24 - 28 March - Lotan & the Southern Arava update
Kibbutz Lotan extends a warm welcome to Dave Murdoch who will be
working at our ringing station for about two weeks. Dave is an 'A'
- licensed ringer from the UK with a very broad international experience
in birding and traveling.
24th
- Ken & Margaret Smith had a good migration watch from Lotan
this morning noting 3000 Steppe Buzzards, 15 Black Kites,
3 Steppe Eagles and an Egyptian Vulture. From mid-morning
a strong southern wind and dust storm developed but not before Dave
Murdoch ringed a male Subalpine Warbler in the organic garden.
Numerous migrants such as Hoopoes, Wrynecks and a
Masked Shrike remained around the Kibbutz.
Also of note, Hadoram Shirihai reported a male Semi-collared
Flycatcher from Eilat.
25th
- The southerly air stream continued and was even worse than the
previous day. In the calmer hours of early morning some 700 Steppe
Buzzards migrated over Lotan with one Steppe Eagle. Migrants
around Lotan included 150+ Lesser Whitethroats, 15 Yellow
Wagtails, 2 Tree Pipits and a nice male Bluethroat
caught and ringed in the organic garden.
At noon, Birdfinders' Peter Lansdown phoned me with exciting news
of a Black Bush Robin at Eilat's birdwatching park; the bird
was duly twitched and photographed by a Swedish tour group. In the
evening I joined Hadoram Shirihai who was leading a special trip
to see Hume's Tawny Owl in a remote desert canyon in the
area of Wadi Paran. Not only was the trip a great success with two
birds heard and one seen very well, but it was a true pleasure being
in the desert on a moonlit night in one of the most beautiful places
in southern Israel.
26th
- Our regular readers will already know that this was a 'big day'
for the first major rarity of the spring was found at Lotan's swimming
pool (see March 26th page)
. The bird was a Chestnut-shouldered Petronia, photographed
at fairly close range and watched for at least 30 minutes. If accepted,
it will become only the third record for Israel. The 'knock-on'
effect of five birders all searching a small area for the same bird
produced a number of good species including Subalpine and
Ruppell's Warblers. There were also major arrivals of 14
Tree Pipits and 18 Northern Wheatears, plus 5 Wrynecks
and over 280 Lesser Whitethroats. Great swarms of up to 600
Spanish Sparrows were present near the dairy barn with about
130 Short-toed Larks.
27th
- A much cooler westerly wind brought clearer air after the dusty
southerlies of the previous three days. Again good numbers of migrants
were present around the Kibbutz and we had our first Lesser Short-toed
Lark, Rufous Bush Robin and Nightingales of the
spring.
Hadoram Shirihai reported that 2 Thick-billed Larks flew
past Mount Yoash in the Eilat mountains this morning while he was
watching Steppe Buzzard migration. Barak Granit reported
a male Collared Flycatcher from Yotvata and a male Semi-collared
Flycatcher from the fields of Kibbutz Samar.
In the afternoon I took a long hike through Nahal Ketura and found
many of the shallow wadis to be full of birds, including 120+ Lesser
Whitethroats, 14 Eastern Bonelli' s Warblers, 1 Orphean
Warbler, 7 Redstarts and a Woodchat Shrike. The
prize of the more local species was good views an Arabian Warbler
and an Eagle Owl was heard calling at dusk.
28th
- The plunge of cooler air from the west continued through
the morning and into early afternoon. Visual migration of European
Bee-eaters (150+) and Short-toed Larks (120+) was prominent
in the morning, with smaller numbers of Swifts, Pallid
Swifts, Red-rumped Swallows and Cretzschmar's Buntings.
Over 200 Lesser Whitethroats were present on the Kibbutz
along with 3+ Wrynecks, 5 Redstarts, 3 Ortolan
Buntings and a male Ruppell's Warbler at the swimming
pool. Dave Murdoch reported the bird of the morning, a lovely male
Namaqua Dove seen near the dairy barn.
In the afternoon, a walk through Lotan's bird reserve found a further
150 Lesser Whitethroats, 15 Chiffchaffs and a dozen
Tree Pipits. I also enjoyed very good views of Little Green
Bee-eater, Woodchat Shrike, Ruppell's Warbler
and 3 Ortolan Buntings.
Good birding,
James Smith
Contact info
Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)