| A distinguished winter visitor
to Lotan All digiscoping photography courtesy of James. P. Smith © |
23rd November--Acacia Wadis West of Lotan
It's fair to say that in terms of our local birding at Lotan, today
belongs to the Striated Scops Owl. Over the last few years this rare species
has proven to be a fairly regular winter visitor to the Acacia wadis west
of Lotan. Some of these wadis can be reached comfortably from the Kibbutz
on foot, so in the afternoon I decided to make my first thorough check
of the season in lower Nahal Quetura with some spectacular results. In
a stretch of Acacia 'forest', no more than 200 metres in length, I came
across three Striated Scops Owls! This is the highest concentration of
the species that I've seen in the Lotan area as day-time roost sites are
usually seperated by about 1000 metres. Needless to say, I was very pleased
with such a find and the resulting photos. Here's a selection of six of
the better images.
Happy birding,
James Smith
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