Southern Israel rarities and more

Late February (19-21th)

Late winter is always an exciting time in Israel . The desert riverbeds flood occasionally leaving puddles and water deposit in the lower places. This provides good lush habitat for wintering species and pleasant weather for birding. I had a pleasant couple of days birding in the southern Arava. The valley is full of good birds and here is a short summary of interesting observations.

Eilat – Up to 2 Black Throated Loons have been frequenting the lagoon next to the north beach, since their discovery in January and provided great views. Unfortunately, I was too late. The Divers were last seen in early February…

Up to 2 Olive-backed Pipits have been seen regularly at the Samar date plantation. Initially found by Noam Weiss these charming Pipits gave great views this weekend. The wintering female type Menetrie's Warbler was also last seen in early February at K19. A few Striated Scops Owls were found day roosting in Acacia trees in several wadis in the Arava throughout the winter. The last report was a confiding individual at wadi Ketura in mid month.

I spent the morning of February 19 th with Yoav Perlman and Liron Ziv. We started the day at Neot smadar sewage and had great views of Water and Red-throated Pipits. 3 Trumpeter Finches came down to drink and a gathering of Brown-necked Ravens attracted our attention to 2 distant Wolves, scouring the desert for food. The Neot Smadar fields and plantations produced the usual winter variety of birds with the highlights being nice gatherings of Corn Buntings, few (western) Stonechats, Bluethroats and Song Thrushes.

We headed down to the Lotan date plantation to look for a reported Red-breasted Flycatcher, also found by Noam Weiss. We located the Flycatcher fairly quickly and got good views. This particular individual, a first winter bird, was quite jumpy and shy. With some patience we were able to pay attention to a few delicate field marks that separate this bird from a possible "Taiga Flycatcher" – Ficedula parva albicilla(?).

Here are a few words about the "Taiga Flycatcher": This proposed species is basically an eastern population of Red-breasted Flycatcher (from the Ural region and eastwards), which has a different song, and is quite distinguishable in the field from the nominate Ficedula parva parva. First year birds of "Taiga Flycatchers" show colder grayish underparts, a darker bill base and black uppertail coverts.

There is still much to learn about this interesting ssp. (or separate species?), but with this probably being the first ever wintering Red-breasted Flycatcher in Israel we had to rule out all the possibilities.

With Yoav being a qualified A class ringer we decided to try and trap the bird for further examination and ringing.

In spite of difficult winds, we were able to trap the bird surprisingly easily, with only two single nets.

In the hand the bird showed a uniformly grayish bill, with a slight pinkish hue at the base and uniform grey uppertail coverts. I added a few images of the bird in the hand, and we are open for comment.

A short stroll around Lotan produced many Bluethroats, Chiffchaffs and Stonechats. A single White Breasted Kingfisher, has over-wintered in the Lotan swimming pool, the 5 th in 5 years, could it be one faithful individual ?

I noted several early migrants, single Lesser whitethroats and Red throated Pipits, and 2 Steppe Eagles which passed overhead. The Lotan bird reserve had been upgraded and is open to visiting birders. We are happy to provide you with 3 beautiful shaded hides overlooking several habitats, with lush vegetation and running water this is a real migrant magnet.

Spring is upon us, I can hardly wait for the first waves of migrants to come trickling up the Arava valley.

Regular updates will follow soon.

Good birding –

Jonathan Meyrav and the Birding Israel team.

Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)