James Smith's daily sightings reports

24th November 2001 - Western Negev

We headed out from Lotan for our long day in the Negev at 05:20hrs. There were just four of us, all looking forward to the prospect of some very special desert birding beginning in Nizzana close to the Egyptian border. The long haul across the Negev was relieved by spectacular desert scenery and a beautiful dawn. Conditions seemed perfect when we arrived at Nizzana at 07:40hrs.

We had hardly settled into our birding when I heard the familiar sounds of sandgrouse and noticed a group of Black-bellied dropping into a sewage pool in the distance. The prospect of seeing more sandgrouse at a drinking hole looked good and we drove over to investigate. On arrival, the air was filled with the sounds of Black-bellied and Spotted Sandgrouse coming into drink. Most of them stayed long enough to allow excellent views in perfect light for one of the best spectacles in birding - sandgrouse at a drinking pool. Martin also managed to pick out a smaller, paler sandgrouse with a group of flying Black-bellied, the white under-wing and belly giving it away as a Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. On the pools were feeding Teal, Northern lapwing, Snipe and Green Sandpiper, and in the scrubby surrounds were birds such as Isabelline Wheatear, Spectacled Warbler and even an out of place Woodlark which I heard calling as it flew over. It had been quite a few years since I'd seen such an excellent display of drinking sandgrouse at Nizzana and I estimated that at least 300 Spotted and 110 Black-bellied Sandgrouse came into drink, or alighted nearby while we were there. It had been a wonderful start to the day.

Our next goal was to try and find Houbara Bustard, a mythical desert species with some surprising migration patterns and a key bird for any trip to the Negev. We tried so many places where I'd found Houbaras in the past, but this morning it wasn't to be. Our search did yield some nice species though. There was an excellent dark-morph Long-legged Buzzard in the area, we also saw Sand Partridge, Southern Grey Shrike and Mourning, Desert and Finsch's Wheatears ( 8+). By 11:30hrs our Houbara quest was coming to an end and we decided to head for lunch at Telalim junction.

The second segment of our day was spent in the enormous arable fields of Kibbutz Urim, about an hour's drive from Nizzana. Here the vast steppe like landscape may harbour thousands of migrating and wintering doves, larks and some finches. With them come raptors and some waders. We arrived at about 13:30 hrs and immediately found ourselves swamped in birds, the air was full of them mostly Starlings and Eurasian Skylarks in their thousands. We scanned from the first ridge that we came to and the raptors came thick and fast, 3 Eastern Imperial Eagles, 2 Hen Harriers, and a superb juvenile Pallid Harrier, over 50 Black Kites, several Long-legged Buzzards, a Peregrine, Kestrels, a couple of Merlins and a Sparrowhawk. Wow!

We drove to another productive area about a mile further on and again found the place 'heaving' with birds. So many Eurasian Skylarks filled the fields it was difficult not be awestruck by them. Martin quickly spotted a large falcon in flight, which we ascertained was a Saker although it was distant. Rather more satisfactory were a much closer views of a perched juvenile Saker perched on an electricity pylon, more Long-legged Buzzards, and another 2 Eastern Imperial Eagles, 1 adult and 1 juvenile. Both Hen and Pallid Harriers (juveniles) quartered the lark filled fields, and if that wasn't enough I heard the call of a Dotterel overhead which then flew in to join a group of five! Behind them were another group of 8 Dotterel, which then conveniently flew over the field in front us. Although the birds were in winter plumage, the views were excellent in the afternoon sunlight of this highly attractive little plover. Again we drove on to another spot finding males of both Hen and Pallid Harriers and several more Merlins.

We finished off our day watching a large flock of about 145 Eurasian Golden Plover, with smaller numbers of Northern Lapwing and possibly the same or another party of 8 Dotterel. Although several of the key species (Houbara, Cream-coloured Courser and Sociable Plover) could not be found, it had none the less, been a fantastic day. My own estimates suggested that at least 18, 000 Eurasian Skylarks and 8,000 Starlings were the relatively small area of fields that we had covered. Added to that birds such as Saker, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Pallid Harrier, Dotterel and three species of sandgrouse, and the day had been more than worthwhile.

Today's birders - Shlomo Cohen, Martin Rydberg-Heden, Dr. Michael Livni and James Smith.

Good birding to all,

James Smith.

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