James Smith's Daily Sightings Reports Fall 2001

8th December 2001 - Southern Negev

This morning began with a drive out to the southern Negev plateau, an extensive area called Biqat Sayyarim. Almost all of the land is for military training, but public access is allowed to parts of it at the weekends. Tens of square kilometers of stony, alluvial desert plains stretch across to the vast horizons of Northern Sinai as far as the eye can see. Finding birds here is challenging in the extreme, but the rewards can be fantastic. Today was one of those days and began with another exceptional Wolf encounter, this time on the main road close to Ovda air base.

I noticed three Wolves sitting in the early morning sun close to the road at about 7 am, and pulled up by the road side to take a closer look. One of them was curious and came closer to the car, sniffing the air all the time. The others were a little more timid and behaved more anxiously, disappearing into a dry irrigation channel by the road. The bolder animal then crossed the road in front of me, and watched me for a while as I sat in the car. I was a little uncomfortable with this, as it showed no real fear of cars or humans, which could be problematic for it in the future. I got slowly out of the car, and walked towards it as it continued to just sniff the air, again without any apparent fear. I could only assume that, like the animal at Shizzafon yesterday, itwas a naïve youngster while the adult watched dutifully from a safe distance. Only when I reached the gravel shoulder of the road did the young wolf decide to move away, but incredibly when I returned to my car the wolf returned to the spot where I’d been standing and sniffed the ground. I just couldn’t believe that this wild, almost mythical creature could be so naïve, but I was also awestruck by such an intimate encounter. The wolf had stolen the day once again.

The morning had the most incredible start, and I set off to explore the wilderness areas of Biqat Sayyarim. The first bird I found was a Mourning Wheatear, but feeding close to it I really pleased to see an Asian Desert Warbler, my first of the autumn/winter. I continued to explore for several kilometres though the day was quite windy and bleak, and at my next stop saw 9 Desert Larks and a couple of Scrub Warblers. The birds were clearly going to be few in this remote place, but after a while I felt better on finding a pair of confiding Bar-tailed Desert Larks. Spurred on, I stopped at another shallow wadi to scan for larks, but was astonished to find a magnificent Houbara Bustard close to the track. I quickly angled the car to the best place, and watched this impressive ‘beauty’ at very close range. My car may as well have been a portable hide and the bird showed no signs of wariness at all, feeding just 15 metres away. I watched her for about thirty minutes while making some sketches. I don’t recall having better views of Houbara in all my experience in Israel! I left her feeding peacefully and drove on, wondering what, if anything, the rest of the day could have in store.

Another shallow wadi, about 3 km further along the same track looked like a worthwhile stop and I went for a walk finding a nice female Desert Wheatear and several Sardinian Warblers. As I walked back towards the car I noticed a couple of sandy coloured larks scurrying across the flint stone desert. With the naked eye their profile looked familiar; with binoculars I was stunned. The birds were Hoopoe Larks, a pair of adults, feeding in an area where I didn’t really suspect that they might occur. After missing them yesterday north of Yahel, and the day before that at Km 33, I just couldn’t believe my luck by finding them at a brand new site. I was over the moon.

Further wadi exploration yielded a Little Owl, but little else. With the southwestern wind becoming increasingly fierce, I headed back to Lotan at about 3 pm. Somehow, I managed to spend the best part of a whole day in an area that I’d only intended to spend the morning. On the other hand, I’d been incredibly lucky over the last two days and was delighted with my tally of ‘true’ desert species.

Good birding to all,

James Smith.

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