is one of our favorite periods in the spring migration. Here are some of the significant sightings during April.
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 Kittlitz Sand Plover
Mid march 2009 Rarities – Kittlitz Sand Plover, Black Bush Robin and more
Spring migration is in full swing and the mornings are cool and full of passerine calls, as Short-toed larks, Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, Sylvia Warblers and more start to appear in numbers at every green spot in the southern Arava.
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 Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse
Early spring in the southern Arava – Late February 2009
Spring is upon us. As in past years, winter 08-09 was an extremely dry one for the region. The few major weather systems that hit Israel were late in the season and stayed well north of the southern Arava and Eilat.
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 Demoiselle Crane – Anthropoides virgo
Demoiselle Crane – Anthropoides virgo
Hula re-flooded area – February 2009
Early February 09' - During his work on Common Cranes Grus grus Itai Shanni found an adult Demoiselle Crane in the cranes feeding area. The Demoiselle Crane was quite approachable and kept to the edge of the huge Common Crane flock for the duration of its stay.
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 Asian Desert Warbler
Asian Desert Warblers Sylvia nana in the southern Negev
"Yesterday 28/1/09 I went ringing with Yosef kiat at Hameishar, S Negev. Our aim was to study Asian desert Warblers - and we succeeded in catching two birds. They weren't too difficult - one bird responded well to a recording and was trapped without coaxing, while the other bird was moved towards the net quite easily.
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 Oriental Skylark
Winter 2009, welcoming the New Year with rare Wheatears and more
2009 is here and with it a rather temperate winter bird wise .All heads are looking south to the mess going on in Gaza. Let us just say that we hope things will settle down fast with long term results and minimal casualties for both sides, so we can once again focus on birds and not on the harsh dealings of man.
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 Saker
Early winter in the Western Negev – December 2008
Winter is creeping in and I could feel the chill when getting in the car in the very early morning. Good friend Thomas Krumenacker is in Israel for a short time and we had a full day of Negev Birding and photography ahead of us.
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 American Golden Plover
Late November 2008 - the first American Golden Plover for Israel?
The early winter show was stolen by an interesting plover found at Maagan Michael that was subsequently identified as an American Golden Plover – Pluvialis dominica, a potential first for Israel.
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 Sinar Rosefinch
Late fall 2008 gallery
We are happy to present you with a gallery of images from the late fall. Many of the pictures were taken and contributed by Lee Gregory of the UK. Lee spent 6 weeks in Israel, working as a surveyor in northern Israel and wrapped up his stay with an excellent tour in the south.
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 Black-winged Kite
Fall 2008 – Southern Israel observations
We are wrapping up a great fall season. October 2008 was a great month for birding in Israel. I am happy to post a summary of the month's birding highlights and images, mainly from southern Israel, but with a few exceptional records from up north.
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 Southern Grey Shrike
Drama in the Nizzana Wilderness – Late July 2008
One nice and toasty morning Amir Ben Dov head out to the Nizzana area to brave the heat and try some photography. The semi desert area around Nizzana is famous as the last stronghold of the endangered Macqueen's Bustard in the Middle East ...
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 Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse
Early summer in the southern Arava- June 2008
Summer is a rough time for birding the southern Arava. Day temperatures are already very high, often over 40 degrees, and the birding activity is limited to the cooler hours of dusk and dawn...
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 Pectoral Sandpiper –
Calidris melanotos
Pectoral Sandpiper – Calidris melanotos
On April 30th around midday, Marcus Craig found a Pectoral Sandpiper at the Yotvata sewage pools. Although probably the most common North American vagrant Wader in Europe, in Israel Pectoral Sandpiper is extremely rare and the Yotvata bird is only the 6th record for the country...
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 White-throated Robin - male
Late April 2008 birding news
With May just around the corner and Honey Buzzards everywhere in the Arava valley the last leg of spring is upon us. The cool mornings are full of the bubbling calls of European and Blue cheeked Bee-eaters and Shrikes can be seen on every bush and fence. The last week of April was a very exciting one, with some very good birds found. Here is a short summary of the significant birds, waves and highlights of late April...
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 Greater Sandplover
Southern Israel Birding news – mid April 2008
With the spring migration's first major wave now over, April rolled in with its selection of interesting migrants. March 2008 was one of the best we had in southern Israel for several years. Besides some rare winterers still lingering around (Oriental Honey Buzzard, Olive backed Pipits), some significant birds continued the great spell of rarities right into April.
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 Siberian Stonechat
Southern Israel Birds Gallery – March 2008
We are happy to present you with a beautiful collection of photos of the most interesting birds seen in southern Israel during March 2008. All of the birds in the gallery were seen on our tours and many were kindly contributed by visiting birders and friends. I chose several nice quality migrants and some of the best images of resident Sandgrouse ever taken.
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 Thick-billed Lark
Southern Israel birding report –
Late March-early April 2008
The second international spring migration festival in Eilat was a great success. Over 170 people took part in the festival tours, lectures and presentations. A full festival report will follow shortly. The last week of March started off with 2 rather slow days, but a nice wave of migrants and some real rarities followed later in the week.
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 Caspian Plovers
Caspian Plovers at Yotvata- 23 March 2008
At around 10:00 in the morning on the 23rd of March, good friends Tamir Siman-tov and Iris Magen found 5 Caspian Plovers in the Yotvata circular fields. The birds were sitting at the edge of a small puddle of water on the main path of the field...
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 White-tailed Plover
Southern Israel birding notes – Mid March 2008
Migration is gaining momentum and birds are getting thick in the air and on the ground. "Crazy" March is raising its head, and towards mid month we received the year's first sandstorms and hazy, hot weather wave...
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 Kurdish Wheatear
Early spring in the southern Arava - 6-8 March 2008
The first major find of the spring was a handsome male Persian (Kurdish) Wheatear Oenanthe xanthoprymna at the Neot Smadar sewage pools. The bird was initially seen by Thomas Krumenacker who is staying with us at Lotan for a month.
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 Nubian Nightjar
Birding Southern Israel – Early Spring 2008
Spring is in the air and winter is giving its final push. As the valley fills with the first trickle of spring migrants, some wintering species are getting thin on the ground. This winter was very mild in the southern Arava and although there were some days and nights with extreme cold snaps, it was very dry.
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 Curlew
Birding Southern Israel – January 2008
Winter in the southern Arava is characterized by very cold nights and early mornings, but warm clear days, that add up to ideal birding conditions. Although I had a full day of birding ahead of me, I had a lot of ground to cover and the days are short.
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