James Smith's Daily Sightings Reports Fall 2001

29 November 2001 - Northwestern Negev, Israel

Israel attracts some very talented birding personalities and Killian Mullarney is certainly one of the most gifted. An outstanding field birder and one of Europe's best bird illustrators, Killian has been coming to Israel on a regular basis since the early 1980's. Killian and I share a similar fascination for the birding here, and have many common interests in identification as well as simply enjoying the birds and the desert for themselves. It was therefore a real pleasure to spend a day in the field with him in one of our favourite areas, the Northwestern Negev.

The day began at 04:55hrs when Killian picked me up from Lotan. From there we had a long drive across the Negev, breaking for a welcome coffee at Mizpe Ramon and then going onto a small sewage pool about 5km west of Mizpe Ramon, with an adjoining tamarisk grove. This spot has been a very productive migrant trap in the past and several interesting finches were in the area, mostly flying overhead. These included Siskin, Linnet, Chaffinch and one or two Brambling. We also had good views of a Long-legged Buzzard but in general we were feeling the pull of the Northwest Negev and moved on quite swiftly.

Along the way, Killian showed me a flock of at least 12 Stone Curlew near Ze'elim, and from there on we were more or less in our target area and began searching in earnest for some of the special birds of the region. The most notable feature was the impressive increase in the numbers of Black Kite since Saturday. The fields were full of them, perhaps 300 or more. Shortly afterwards, we began to see Eastern Imperial Eagles noting an adult and at least 3 immatures (1st & 2nd years). There were several Long-legged Buzzards and Killian found a very distant flock of Golden Plover, but the most exciting was a superb flock of 18 Sociable Lapwings that I first saw in flight at distance. We couldn't resist driving closer, and were surprised by just how confiding these birds were, feeding in the ploughed field in front of us. Out came Killian's sketch book and we enjoyed this immaculate plover.

Extremely pleased, we followed it up with watching at least 104 Golden Plovers and 200 Northern Lapwing, while the fields were full of Eurasian Skylarks and Starlings. We drove to a different area happening across two Merlins, one an exceptionally pale female probably of the Siberian form 'pallidus'. Killian found a Saker close by and minutes later we enjoyed extra -ordinary views of Saker and Lanner perched on the same arm of an electricity pylon! We also noted a couple of perched Peregrines from this spot, several Long-legged Buzzards and adult Eastern Imperial Eagle close by.

At about noon we decided to break for coffee and chatted for a while to discuss, amongst other things, our game plan for the afternoon. Killian was especially keen to see Pallid Harrier, so having seen a female Hen Harrier near Re'im we went to a spot just south of Urim where I'd seen Pallid Harriers in the past. No sooner had we entered the fields than I saw the ghostly, pale grey image of a beautiful male Pallid Harrier quartering over the crops. What an absolute beauty this bird was, virtually pure white below, pale grey above and narrow black wedges of black at the wing tips. Just stunning. If that wasn't enough the bird perched for prolonged periods on the irrigation sprinklers, allowing Killian to do some great sketches.

A male Pallid Harrier at close quarters is a very tough act to follow, and sensing that it couldn't be beaten we headed south calling in at Revivim for a quick check of the alfalfa fields. There were plenty of Meadow Pipits and Eurasian Skylarks including one of the latter with strange, aberrant white patches in the wings. We certainly double checked it to make sure that it wasn't something other than an aberrant Eurasian Skylark. Searching more of the fields in the area we found plenty of Hen Harriers, including at least 3 adult males, and had good looks at Little Owl and Desert Wheatear. However, our day was drawing to a close and we began the long drive back to Lotan arriving at 18:30hrs, while Killian drove onto Eilat. It has to be said that the day flew by, a day which I found thoroughly enjoyable in sharing the company of one of Europe's leading birders.

Cheers,

James Smith.

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