29-30 March - Lotan & the Southern Arava

29th - The cool westerlies continued from the previous day and actually gained strength, bringing enough overnight rain to form a few puddles by early morning. As a result we had a our best arrival of birds at Lotan for several weeks including over 60 Blackcaps, 10 Whitethroats, 20 Tree Pipits and 25 Ortolan Buntings. Amongst the most obvious new arrivals were 2 wonderful male Collared Flycatchers, 5 Nightingales and 4 Thrush Nightingales. Dave Murdoch also reported a Turtle Dove and a Willow Warbler from the organic garden, which was graced in the afternoon by two Whinchats, again our first of the year.

30th - The morning was clear and calm and it became clear after a couple of hours of birding that most of yesterday's fresh arrivals had already moved on. A male Collared Flycatcher still remained, as did 3 Thrush Nightingales and 4 Nightingales as well as 6 Redstarts. In addition to these fine birds, a party of 15 Spotted Sandgrouse flew low over the Kibbutz at 9:40 a.m. giving their distinctive 'whack-oo whack-oo' flight calls as they passed over. Perhaps surprisingly given our desert location, this was the first definite record for Lotan since regular records began in 1995.

In the afternoon I headed down to the Eilat area with Israeli birder Barak Granit. Our first stop was some acacia scrub in the Km 19 area where a major surprise was the finding of a pair of Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse, normally only seen at known drinking sites at dusk. Migrants here included a female Collared Flycatcher, an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler and an Olivaceous Warbler. Later we enjoyed a good migration of 22 Purple Herons heading north along the Arava, with a Collared Pratincole at the north sewage pools and a male Little Crake on a small reed fringed pool near Km 20.

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)