James Smith's Daily Sightings Reports Fall 2001

28th November 2001 - Southern Arava

The morning dawned cool with a blustery northern wind, but with clear skies at least. I met Irish birding guru, Killian Mullarney in Lotan's car park at 06:30hrs and after coffee we headed up towards Shizzafon's fields and orchards.

Killian had a special interest in seeing and possibly even sound recording the Menetries's Warbler that I had first found on the 20th November. Although the cold, windy conditions were not in our favour, after some time we managed to find the bird and have good, prolonged views through our scopes. Menetries's Warbler is a bird that seems to carry an inexplicable mystique for many birders including myself, and it was a great opportunity to share the sighting with a birder of Killian's knowledge, and to study some of the more challenging aspects of the identification of the sylvia warbler group. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to collect a sound recording.

For much of the rest of the morning we chatted while trying to find a few birds in the difficult conditions. The best were 3 Tawny Pipits that Killian found in the eastern alfalfa fields where there was also a Mourning Wheatear and plenty of Black Redstarts. Although new birds were few and far between, the morning was really enjoyable since Killian has so much in-depth knowledge birding with him is always a learning experience.

Good birding to all,

James Smith.

PS. Killian reported seeing a Buff-bellied Pipit at Eilat's north sewage pools yesterday.

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