Spring 2002 - A Season of Surprises (Part 1)

As the last migrants of the spring filter northwards through the Arava it seems like a good time to reflect on what has been an excellent spring season at Lotan. In many respects we achieved our ambition of bringing regular website updates with authentic visual imagery from the field so often brought to you on the day of the event. Our readers could find themselves enjoying the excitement of a major rarity such as the Chestnut-shouldered Petronia that appeared at Lotan's swimming pool on 26th and 31st March, or just simply enjoy the day to day rhythmic changes of migration through southern Israel.

Within our spring summary we should like to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have taken the time to compliment our site in so many different ways or have been encouraged to visit Lotan as a direct result of reading our site.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of this season was the number of staying guests that we had on Lotan including a sudden rush of late bookings that doubled our registrants for the season. Given the intense political circumstances in the central and north parts of Israel and the subsequent negative publicity that affected so many other bird tours this year, we could hardly have hoped that we would receive the numbers of birders that we actually did. So thanks to all of you for coming to enjoy the Lotan birding experience!

The Migration

February - We tend see evidence of migration early in Arava Valley and this year was no exception. By the end of February we had already seen Isabelline, Black-eared and Northern Wheatears but it was owls that captured the imagination with Striated Scops, Eurasian Scops and Eagle Owls all giving great views in the immediate area of Lotan. A wintering White-breasted Kingfisher remained in the Kibbutz gardens but was often very elusive and not seen by many. A spell of south-easterly winds gave us the best migrations of Steppe Eagles that we've seen at Lotan with 105 recorded on the 21st.

In the Eilat area, lingering rarities from the previous autumn relocated in the last few days of February included a Red-wattled Lapwing (2nd Israel record) and Pied Stonechat (6th Israel record), the latter remaining well into the third week of March.

March - The month opened up with a typical array of early migrants and the arrival of our two raptor migration counters from the Israel Ornithological Centre, Daniel Gelbart and Jonathan Meyrav. Both men were to put in many field hours over the next ten weeks and contributed a great deal to field observations in the Lotan area and in the Arava.

Migrants such as Quail, Short-toed Lark, Tawny Pipit, Blue Rock Thrush appeared on Lotan in the first ten days and good numbers of swallows, martins and swifts migrated north along the Arava. Outstanding was a superb gathering of up to 45 Syrian Serins at Shizzafon, though slight less expected was an early Caspian Plover also at Shizzafon on the 7th, and Daniel found a fine White-tailed Lapwing at Km 20 the very next day, which turned out to be one of the few this spring. A major surprise came in the form of a Thick-billed Lark picked up freshly dead on the main Arava highway near Beer Ora and found by our guests Paul Sterry and Mike Foord.

We also began running our traditional two day Negev trips this month which were hugely successful. Houbara Bustards were seen on every trip and often in good numbers, as well as Pin-tailed, Black-bellied and Spotted Sandgrouse. However, it did appear to be a poor spring for Cream-coloured Coursers, which were present in Nizzana but in much smaller numbers than in previous years and these were often difficult to find. On the other hand, there were immaculate views of two Temminck's Horned Larks at Nizzana on the 9th and another in the Ramon Reserve on 15th.

The raptor watching in the western Negev fields remained good until the end of the month, although the composition of species changed from week to week. More often than not we caught up with such exciting species as Eastern Imperial Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Saker, Lanner, Peregrine, Merlin, Pallid Harrier, and Lesser Kestrel. The beautiful grounds of Kibbutz Gevulot provided us with regular Syrian Woodpeckers and Long-eared Owls throughout the month and a wonderful place to spend the night, as it has done for the last six years. Just down the road at Moshav Dekel we witnessed an impressive migration of 17, 000 White Storks on the 10th, our biggest flock of the spring.

In the central Negev, Ein Avdat not only provided some spectacular scenery but also some superb raptor watching with breeding species such as Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, and Bonelli's Eagle and an interesting background of species such as Chuckar, Alpine and Pallid Swifts, Blue Rock Thrush and Mourning Wheatear.

From the middle of the month a greater variety of migrants began to appear although the days were often slow for migration until the 20th, a day which saw major arrivals of Collared Pratincoles, Bimaculated Larks, Masked Shrikes and Ruppell's Warblers. Dave Murdoch arrived on 23rd to help out with a couple of weeks of sterling effort at the ringing station, though a series of southern winds over the next few days frustrated his efforts as well general observations of migrants. However, Ken and Margaret Smith noted 3,000 Steppe Buzzards that migrated over Lotan on the 23rd along with a variety of other raptors such as Black Kites, Marsh Harriers and Egyptian Vultures.

The last few days of an interesting month produced a Black Bush Robin in Eilat on 25th, Israel's third Chestnut-shouldered Petronia at Lotan on 26th (and 31st), an arrival of Ortolans with huge numbers of Lesser Whitethroats and good numbers of Tree Pipits on 28th, and some wonderful Collared Flycatchers that spent several days around Lotan from the 30th. By the end of the month Cory's and Sooty Shearwaters, Pomarine and Arctic Skuas were regular off Eilat's north beach.

Part 2 of our spring summary will follow shortly.

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)