James Smith's daily sightings

14th November 2001 - Kibbutz Lotan

The day began with a much warmer wind blowing in from the south-east and creating a dusty atmosphere around Lotan, even by 06:30hrs when I ventured out. I spent some around the swimming pool where I noted a handsome Barbary Falcon sitting on a radio mast. A Hoopoe was a pleasing find there and 27 Desert Finch flew south, but otherwise it pretty normal fare and I opted for a breakfast break promising myself a mid morning stroll later.

By 10:15 hrs the south-eastern wind was quite strong, and I wandered down to the dairy barn finding over 120 Red-throated Pipits, 1 Eurasian Skylark, 1 'Siberian Stonechat', and 1 Northern Wheatear. In addition, the excellent Finsch's Wheatear was still present, as were 2 Isabelline Wheatears from the previous day.

Heading back to the Kibbutz through the organic garden I noticed a strikingly pale, small, slim 'sparrow-type' bird feeding along the compost beds with other sparrows and Red-throated Pipits. For a short time I was totally thrown off balance by the bird's strange and strikingly non-descript appearance. It lacked any streaking, and was very bland apart from a broad white median covert bar and a long, slim, pointed, pinky-horn bill. "What on earth could this be ?" Rather than guess, I sat down to make a field sketch of the bird's salient features and last saw it perched with House Sparrows in a dead tree at 11:20hrs after a good five minutes of close observation. It reminded me of a small, slim Pale Rock Sparrow and yet the bill shape and general appearance didn't match that species and I began to think about another closely related species recorded only once before in Israel almost 20 years ago. Returning to the Kibbutz and checking the references, I could soon confirm beyond all doubt that the mysterious bird was a Yellow-throated Petronia, probably an immature. Shortly after that I sent a relevant message to the Israelbirdnet.

Yellow-throated Petronia breeds in South-east Turkey, Iraq & Iran and winters mostly in India. The only previous record in Israel is of one seen by Israeli birder par excellence, Ehud Dovrat in May 1982 in Eilat. Interestingly, this species has a similar range to Red-wattled Lapwing mentioned in our early November reports.

Clearly such a rarity makes for a very special day, even by Lotan's standards, but in the evening I was treated to close views of a Wolf by the swimming pool, which seemed quite unconcerned by my presence. It's a tough call to say which was the most thrilling! And did I forget to mention the Purple Heron flying over the Kibbutz at dusk. Yep, it's been another pretty good day at Lotan.

Good birding to all,

James Smith

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Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)